We are not what we know
but what we are willing to learn.

Mary Catherine Bateson

To give oneself meaning – Creating Meaning Through Decisions

It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t searching for the meaning of life – I was giving my life meaning. This happened through context-shaping decisions that brought tasks into my life and stayed with me: studying, becoming a husband and father, choosing a profession and employer – and ultimately founding Ateliers im Delta together with my daughter Hannah. That was the moment I became an artist.

In doing so, I never ignored myths, religious cosmologies, astrological systems, or other frameworks of meaning. Instead, I consciously decided what role they should play in my life, which is primarily shaped by scientific thinking. A concept from engineering helped me in this process: the solution-neutral formulation of problems. This technique allows one to strip theories and worldviews of dogmas and value judgments, transforming them into teachings and spaces of possibility – spaces in which I could make my own decisions.

In one such space, I encountered the Sumerian goddess Inanna, who became my protective deity. She embodies the morning and evening star, the planet Venus, and is often depicted with a foot resting on lions. She corresponds to the astrological context of my birth. Everything I discovered about her made her – in the spirit of my art project Carpe Diem et Noctem – the goddess of lifelong learning, the omniscient narratrix and also the omniscient narrator.

The annotated résumé comprises three phases of life in reverse chronological order.

🎨 Ateliers im Delta (AiD)

💼 Professional Career

🎓 Academic Background

My childhood is not documented here.

🎨 Ateliers im Delta (AiD)

2025

The work Radar Love emerges from an epistemology of love – a search for answers to how differently we choose to shape and live love, desire, and passion in relationships, affairs, and friendships, beyond notions of right or wrong.

2024
Initiation and organization of the project AiD ART M as chairman of the AiD Kunstbetrieb, together with co-chairwoman Hannah Moser.
Founding of the AiD Kunstbetrieb GmbH, which has evolved into a multifaceted platform for contemporary art, encompassing:

• AiD Artist Books
• AiD Book Editions
• AiD Artist Editions
• AiD TM42
  AiD supports artists through coaching, production, publishing, and curatorial services.

2023
Appointment to the board of the Künstlerbund Rhein-Neckar (Artists’ Association of the Rhine-Neckar Region).

2022
Founding of the non-profit AiD gGmbH together with Hannah Moser, dedicated to supporting emerging artists through financial aid, art prizes, and awards.

2021
Development of the structural framework for key AiD projects:

2020
Early retirement from SAP to fully focus on AiD.
Launch of the project Guide for Smart Avant-Gardists, a lifelong learning initiative within the TM42 framework.
Completion of his first cycle as a Metal Rat in Chinese astrology – a symbolic year of renewal and new beginnings.

• Carpe Diem et Noctem
• City of Reason
• Guide for Smart Avant-Gardists
• My Christian Testament

2019
Final year of rjm’s professional career as a Business Solution Architect for SAP Suite Architecture.

2018
Participation in the Discovery Art Fair Frankfurt as a producer gallery, presenting artist books and editions.
Organization of the talk “Photography – The Artist Engineer” at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums.

2017
Launch of the project Eden. The “Giftbox” was established as an experimental artist space. This period saw the emergence of the first AiD artist editions.

2016
Start of the project My Christian Testament and the TM42 series Deliver Us from Evil.
Completion of the scientific development of a new architectural and constructive methodology, which rjm chose to implement through art and TM42.

2015
Publication of the first artist book The Aristotelian Roots of Truth and Reason. This marked the beginning of the AiD artist book format, including the first “Denkzettel” – conceptual notes combining art and philosophy.

2014
Organization and presentation of the talk “Photography – The Halls of Eternal Thunder” in collaboration with the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums.

2012/13
Initiation of the interdisciplinary art project The Halls of Eternal Thunder, featuring the series The Aristotelian Roots of Truth and Reason, which explored philosophical and aesthetic themes.

2011
Launch of AiD Theatrum Mundi 42 (TM42), a performative and conceptual framework for artistic reflection on structure, meaning, and the human condition.

2010
rjm co-founded Ateliers im Delta (AiD) and introduced a conceptual structure for the studio together with co-founder Hannah Moser, using Latin titles to define its thematic branches:

• Carpe Diem et Noctem – artistic philosophy, which later evolved into the art project Zettelwirtschaft für Lebenskrisen (Notes for Life Crises).
• Camera Obscura et Magica – rjm’s personal platform, especially for artistic photography.
• In Omnibus Veritas – model building with cybernetic meta-structures.

💼 Professional Career

2008
He further developed this methodology scientifically, reconstructing it based on mathematical languages, a semantic architecture of truth, and a modeling system with cybernetic meta-structures. This laid the theoretical foundation for integrating epistemology, system modeling, and artistic practice.

2006
Publication of his first book on modeling complex organizations and business processes. The work introduced the framework of the “New Techne” and a new architectural and constructive methodology.

2002
rjm created five large-format conceptual sheets (DIN A3+), each reflecting philosophical and cybernetic themes:

• Aristotle’s Gate
• Bateson’s Mind
• Baudelaire’s Ecstasy
• Tucholsky’s Staircase
• Genesis – The Cybernetics of Creation
  In parallel, he led a project to develop a new business architecture for SAP Financials.

2003
He became a founding member of the Business Solution Architects Group (BSAG) at SAP. This role allowed him to merge his professional expertise with his personal interests, advising SAP clients on business architecture and structural design.

1995
His first artistic works emerged in the context of creativity workshops for colleagues. The initial “note” titled The Cybernetics of Creation marked the beginning of a conceptual and artistic exploration of systems and meaning.

1990
As a development lead, rjm played a key role in shaping the architecture of SAP R/3, one of the company’s most significant software platforms.

1988
He joined SAP (SAP token: qrm, personnel number: 220), beginning a long and influential career in enterprise software development.

1987
rjm completed 15 months of military service with the Signal Command 850, where he was responsible for software development. For his contributions, he was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit of the German Armed Forces.

🎓 Academic Background

1980-86
He began his studies at the University of Mannheim with a distinctly interdisciplinary focus:

1978
rjm graduated from Ludwig-Frank-Gymnasium in Mannheim, as part of the final cohort before the upper school reform. Instead of a modular course system, he completed five core subjects taught at an advanced level, providing a broad and rigorous academic foundation.

• Business Informatics under Franz Steffens,
• Cybernetics under Gert von Kortzfleisch,
• Epistemology under Hans Albert.

This unique combination laid the groundwork for rjm’s later work at the intersection of systems thinking, structural development, and artistic reflection.