# Michael Najjar

Michael Najjar (born in 1966 in Landau) is a German artist, adventurer and Future Astronaut. He lives and works in Berlin. His work spans photography, video, digital image-making, and sculpture. He works closely at the intersection of art, science, and technology, and takes a critical look at the technological developments that are defining and drastically transforming the early 21st century.

## Life and education

Najjar attended the bildo Academy of Arts in Berlin from 1988 – 1993. During this time he immersed himself in the visionary theories of media philosophers such as Vilém Flusser, Paul Virilio and Jean Baudrillard, which have markedly influenced his later work. In 1993 he completed his studies with a diploma in media art with a focus on photography. His life and work in Brazil, Cuba, Spain, England, Japan and the United States characterise the global orientation of his art. Michael Najjar was a Hasselblad Ambassador from 2012 – 2017. He was nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2018, 2019 and 2025. In 2019, he was shortlisted for the Sony World Award and invited as a guest artist to the CERN physics laboratory. He held the ACAF (Australian Chinese Art Foundation) residency in 2024 and, in 2025, holds the Annealing residency at the Shanghai Museum of Glass.
Michael Najjar is also one of Virgin Galactic's pioneer astronauts and will soon be flying into space on board the privately owned VSS Unity.

## Work (selection)

Michael Najjar is a highly regarded photo artist of his generation. Najjar's photographic and video works exemplify and draw on his interdisciplinary understanding of art. In his artistic practice he fuses art, science, and technology into visions of future social structures emerging under the impact of cutting-edge technologies.
Najjar's work is grouped in thematic series. His multidimensional practice frequently leads him to cross-field collaborations with scientists, researchers, and engineers. The variety of themes covered ranges from transformation of global megacities through compaction of information networks ("netropolis" 2003-2006 / 2016 ongoing), depictions of the human body transformed by biogenetic intervention ("bionic angel" 2006-2008) and virtualization of financial markets with smart algorithms ("high altitude" 2008-2010) to the future of the human species through space exploration ("outer space" since 2011). Since 2021 Michael Najjar works on a new series entitled „cool earth" which explores the future of our planet in times of climate change and focusses on the topic of the Anthropocene, climate engineering and the relationship between humans and nature.
The performative aspect has also become a fundamental part of Najjar's work process. One essential hallmark of Najjar's work is the way it is deeply informed by an experiential hands-on approach. The intimate experience of "living through" situations which provide the leitmotifs of his art is vital to the artist. For decades now, Najjar has undertaken journeys and expeditions around the globe. His projects often stem from remote fieldwork in liminal locations, often difficult to access. He has climbed seven-thousand-metre-high peaks, scaled skyscrapers, trekked on erupting volcanoes, crossed glaciers, descended into ice caves, traversed deserts, and taken comprehensive astronaut training with the intention of becoming first artist to fly into space. To create his images, Najjar exposes his body to extreme experiences and tests his mental and physical limits in the context of challenging natural or technological environments.

### cool earth

Michael Najjar's latest work series "cool earth" (2021 ongoing) deals with our planetary future in times of climate change. It addresses the far-reaching ecological, economic and cultural impact of human-induced climate change which is leading to a redefinition of the relationship between humans and nature. The crisis in the relationship between humans and nature is existential and influences all areas of human life on our planet. The greatest threat to life on Earth comes from overheating. The rise in the Earth's temperature to over 2 °C will trigger various tipping points in the Earth system, transforming a previously stable system into a chaotic one and endangering our civilizational existence. In order to counteract the advancing climate emergency and the existential threat to our planetary ecosystem, researchers and scientists are increasingly discussing the possibility of large-scale technological intervention in the Earth's natural systems, known as climate engineering. This refers to targeted technological interventions in the Earth's geochemical and biochemical cycles, in the oceans, in the soil, and in the atmosphere. The "cool earth" series spans the arc from a looming dystopian future – which has already arrived in the present – to a technology-based post-fossil world that requires a redefinition of the relationship between humans and nature. The artworks of the "cool earth" series combine science and fiction; they imagine the transition to a world without fossil energy and open up a mental field of possibilities for the viewer as to how we could create a post-destructive world worth living in.

