Schmitz, Martin

Lucius & Annemarie Burckhardt Professorship

Martin Schmitz, born in 1956, Dipl.Ing., studies in the fields of architecture, urban and landscape planning at the University of Kassel with Lucius Burckhardt.

Author of the book Currywurst mit Fritten – Über die Kultur der Imbißbude, Zurich 1983, curator of the film program “d-super 8” at 8. documenta 1987 and the conference “Dilettantismus” in Görlitz 1995. Since 1989 publisher in Berlin (until 1997 with a gallery in Kassel), numerous exhibitions, books on the topic of architecture, art, film, design, music, literature. Teaching positions in Saarbrücken, Weima, and Kassel. Curator of the exhibition, “Die Tödliche Doris – Kunst,” Berlin 1999, “Die Tödliche Doris – Kino,” Berlin 2003, of the documenta urbana symposium “Kunst plant die Planung,” Kassel 2007 and of the international congress “Spaziergangswissenschaft: Sehen, erkennen und planen,” Frankfurt am Main, 2008.

Co-editor of books by Lucius Burckhardt: “Wer plant die Planung? Architektur, Politik und Mensch,” 2004, “Warum ist Landschaft schön? Die Spaziergangswissenschaft,” 2006, “Design ist unsichtbar. Entwurf, Gesellschaft und Pädagogik,” 2012, “Der kleinstmögliche Eingriff,” 2013, “Wir selber bauen unsre Stadt,” 2015, “Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle und spaziergangswissenschaftliche Aktionen,” 2017, and the books Lucius Burckhardt Writings. Rethinking Man-made Environments, 2012, Why is Landscape Beautiful? The Science of Strollology, Basel 2015, Design Is Invisible: Planning, Education, and Society, and Il falso è l’autentico: Politica, città, paesaggio, design, pedagogia, 2017.

As a visiting professor for theory and practice of design, Martin Schmitz came back to the University of Kassel and has held the Annemarie & Lucius Burckhardt Professorship since 2016.