Biosketch
Yogan Müller (born in SW France, 1/1/1987) is a photographer whose work engages with the ecological crisis and its mounting pressures on landscapes and communities. He is also a scholar, instructor, and an FAA-certified drone pilot.
His science background profoundly informs the way he sees the world. He once studied pure mathematics and saw beauty in transformations and topology. For him, landscapes are transformation fields where the nature of our energy-hungry culture becomes manifest.
In October 2019, he joined the Counterforce Lab, a group of ecologically-minded artists and designers founded and led by Prof. Dr. Rebeca Méndez at the UCLA Design | Media Arts (DMA) Department. He has been teaching as a Visiting Lecturer at DMA since January 2020.
In November 2018, he graduated from a practice-based PhD at ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. In his practice-based thesis, he explores how photography made us enter the geological picture of the Anthropocene. Between 2012 and 2017, the Reykjanes peninsula in SW Iceland served as a proving ground. He photographed the transformation the booming Icelandic tourist industry engendered in the landscape.
His work appears in the collection of Galerie Été 78 (Brussels, Belgium), Bibliothèque National de France (BnF, Paris, France) and the Obscura Museum (Metaverse).
He is exploring NFTs and recently received two commissions by Obscura, one of the leading DAOs for photographers.
He lives in Los Angeles where he has been working part-time for fine art photographer Mona Kuhn as well as designer Rebeca Méndez.
Education
2018: Practice-Based PhD in landscape photography and epistemology, ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
2010: MA Moving Image (rank: 2), University of Bordeaux, France.
2008: BA Moving Image, University of Bordeaux, France.
2007: BA Math, University of Bordeaux, France.
Teaching
2023: Desma 173, Special Topics in Visual Communication and Image: Drones + Photogrammetry, winter quarter, D|MA Dept. , UCLA.
2022: Desma 195B, Community or Corporate Internships, Mentor, fall quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2022: Desma 160, Special Topics, “Photography and Ecology,” fall quarter, TA: Doyeon Kim; Guest lecturer: Alejandro Cartagena, D|MA Dept. , UCLA.
2022: Desma 199, Independent Directed Research, Mentor, D|MA Dept. , UCLA.
2022: Desma 154, Word and Image, “Care!,” spring quarter, TA: Alvaro Azcárraga, D|MA Dept. , UCLA. Browse the class website.
2022: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorials, spring quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 99, Independent Directed Research, Mentor, fall quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 160, Special Topics, “Photography and Ecology”, fall quarter, TA: Don Edler, Guest lecturer: Karen Hellman (Getty Museum); D|MA Dept. , UCLA. Browse the class website.
2021: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorials, spring quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorials, winter quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 160, Special Topics, "Photography and Ecology", Winter quarter, TA: Alvaro Azcárraga; Guest lecturers: Marie-José Jongerius, Mark Ruwedel, Rebeca Méndez; D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
2020: Desma 160, Special Topics, "Anthropocene and Digitization", Fall quarter, TA: Alvaro Azcárraga; Guest lecturers: Jean-François Blanchette (IS, UCLA), Johanna Drucker (DMA & IS, UCLA), Yvonne Lee (LACMA), Sharon Mustri (BloombergNEF), David Nuñez (MIT Museum), D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
2020: Desma 154, Word and Image, "For Good Measure", Spring quarter, co-taught with Pr. Dr. Rebeca Méndez, TA: Zeynep Abes, D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
2020: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorial, Winter quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2020: Desma 173, Special Topics in Visual Communication and Image, "Landscape Photography and Energy", TA: Erin Cooney, D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
Exhibitions
2023 (upcoming): Photo Forward LA, with Ryan McIntosh Collection, Danziger Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, February 18-19.
2022: ART IN THE TIME OF CORONA™ VOL.2 (YEAR 2), DabArt Gallery, group show, October 23-December 31, Los Angeles, USA.2022: Obscura x NFT Art Venice Biennale, with SuperChief Gallery, European Cultural Center, Venice, Italy, October 2022.
2022: Obscura at NFT NYC 22, popup group show with Obscura DAO’s founders and commissioned artists, June 23. See obscuranftnyc.splashthat.com.
2022: Photo Rotterdam 2022, group show, May 18-22, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2022: Two Years After the Storm, popup group show and NFT drop launch, The Hot Shot Muffler, Highland Park, Los Angeles, April 9.
2022: Parisian Ecologies, symposium and pop-up show curated by Claire Nettleton, April 8, 2022, Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Claremont, California.
