Dieter Appelt

Having taught himself the foundations of photography as a teenager with his father’s equipment, Dieter Appelt began his career as a singer at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Leipzig. He continued his studies at the School of Music in Berlin in 1958, and simultaneously enrolled at the neighbouring University of Arts where he studied photography with Heinz Hajek-Halke, amongst others. In 1961, he received a position as a singer for the Deutsche Oper but continued with his art studies. During a guest performance in Japan in 1970, he came into contact with Zen Buddhism, which had a lasting artistic influence on him. Longer study trips followed to Italy where he created his early, important sequences ‘Monte Isola’ (1976) and ‘Erinnerungsspur’ (1977-79), and other works. He left his post at the Deutsche Oper in 1979 to dedicate himself completely to art. He worked as professor for photography, film and video at the University of Arts from 1982 to 2000 and was appointed Dean of the University in 1996. Dieter Appelt lives and works in Berlin.