### outer space

Michael Najjar's work series "outer space" looks at the latest developments in space exploration and the way they will shape our future life on Earth, in low Earth orbit and on other planets. The cultural dimension represented by emerging cutting-edge space technologies is at the center of Najjars's work – in terms of the deeper knowledge these new technologies will provide about the universe, their impact on space travel and the way they will influence and shape the way we live and work on Earth. This ongoing series started in 2011 with the final launch of the American Space Shuttle Atlantis and currently includes 70 photographic artworks and 5 video works. The artist has traveled to the most important spaceports like the Kennedy Space Center, the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou in French Guiana, and Starbase in Texas. He met with numerous scientists, engineers and astronauts, and visited space laboratories around the globe where new spacecraft, satellites and telescopes are being built. He traveled to the Atacama Desert in Chile to photograph the world's most powerful telescopes, which are located on high altitude plateaus in the Andes. His collaboration with leading scientists and space agencies has given him privileged access to locations normally unknown to the public. In this series, he blends documentary and fictional scenarios to create visionary depictions of current and future space exploration.
As one of Virgin Galactic's pioneering astronauts, Michael Najjar will take part in one of the future space flights on board the VSS Unity and will most likely be the first artist to travel into space.
In preparation for this flight, Najjar has undergone an intensive and ongoing astronaut training program at Star City (GCTC), Russia, the German Aerospace Center (DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) in Cologne and the National AeroSpace Training And Research Center (NASTAR) in the USA. Defying physical limits, the artist puts his body through a grueling series of training sessions, including a stratospheric flight in a MiG-29 jet fighter, zero gravity flights, centrifugal spins, underwater space-walk training in a heavy astronaut suit, and a HALO jump from an altitude of 10,000 meters: Extreme situations that he captures on camera in order to explore his own physical and mental reactions and visualize them in his works.
Najjar's "outer space" series also includes a compilation of contemporary visions of future life and work in space. These visions, inherent in the actual artworks, were commissioned by the artist and formulated in a series of 'vision statements' written by leading figures in space exploration, science, architecture and philosophy, including Buzz Aldrin, Richard Branson, Tim Smit, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Anousheh Ansari, Norman Foster, and Stephen Hawking.
Works from the "outer space" series have been exhibited internationally in numerous galleries and museums. Two comprehensive books on the series were published by the publisher DISTANZ Verlag, Berlin, in 2014 and 2021.

### netropolis

Michael Najjar's work series "netropolis" (2003–2006) is an exploration of the way global cities will develop in the future. Najjar traveled around the globe and climbed – often evading the security guards - the highest towers of twelve megacities. His panoramic view transforms the reality of urban spatial structure into the landscape. The digital fusion of panoramic views taken from different angles transforms the landscape into a woven fabric of relationships. The work shows the endless ocean of information, an all-pervasive network. Compression of space and time evoking intense and constantly growing global interconnectivity.

### high altitude

For "high altitude" (2008–2010), Michael Najjar climbed Mount Aconcagua, which at 6,962 meters (22,841 feet) is the highest mountain on the planet outside of Asia. In the Andes, Najjar photographed mountain ridges whose zigzag curves served him as a symbol for the monumentality of financial markets. The photographs he took on the expedition were strictly oriented towards the fluctuations of international stock market indices. What the images show are the highs and lows of the markets and how market reality and simulation are so intertwined that they are almost indistinguishable. The movements of the tectonic plates of the global economy over the last twenty to thirty years become visible, in the course of which new peaks are thrown up and earthquakes and erosion are inevitable. Najjar shows the sublime at a time when information technology has become all-powerful.

### Projects Studio Michael Najjar

In October 2015, Studio Michael Najjar unveiled the world's first futuristic "Space Suite" at the Kameha Grand Zurich, Switzerland. In 2016, the "Space Suite" by Studio Michael Najjar was a finalist for the European Hotel Design Award for the best new Hotel Suite in Europe.
In cooperation with the Michael Stich Foundation, Michael Najjar designed an entire floor for the UKE – Clinic for Pediatric Medicine in Hamburg. The creative concept is based on his "outer space" series.

