Michael Stipe: Even the birds gave pause

Michael Stipe (American, born 1960) is an artist, producer and singer/songwriter. He fronted the band R.E.M. for 31 years, selling over 100 million records and touring the world. As film producer he made over 25 feature films, including Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich, Jim McKay's En El Septimo Dia, Chris Smith's American Movie, and  Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine. For the past decade his personal focus has been cross-medium work, incorporating video, soundscape, sculpture, and photographic and digital imagery. Recent photobooks include Volume 1 (with Jonathan Berger, 2018), Our Interference Times: A Visual Record (with Douglas Coupland, 2019) a third volume of portraits (2021), and the current Even the Birds Gave Pause (2023), all released through Damiani out of Bologna, Italy. His first institution show was at ICA Milan in December 2023. He is currently completing his first solo album to be released this year. Michael lives in New York City and Berlin.