2021: ART IN THE TIME OF CORONA™ VOL. 1, group show, Dabart Gallery, online show, Los Angeles, Summer 2021.
2020: Phenomenology of Hope, group show (curators: Eli Joteva, Khang Nguyen, Kio Griffith), August 8-September 30, http://www.phenomenologyofhope.com
2018: Practice-based thesis solo show, Galerie Été 78 in collaboration with ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, November 27–28, Brussels, Belgium.
2018: A Forest, group show (curator: Laurent Courtens), L'Iselp (www.iselp.be), September 21–December 15, Brussels, Belgium.
2018: Paradis infernaux/Enfer paradisiaque, group show, 6th triennial of Photography and Architecture (curator: Marc Mawet), March 15–May 18, Faculté d’architecture La Cambre-Horta, Brussels, Belgium.
2017: Hraun , solo show, Reykjavík Photography Museum (Ljósmyndasafn Reykjavíkur), October 5–December 12, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2015: Hraun, solo show (curator: Laurent Courtens), L'Iselp (www.iselp.be), November 26–December 12, Brussels, Belgium.
2015: The Cloud of Unknowing, group show (curator: Pieter Vermeulen), January 15–30, Hôtel van de Velde, Brussels, Belgium.
2014: La chaleur de l'usure, group show (curators: Amélie de Beauffort and Pierre Baumann), November 6–December 13, Brussels, Belgium.
2014: Sérendipité, group show (curator: Alain van der Hofstadt), January 29–February 28, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium.
2012: Projective spaces, solo show, Semaine du son 2012, January 16–28, Forum des Arts de Talence, France.
2011: La part des anges, solo show in collaboration with Charlotte Villard, February 11–12, Château Pape-Clément, Pessac, France.
2010: Multiple Bordeaux, city-wide solo show, May 26–June 10, Bordeaux, France.
Awards and workshops
2022: “Two Years After the Storm,” Obscura DAO Community Commission with the patronage of Jim Goldberg (Magnum Photos), United States/Metaverse.
2021: “Who We Are” grant, Obscura DAO, United States/Metaverse.
2019: Bourse du talent #80, finalist, Paris, France.
2017: Alice et David van Buuren fund, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
2011: Special prize, Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute, Bordeaux, France.
2011: FotoDoks photography festival workshop under the patronage of Thomas Dzorwak (Magnum Photos), October 12-16, Munich, Germany.
2009: Masterclass workshop under the patronage of Stuart Franklin (Magnum Photos), Noorderlicht photography festival, Gröningen, The Netherlands.
2009: City of Bordeaux Cultural Fund, France.
2008: Magnum Photos masterclass workshop, University of Brighton, UK.
2007: French student photographer of the year, 3rd prize, Paris, France.
Publications
2023 (upcoming): Telotypes, self-published monograph, edition of 10 in collaboration with Trois Studio, Los Angeles.
2022: Who We Are, anthology emanating from Obscura DAO’s eponomymous NFT portrait commission, Setanta Books, London. You can order it here.
2018: “Paysage : de démarche en (dé)construction photographique,” practice-based PhD thesis in landscape photography, self-published, edition of 12, consulting and bookbinding by Trois Studio, Brussels, Belgium.
Artist residencies
2018: Cheval noir, May and June, Brussels, Belgium.
2017: SÍM, September and October, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2016: AIRE, March, Dexia Art Center, Brussels, Belgium.
2015: ISELP, November and December, Brussels, Belgium.
2013: NES, April through June, Skagaströnd, Iceland.
2012: SCRIME, Dec. 2011 & Jan. 2012, University of Bordeaux, France.
2011: SÍM, January-April, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Internships
2009: Magnum Photos, February-March, London, UK.
2006: Agence France Press, January + August, Paris & Bordeaux, France.
Collections
Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), Paris, France.
Galerie Été 78, Brussels, Belgium.
Press
2020: Ashley Lifton, “With online instruction, DESMA classes foster collaboration and creativity”, The Daily Bruin, April 22 2020, read online.
2020: “Topography of a Spirit”, Interview with Mona Kuhn, L’Œil de la photographie, read online.
2018: Jean-Marc Bodson, La Libre Belgique (Belgium).
2015: Danielle Leenaerts, “Ce que la recherche fait à l’art”, L’Art Même (Belgium), no. 67, page 41, read online.
