ZKM | Karlsruhe congratulates Michael Heck on his 80th birthday

The ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe is pleased to extend its congratulations to Dr. Michael Heck, the former Cultural Affairs Officer of the City of Karlsruhe, on his 80th birthday. The creation of the ZKM is due in no small part to him - as a generator of ideas and as a cultural politician who made possible the founding of a completely new kind of art institution. 

Born on December 22, 1942 in Neustadt in the Black Forest and raised in Karlsruhe, Michael Heck studied law in Heidelberg and Munich. After his legal clerkship at the Karlsruhe Regional Court and a brief period as a judge and public prosecutor, Heck entered the service of the city of Karlsruhe, where he assumed the office of cultural affairs officer in September 1979, a position he held until 2007. In this function, he accompanied the city of Karlsruhe in its far-reaching cultural transformation, with which it met the social need for greater cultural participation, Europeanization and globalization after 1989, and the opportunities and challenges of digitalization in an innovative way. 
As early as 1984, Michael Heck presented an initial proposal for the founding of the ZKM: as an "interdisciplinary center for research, teaching and artistic activities." He envisioned a place where art, media and technology would stimulate each other, an institution that would accompany the transformation of society through new technologies. The goal was to give Karlsruhe a unique international standing. In 1989, just five years later, the ZKM was founded as the »Center for Art and Media Technology.« 

"On the occasion of his 80th birthday, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Michael Heck for his invaluable contributions to the founding and development of the ZKM. In the book he and Rolf Funck co-edited, »Das ZKM | Karlsruhe. Die Anfänge der Zukunft« (The Beginnings of the Future), he has traced the courageous civic creation process of this institution with numerous voices and documents. His vision and commitment have played a decisive role in making the ZKM what it is today. We are very grateful to Michael Heck for his tireless commitment to the ZKM and the city."
– Peter Weibel

On behalf of the entire ZKM team, we extend our warmest congratulations to Michael Heck on his birthday and wish him continued health and happiness, and look forward to remaining in conversation about cultural politics, art, literature and music.