## Selected exhibitions

Since the beginning his career in the mid-1990s, Michael Najjar's work has been shown in numerous international gallery and museum exhibitions, as well as biennials. In 2004, Harald Szeemann presented his work in "The Beauty of Failure / The Failure of Beauty" at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona. In 2006, he was invited to the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale and also exhibited at the 9th Havana Biennial. In 2008, the GEM Museum of Contemporary Art in The Hague hosted the first comprehensive retrospective of his work.
In 2011, Najjar participated in the ground-breaking exhibition "Atlas - How to carry the world on one's back", which was shown at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, and the Deichtorhallen/Phönixhallen in Hamburg. In 2015, Peter Weibel featured Najjar's series "outer space" in the revolutionary exhibition "Exo-Evolution" at ZKM Karlsruhe. In 2017, he was invited by Yuko Hasegawa to participate in the 7th International Moscow Biennale.
Since 2018 Najjar's work has been part of the travelling exhibition "Civilization – The Way We Live Now", which has been shown at major institutions such as the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, the Saatchi Gallery, London, and Kunsthalle Munich among others.
In 2021, he took part in the show "Oil – Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age" at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and in 2023, he opened Ars Electronica with a large-scale 8K projection of his recent series "cool earth". The same year, he exhibited in "Mars: The Red Mirror" at the ArtScience Museum Singapore. In 2024, works from his "outer space" series were part of "SPACE. A Visual Journey" at Fotografiska Stockholm and, in 2025, at Fotografiska Tallinn.
Beyond these major exhibitions, Najjar's work has been exhibited in museums including: Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation, Berlin; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Hamburger Kunsthalle / Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburg; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Marta Museum, Herford; Edith Russ Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; Saatchi Gallery, London; Science Museum, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Birmingham; Centre pour l'image contemporaine, Geneva; Ars Electronica Center, Linz; Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Málaga; Museo Es Baluard, Palma de Mallorca; Museo DA2 (Domus Artium 2002), Salamanca; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Tampere Art Museum, Tampere; New Media Art Institute, Amsterdam; FORMA International Centre for Photography, Milan; Museum of Art, Tucson; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Museum of Science, Taipei; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; ZheJiang Art Museum, Hangzhou; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; ArtScience Museum, Singapore.
Najjar's works are held in museum, corporate, and private collections worldwide. Museum collections include: ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Gemeente Museum, The Hague; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Málaga; Museo Es Baluard, Palma de Mallorca; Museo de Bellas Artes, Santander; Museo DA2 Domus Artium 2000, Salamanca; Muzeum Susch, Switzerland; National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; Centre national de l'audiovisuel (CNA), Luxembourg; and Australian China Art Foundation, Melbourne.

## Work series

* cool earth, 2021 - ongoing
* outer space, 2011 - ongoing
* f1, 2011
* high altitude, 2008–2010
* bionic angel, 2006–2008
* netropolis, 2003–2006 and 2016–ongoing
* no memory access, 2001–2005
* information and apocalypse, 2003
* end of sex.as we know it., 2002
* schnittbilder, 2001
* nexus project part I, 1999–2000
* Japanese style, 1999–2000
* ¡viva fidel! – journey into absurdity, 1997

