New & Appointed
Name: Michael Heilgemeir
Professor of: Photography and Staging
I’m from near Munich.
Prior to that, I worked as a professor of media design at IU International University in Ulm – following many years as a freelance photographer and lecturer in photography in London.
My area of expertise
... and my motivation for teaching there:
Image & Communication.
Photographs and other images are enormously powerful as a universal language in our globalised world. This visual communication is constructed; it creates narratives, shapes world views and triggers emotions – it can manipulate or enlighten, bring us together or divide us. My teaching therefore focuses both on the ability to stage images with regard to statements, messages or communication objectives, and on critically analysing the construction of visual communication and decoding the ways in which images function as actors within digital and other networks. I aim to support and guide students in developing autonomous, informed visual literacy skills across this spectrum.
My highlight of the year
The Department of Design’s annual exhibition in July – which I found brilliant and inspiring in so many ways. For me, this was a wonderful way to round off my first semester at the HM. A key part of this was undoubtedly the enriching collaboration with students and staff – both in the run-up to the exhibition and throughout the semester.
My leisure tip
The world of images and media is endlessly fascinating. For me, photography has always been a way of being fully present in the here and now. That’s why, in the evenings, I switch off from the digital world and hop on my bike, cycling along the Isar, the Würm or the Amper, through woods and forests, to the lakes in the surrounding countryside.