Yogan Müller (born in SW France, 1/1/1987) is a photographer whose work engages with the ecological crisis and its mounting pressures on landscapes and communities. He is also a scholar, instructor, and an FAA-certified drone pilot.
His science background profoundly informs the way he sees the world. He once studied pure mathematics and saw beauty in transformations and topology. For him, landscapes are transformation fields where the nature of our energy-hungry culture becomes manifest.
In October 2019, he joined the Counterforce Lab, a group of ecologically-minded artists and designers founded and led by Prof. Dr. Rebeca Méndez at the UCLA Design | Media Arts (DMA) Department. He has been teaching as a Visiting Lecturer at DMA since January 2020.
In November 2018, he graduated from a practice-based PhD at ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. In his practice-based thesis, he explores how photography made us enter the geological picture of the Anthropocene. Between 2012 and 2017, the Reykjanes peninsula in SW Iceland served as a proving ground. He photographed the transformation the booming Icelandic tourist industry engendered in the landscape.
His work appears in the collection of Galerie Été 78 (Brussels, Belgium), Bibliothèque National de France (BnF, Paris, France) and the Obscura Museum (Metaverse).
He is exploring NFTs and recently received two commissions by Obscura, one of the leading DAOs for photographers.
He lives in Los Angeles where he has been working part-time for fine art photographer Mona Kuhn as well as designer Rebeca Méndez.
Education
2018: Practice-Based PhD in landscape photography and epistemology, ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
2010: MA Moving Image (rank: 2), University of Bordeaux, France.
2008: BA Moving Image, University of Bordeaux, France.
2007: BA Math, University of Bordeaux, France.
Teaching
2023: Desma 173, Special Topics in Visual Communication and Image: Drones + Photogrammetry, winter quarter, D|MA Dept. , UCLA.
2022: Desma 195B, Community or Corporate Internships, Mentor, fall quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2022: Desma 160, Special Topics, “Photography and Ecology,” fall quarter, TA: Doyeon Kim; Guest lecturer: Alejandro Cartagena, D|MA Dept. , UCLA.
2022: Desma 199, Independent Directed Research, Mentor, D|MA Dept. , UCLA.
2022: Desma 154, Word and Image, “Care!,” spring quarter, TA: Alvaro Azcárraga, D|MA Dept. , UCLA. Browse the class website.
2022: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorials, spring quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 99, Independent Directed Research, Mentor, fall quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 160, Special Topics, “Photography and Ecology”, fall quarter, TA: Don Edler, Guest lecturer: Karen Hellman (Getty Museum); D|MA Dept. , UCLA. Browse the class website.
2021: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorials, spring quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorials, winter quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2021: Desma 160, Special Topics, "Photography and Ecology", Winter quarter, TA: Alvaro Azcárraga; Guest lecturers: Marie-José Jongerius, Mark Ruwedel, Rebeca Méndez; D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
2020: Desma 160, Special Topics, "Anthropocene and Digitization", Fall quarter, TA: Alvaro Azcárraga; Guest lecturers: Jean-François Blanchette (IS, UCLA), Johanna Drucker (DMA & IS, UCLA), Yvonne Lee (LACMA), Sharon Mustri (BloombergNEF), David Nuñez (MIT Museum), D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
2020: Desma 154, Word and Image, "For Good Measure", Spring quarter, co-taught with Pr. Dr. Rebeca Méndez, TA: Zeynep Abes, D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
2020: Desma 404, Visiting MFA tutorial, Winter quarter, D|MA Dept., UCLA.
2020: Desma 173, Special Topics in Visual Communication and Image, "Landscape Photography and Energy", TA: Erin Cooney, D|MA Dept., UCLA. Browse the class website.
Exhibitions
2023 (upcoming): Photo Forward LA, with Ryan McIntosh Collection, Danziger Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, February 18-19.
2022: ART IN THE TIME OF CORONA™ VOL.2 (YEAR 2), DabArt Gallery, group show, October 23-December 31, Los Angeles, USA.2022: Obscura x NFT Art Venice Biennale, with SuperChief Gallery, European Cultural Center, Venice, Italy, October 2022.
2022: Obscura at NFT NYC 22, popup group show with Obscura DAO’s founders and commissioned artists, June 23. See obscuranftnyc.splashthat.com.
2022: Photo Rotterdam 2022, group show, May 18-22, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2022: Two Years After the Storm, popup group show and NFT drop launch, The Hot Shot Muffler, Highland Park, Los Angeles, April 9.