## Books and catalogues

ArtScience Museum (ed.): "Mars: The Red Mirror", Singapore, 2024
Rau, Bodo & Kunsthalle Bahnitz (eds.): "Schöne Aussichten", Bahnitz, Germany, 2024
PHOTO 2024 (ed.): "The Future Is Shaped by Those Who Can See It. PHOTO 2024", Melbourne, Australia, 2024
Fundació "la Caixa" (ed.): "Horizonte y Limite. Visiones del Paisaje", Madrid, Spain, 2023
Najjar, Michael, Galería Juan Silió (Hg./eds.): "Michael Najjar - cool earth", ex. cat. Madrid, Spain, 2023
Beitin, Andreas, Klose, Alexander, Steininger, Benjamin (Hg./eds.): "Oil. Schönheit und Schrecken des Erdölzeitalters", Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Fritz König, ex. cat. Cologne, Germany, 2021
Najjar, Michael (Hg./eds.): "outer space – v2", Distanz Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2021
Beatrice, Luca (Hg./eds.): "FUTURO – Arte e società dagli anni Sessanta a domani, Gallerie d'Italia – Palazzo Leoni Montanari", ex.cat. Vincenza, Italy, 2020
Vanhanen, Hannu (Hg./eds.): "Space Works - Our Relationship With the Cosmos", ex.cat.Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, USA, 2020
Feireiss, Lukas (Hg./ed.): "Space is ... the Place", Leipzig, Germany, 2020
Bollmann, Philipp (Hg./ed.): "Mit geliehenen Augen", Bielefeld, Germany, 2020
Innovationsfabrik Wittenstein (Hg./ed.): "Beyond the Horizon", ex.cat. Innovationsfabrik Wittenstein, Igersheim, Germany, 2019
Rau, Bodo (Hg./ed.), "Über Grenzen", ex.cat. Kunsthof Bahnitz, Bahnitz, Germany, 2019
Brenner, Neil (Hg./ed.), "New urban Spaces", New York, USA, 2019
Ewing, William A. & Roussel, Holly (Hg./eds.), "Civilization – The Way We Live Now", ex.cat. London, UK, 2018
Bollmann, Philipp (Hg./ed.), "Sichtspiele – Filme und Videokunst aus der Sammlung Wemhöner", Berlin, Germany, 2018
Feireiss, Lukas (ed.), Najjar Michael (ed.), "Planetary Echoes. Exploring the implications of human settlement in space", Leipzig, Germany, 2017
Najjar, Michael (ed.) "outer space", Distanz Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2014
Bollmann, Philipp (ed.): "In-Sight - Photographs from the Wemhöner Collection", Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany, 2012
Najjar, Michael (ed.): "high altitude" Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany, 2011
Bollmann, Philipp (ed.): "Focus Asia - Einblicke in die Sammlung Wemhöner" Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany, 2011
Kolczynska, Paulina "Identity, or on a variety of perspectives" in: "Identity - Photographs of the Grazyna Kulczyk Collection" ex. cat., Poznan, Poland, 2011
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (ed.): "Portraits in series - a century of photographs" ex. cat., Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany, 2011
Rau, Bodo (Ed.): "Architektur in der Kunst - Architekturen des Augenblicks" ex. cat., Bahnitz, Germany, 2011
Herschdorfer, Nathalie (ed.): "High altitude - Photography in the mountains" ex. cat., 5 continents editions, Milan, Italy, 2011
Melis, Wim (ed.): "metropolis" Stichting Aurora Borealis, Photo Festival, Groningen, Netherlands, 2011
Klanten, Robert / Ehmann, Sven / Schulze, Floyd (eds.): "Visual storytelling: inspiring a new visual language" Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Damian, Angela / Azoulay, Elizabeth / Frioux, Dalibor (eds.): "100.000 years of beauty" Editions Babylone, Paris, France, 2010
Klanten, Robert / Ehmann, Sven / Bourquin, Nicolas (eds.): "data flow 2" Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2010
Klanten, Robert / Feireiss, Lukas (eds.): "Beyond architecture. Imaginative buildings and fictional cities" Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2009
Kerner, Charlotte (ed.): "next generation" Belz & Gelberg, Weinheim, Germany, 2009
Sasse, Julie (ed.): "Trouble in paradise: examining the discord between nature and society" ex. cat., Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, USA, 2009
Edgar Quadt (ed.):
"Artinvestor - Wie man erfolgreich in Kunst investiert" Finanzbuch Verlag, Munich, Germany, 2008
van Sinderen, Wim (ed.): "Augmented realities - Michael Najjar works 1997-2008" ex. cat., GEM - The Hague Museum of Photography Veenman Publishers, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2008
Miha, Andy (ed.): "Human futures: art in an age of uncertainty" Fact & Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, 2008
Bitforms Gallery / Galería Juan Silió / Najjar, Michael (Ed.): "bionic angel" Berlin, Germany, 2008
Scarpato, Rosario / Piccioni, Monica (eds.): "Map games: dynamics of change" ex. cat., Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China, 2008
Es Baluard, Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma (ed.): "en privat1" ex. cat., Museo Es Baluard, Palma, Spain, 2008
Sacks, Steve (ed.): "bitforms gallery" bitforms gallery, New York, USA, 2008
Explorafoto y Fundación Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura (ed.): "Michael Najjar - information and apocalypse" ex. cat., DA2, Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca, Spain, 2007
Ewing, William (ed.): "Face - the new photographic portrait" Thames & Hudson, London, UK, 2006
Herrera, Nelson (ed.): "9th Havana Biennal 2006" ex. cat., Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam Havana, Cuba, 2006
Sanz, Antonio (ed.): "C on cities" ex. cat., 10. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura La Biennale di Venezia, Italy, 2006
Panera, Javier (ed.): "Mascaradas politicas" Explorafoto - Festival Internacional de Fotografía de Castilla y León. ex. cat., DA2, Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca, Spain, 2006
Himmelsbach, Sabine (ed.): "Sichtbarkeiten" ex. cat., Edith-Ruß-Site for Media Art, Oldenburg, Germany, 2006
Bitforms / Juan Silió / Guy Bärtschi / Najjar, Michael (eds.): "netropolis" Berlin, Germany, 2006
Najjar, Michael (ed.): "japanese style" ex. cat., Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 2005
Mellis, Wim (ed.): "traces and omens" Stichting Aurora Borealis, Photo Festival, Groningen, Netherlands, 2005
Szeemann, Harald (ed.): "The beauty of failure / the failure of beauty" ex. cat., Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, 2004
Kemp, Sandra (ed.): "Future face - image, identity, innovation" Profile books Ltd. ex. cat., Science Museum London, London, UK, 2004
bitforms gallery / Najjar, Michael (eds.): "netropolis" Berlin, Germany, 2004
Felix, Zdenek (ed.): "A clear vision. Photographische Werke aus der Sammlung F.C. Gundlach" Hatje Cantz Verlag, ex. cat., International House of Photography Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany, 2003
Goethe-Institut New York, Najjar, Michael (eds.): "Information and Apocalypse" ex. cat., Goethe-Institut New York Berlin, Germany, 2003
Triennale der Photographie Hamburg (ed.): "Reality-Check" ex. cat., 2. Triennale der Photographie, Hamburg, Germany, 2002
Philipp, Gabriele (ed.): "Mythos St.Pauli - Photographien 1967-2002" ex. cat., Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Bönnigheim, Germany, 2002
Klanten, Robert / Peyerl, Andreas (eds.): "Surreality localizer" Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 1997