DREI BIOGRAPHISCHE VERSUCHE: Kapitel 4 „Das gemachte Ich“

The exhibition series Drei biographische Versuche [Three biographical attempts] is like Müller’s personal diary from the past three decades. Through each chapter, Müller unveils his journey of self-discovery, embracing change, and self-formation.

In the first chapter Gefüge – Gefühl und Genauigkeit [Structure—Feeling and Accuracy], Müller presented his decade-long journey in the Himalayas that he embarked on in his early 20s, divulging a man’s quest to one’s cultural heritage and faith. Müller believes one must first understand and recognize one’s heritage, one is then able to form one’s own structure of thoughts and belief system.

In the second chapter Der Wolkenvermesser [The Cloud Surveyor], Müller delved into specific events and dreams from his journey in the Himalayas, further elaborating on the concepts of feeling and accuracy, the self and the other, and shifting perspectives.

In the finale Das gemachte Ich [Self-Creation], Müller exposes personal and intimate events of his life, to elaborate on the belief that “Life is Flux” (proposed by ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus), the theory of tabula rasa, and his motto of “Do It Yourself”—asserting the notion that human beings, each individual should take charge in constructing one’s self, one’s relationship with the other and the world—through his large-scale installations in a white cube with “a dangerous open bracket”. Das gemachte Ich provides a survey of Müller’s oeuvre in every medium—drawings, paintings, sculptures, objects and performances, multiples and printed works, revealing the multifaceted creativity, formal inventiveness and wide conceptual range of the artist. Müller challenged the traditional confines of art to embrace a much broader, philosophical and humanistic practice.