2022: Parisian Ecologies, symposium and pop-up show curated by Claire Nettleton, April 8, 2022, Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Claremont, California.
2021: ART IN THE TIME OF CORONA™ VOL. 1, group show, Dabart Gallery, online show, Los Angeles, Summer 2021.
2020: Phenomenology of Hope, group show (curators: Eli Joteva, Khang Nguyen, Kio Griffith), August 8-September 30, http://www.phenomenologyofhope.com
2018: Practice-based thesis solo show, Galerie Été 78 in collaboration with ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, November 27–28, Brussels, Belgium.
2018: A Forest, group show (curator: Laurent Courtens), L'Iselp (www.iselp.be), September 21–December 15, Brussels, Belgium.
2018: Paradis infernaux/Enfer paradisiaque, group show, 6th triennial of Photography and Architecture (curator: Marc Mawet), March 15–May 18, Faculté d’architecture La Cambre-Horta, Brussels, Belgium.
2017: Hraun , solo show, Reykjavík Photography Museum (Ljósmyndasafn Reykjavíkur), October 5–December 12, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2015: Hraun, solo show (curator: Laurent Courtens), L'Iselp (www.iselp.be), November 26–December 12, Brussels, Belgium.
2015: The Cloud of Unknowing, group show (curator: Pieter Vermeulen), January 15–30, Hôtel van de Velde, Brussels, Belgium.
2014: La chaleur de l'usure, group show (curators: Amélie de Beauffort and Pierre Baumann), November 6–December 13, Brussels, Belgium.
2014: Sérendipité, group show (curator: Alain van der Hofstadt), January 29–February 28, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium.
2012: Projective spaces, solo show, Semaine du son 2012, January 16–28, Forum des Arts de Talence, France.
2011: La part des anges, solo show in collaboration with Charlotte Villard, February 11–12, Château Pape-Clément, Pessac, France.
2010: Multiple Bordeaux, city-wide solo show, May 26–June 10, Bordeaux, France.
Awards and workshops
2022: “Two Years After the Storm,” Obscura DAO Community Commission with the patronage of Jim Goldberg (Magnum Photos), United States/Metaverse.
2021: “Who We Are” grant, Obscura DAO, United States/Metaverse.
2019: Bourse du talent #80, finalist, Paris, France.
2017: Alice et David van Buuren fund, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
2011: Special prize, Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute, Bordeaux, France.
2011: FotoDoks photography festival workshop under the patronage of Thomas Dzorwak (Magnum Photos), October 12-16, Munich, Germany.
2009: Masterclass workshop under the patronage of Stuart Franklin (Magnum Photos), Noorderlicht photography festival, Gröningen, The Netherlands.
2009: City of Bordeaux Cultural Fund, France.
2008: Magnum Photos masterclass workshop, University of Brighton, UK.
2007: French student photographer of the year, 3rd prize, Paris, France.
Publications
2023 (upcoming): Telotypes, self-published monograph, edition of 10 in collaboration with Trois Studio, Los Angeles.
2022: Who We Are, anthology emanating from Obscura DAO’s eponomymous NFT portrait commission, Setanta Books, London. You can order it here.
2018: “Paysage : de démarche en (dé)construction photographique,” practice-based PhD thesis in landscape photography, self-published, edition of 12, consulting and bookbinding by Trois Studio, Brussels, Belgium.
Artist residencies
2018: Cheval noir, May and June, Brussels, Belgium.
2017: SÍM, September and October, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2016: AIRE, March, Dexia Art Center, Brussels, Belgium.
2015: ISELP, November and December, Brussels, Belgium.
2013: NES, April through June, Skagaströnd, Iceland.
2012: SCRIME, Dec. 2011 & Jan. 2012, University of Bordeaux, France.
2011: SÍM, January-April, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Internships
2009: Magnum Photos, February-March, London, UK.
2006: Agence France Press, January + August, Paris & Bordeaux, France.
Collections
Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), Paris, France.
Galerie Été 78, Brussels, Belgium.
Press
2020: Ashley Lifton, “With online instruction, DESMA classes foster collaboration and creativity”, The Daily Bruin, April 22 2020, read online.
2020: “Topography of a Spirit”, Interview with Mona Kuhn, L’Œil de la photographie, read online.
2018: Jean-Marc Bodson, La Libre Belgique (Belgium).
2015: Danielle Leenaerts, “Ce que la recherche fait à l’art”, L’Art Même (Belgium), no. 67, page 41, read online.