Michael Singer

Since the 1970s Michael Singer’s work opened new possibilities for outdoor and indoor sculpture and contributed to the definition of site specific art and the reimagining of public places. Singer’s more recent work has been instrumental in transforming public art, architecture, landscape, and planning projects into successful models for urban and ecological regeneration. Singer has also been engaged in the rethinking of infrastructure facilities and systems in the United States and Europe and co-authored Infrastructure and Community published by the Environmental Defense Fund.

Michael Singer has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His works are part of public collections in the United States and abroad, including the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He has had several one-person shows, most notably at the Guggenheim Museum, New York City and most recently at the Utzon Center in Aalborg and the Danish Architectural Center in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Michael Singer’s sculptural gardens and landscapes in the public realm have been noted for their unique regenerative qualities with each project shaped to restore environmental function through the creation of the built work. Many of the gardens have intricate layers of materials and can be understood as a gradual evolution from Singer’s early in-situ outdoor installations and sculptures. Michael Singer’s collaborative studio has created numerous sculptural gardens in the USA and abroad including for the US Embassy in Athens, Greece, Atria Gardens at the Alterra Center for Environmental Research in The Netherlands, and the one acre sculptural Memorial Garden in Stuttgart, Germany. Among the most recent sculptural gardens is a 40 foot tall Sculptural Biofiltration Wall and aquatic garden created for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The garden filters 100 gallons of water per minute through mechanical and biological filtration systems powered entirely by solar energy. Singer recently completed an innovative public art and infrastructure project addressing functional environmental solutions for loss of habitat along Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. The NEA funded Living Shorelines regenerative sculpture was designed, built, and installed in Lake Worth, Florida by Michael Singer Studio in collaboration with county biologists and marine engineers. Also recently completed, Uplifted Ground is a 300 foot long sculptural landscape at the Austin International Airport connecting the main terminal to the airport’s new rental car facility. Designed as a part of the walkway’s structural system, the sculpture is uplifted, rising from the ground, referencing nearby geological formations. The Studio designed, fabricated and led the installation of the nearly 400 earth-toned suspended geometric concrete elements embedded with copper, steel, and patterns derived from Texas aerial photography. The sculptural elements are lit from within, creating an elegant glow at night.