About me
I am an award-winning creative director, writer, art editor/critic and artist.
As a creative writer/thinker, as well as experienced, designer, creative director and visual artist, I now combine these skills to produce concepts and thinking spaces for brands really intent on exploring their relationship with their audience on a deeper sociological as well as economical level. My consultancy and research practice [HOUSEOFTHOUGHT.io] is underscored by literature, art and new technologies.
My fiction, non-fiction and art have appeared in a range of publications including Granta.com, Grey Magazine, and the anthology Tales of Two Cities (Penguin Random House). My most recent stories appear in the inaugural edition of Freeman’s, a new literary journal which also features writing from a number of top writers including Haruki Murakami, Dave Eggers and Helen Simpson and online literary journal Catapult.co.
Formerly I was the creative director and art editor of Granta Publications during which time I created original features with art and photography, publishing and creating work with of a host of established and new artists including Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. I created a distinct aesthetic for the publishing house across its magazine and book activities, collecting a number of awards including D&AD and Communication Arts along the way.
Previously I art directed and designed a range of titles for the literary division of the Random House Group. Projects outside publishing included creating a brand strategy for Curzon Cinemas and work with artists such as Tricky.
I often speak about art, visual culture and literature at many cultural institutions and educational establishments, such as a recent TEDx event (my talk focused on the economy of deception within images), Unseen Photo Fair, The London Literature Festival and The Photographer’s Gallery.
Currently I've just finished first full novel & I am writing two films, one of which I'm directing also.
I mostly split my time between Berlin & London.
michaelsalu.com
Projects
- Tools for Extinction: contributorby Enrique Vila-Matas, Olivia Sudjic, Jon Fosse, Inger Wold Lund, Vi Khi Nao, Patrícia Portela, Lucie Elven, Mara Coson, Christina Hesselholdt, Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Naja Marie Aidt, Michael Salu, Joanna Walsh, Jakuta Alikavazovic, Anna Zett, Emilio Fraia, Frode Grytten, and Olga Ravn Translations by Margaret Jull Costa, Zoë Perry, Martin Aitken, Denise Newman, Paul Russell Garrett, Damion Searls, and Rahul Bery Eighteen international writers respond to the open-ended period of social distan
- Afterlife: language machine learning and augmented reality.Does language have its own geology? From our ongoing research project at House of Thought entitled 'Afterlife' - a series of translations between photography, film, prose and machine learning to produce, new geologies. Afterlife (working title) is a work I am developing as part of exploring the evolution of language and what we consider to be ‘lived experience’. In what I like to refer to as a series of translations, I am looking to create intimate narratives through direct translations betwee
- The Swarm: Language as a FictionAn creative and critical essay using natures swarming species as an entry point to discussing both the refractions of lnaguage and who actually owns language particularly in its current technological acceleration. Published by American literary magazine Entropy The piece also features a still from a new digital series I'm creating of the same name. Its a series thinking about the tense relationship between technology and nature (and also language).
- Nocturnes: A Special commission for Piano Day 2016Commissioned specially for Piano Day 2016, Nocturnes is a film exploring intimacy and the procreative power of insomnia. Piano Day is a worldwide celebration of the Piano founded by Nils Frahm. Director: Michael Salu Featuring: Adam Longman Parker Director of Photography: Lukas Feigelfeld Sound mixing and location: Vox-Ton Studios Berlin
Projects credited in
- Facial recognition and the ecstasy of synthesised experienceWe're exploring how ecstasy and agony are reintepreted when much of what we know as experience is now synthesised and privacy is no longer a right. These experiemental processes are now used on King of Joy as part of our creative strategy for Soft Skull Press in New York.1
Work history
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Creative Art DirectorFreemans Journal
New York, United StatesFreelance
Ongoing art direction for the new literary biannual 'Freemans'.
DirectorHouse of Thought
Berlin, GermanyFreelance
My multi-disciplinary studio. I work with a broader network of top talent to produce a variety of different creative work for creative clients.
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Skills
- Concepts
- Ability to Adapt any Creative Project and Branding Solution
- 5+ Years art Directing
- Creative Writing
- 5+ Years Project Management
- Typography
- Filmmaking
- Narratives
- Brand Storytelling
- Creative Storytelling
Awards
Book designD&AD
Art direction award for Londoners, by Craig Taylor.B
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Best cover of the YearBritish Book Design & Production Awards
Winner of the Best Cover of the Year at The British Book Design awards 2011 for Art direction. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shtenygart (UK Edition). Design by La Boco+ Show more