Sami Bill
Photographer & Videoartist
About
Sami Bill is a Finnish-German photographer, video artist and set designer. After more than ten years of international work at various theaters and opera houses, he decides to focus his art work on the arctic regions of Northern Europe and the wilderness areas of Lapland. With his work he illuminates the relationship between humans and nature in times of Anthropocene and climate changes. He is inspired by his life in Sodankylä, Finland, the arctic wilderness and the proximity to the only indigenous population in Europe, the Sámi.
After working as a dog sled guide in northern Finland, he studies biology, ethnology and geography and then scenic arts at the University of Hildesheim. From 2009-2011 he is director of the Berlin Media Workshop bbk-berlin and supports international artists in the realization of their work. He is also a lecturer at the Leibniz Universität Hannover and teaches theater and media strategies for the scenographic use of space and media. He led seminars and workshops on 'Aesthetic Research, Creative Process, Artistic Strategies' at various theaters and at the Frankfurt University of Applied Science and the EMS European Management School Mainz.
His scenographies, stage sets, video works and stage projections (www.samibill.de) lead him to various drama and opera houses, including the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Schauspiel Stuttgart, the Schauspiel Frankfurt, and the Frankfurt Opera, to the opera of the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Badische Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Thalia Theater Hamburg, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg and internationally via the Museumsquartier Wien (A), the Theater am Kirchplatz in Schaan (L) and the Teatr Bagatela in Krakow (PL), to the Philharmonie Luxemburg ( LUX) and the Zurich Opera (CH).
In 2017, he and his wife founded Finnfloat, the first Finnish sauna raft in Germany, to create a finnish place for recreation in an atmosphere close to nature. They have been living in Berlin and Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland for several years now.
CV
Born 1977 in Düsseldorf, Germany
Lives and works between Berlin and Sodankylä, Lapland (FI)
EDUCATION
2004 - 2009
Scenical arts Universtity of Hildesheim, Germany
2000 - 2004
Studies in biology, ethnology and geography, Universtity of Frankfurt a. M., Germany
ART WORK
2005 - 2019
Video works, stage projection, scenographies and stage sets at various drama and opera houses (overview: www.samibill.de)
LECTURES AND TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS
2017
Lecture: Artistic Techniques under Intermedia Aspects: Scenography & Projection, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Master’s program Performative Arts in Social Fields
2017
Workshop: Cooking performance: a gustatory reflection, Theater an der Parkaue - Young State Theater, Berlin
2016
Seminar: Leadership and team dynamics - withstand creativity, European Management School, Mainz
2012
Lecturer: Interactive Media and Media Theater, Leibniz University, Hannover
2012
Guest artist for a participatory children & youth project: Advice from the greenhouse, Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf
2012
Coaching of a youth theater performance group, UNART2012, State Theater, Dresden
2009-2011
Head of Media Workshop Berlin - space for artistic Working with time-based media, Kulturwerk GmbH/ bbk-berlin, Berlin
2011
Lecturer: Projection in Theater, Leibniz University, Hannover
2011
Guest artist: Winter Academy VI - Let's say Berlin is by the sea, Theater an der Parkaue - Young State Theater, Berlin
2011
Lecture: Forms of medial representation, Leibniz University, Hannover
2011
Workshop: The term Process, Conference of art education as artistic practice, Berlin
2011
Coaching of a youth theater performance group, UNART2011, State Theater, Dresden
2009
Lecture: Digital media as playing fields for scenic ideas, Conference 'Culture and Computer Science, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
2009
Lecture: Playing Shakespeare - About the creative exchange between computer games and theater, Subotron, Q21 Museum Quarter, Wien
2003
Lecture: No. Time doesn't prove anything - Comparative lecture on the novel "Waiting" by the Chinese author Ha Jin, Denkbar, Frankfurt a. M.
2003
Lecture: First Nation Peoples and their self-image. Stereotypes of the wonderful and the noble savage, Denkbar, Frankfurt a. M.
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
2015
Furcht und Ekel: Mühlheim Theater Days, Stuttgart theater
Director: Jan Gehler
2014
Momo: Nomination for the German Theater Prize DER FAUST, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
Director: Rüdiger Pape
2013
Almost Lovers: Berlin Festival, Theater meeting of the youth" Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
Director: Ines Habich
2012/ 2013
Wir im Finale: Torun Theater Festival 2013 (PL)/ Accompanying the program of Boska Komedia 2012 (PL), Teatr Bagatela, Krakow Director: Iwona Jera
2010
Kein Schiff wird kommem: Audience award from the city of Augsburg, Theater of the City of Augsburg
Director: Ramin Anaraki