Michael Metzger is the Pick-Laudati Academic Curator for Cinema and Media Arts at the Block Museum at Northwestern University. In his scholarship, critical writing, film programming, and curation, Michael seeks to foster community, knowledge, and experience through the moving image.
As the director of the Block Cinema screening series at Northwestern, Michael has organized over 100 in-person and virtual film events, advancing a capacious and inclusive vision of cinema. His curatorial efforts include installations by artists Paul Chan, Isaac Julien, and Sky Hopinka, as well as the forthcoming exhibition The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto, opening January 2023 at the Block Museum. With J.P. Sniadecki, Michael co-leads the Climate Crisis and Media Arts Working Group, supported by the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern.
Michael holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Stanford University. Prior to his appointment at the Block, Michael organized the exhibition Environmental Exposure: Photography and Ecology after 1970 at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center.
Michael has worked as an educator since 2007, teaching courses on the history of images and information and digital media production, and lecturing on environmental media, desktop aesthetics and “imperfect cinema.”