Michael Whittle is an artist and researcher specializing in Diagrammatology, the study of diagrams.  His journey began with training in biochemistry, before venturing into fine art for his BA, MA, and PhD.  Whittle's artistic practice now integrates images, ideas, and data from science, developed through close dialogues with scientists about their research and motivations.

Recent projects include 'Butterfly on the Sun', a large-scale installation for the 2022 Changwon Sculpture Biennale developed in consultation with NASA astrophysicist David Hathaway, and Perpetual Motion (2020), which explored the biology of movement and memory in consultation with Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientists May-Britt and Edvard Moser. 

 

In 2025 he curated and produced the Cabinet of Curiosities, an ambitious interdisciplinary exhibition that brought together over forty artists, scientists, and designers. Selected by legendary curator Johnson Chang as the inaugural exhibition for his new private art venue in Hong Kong, the project became a landmark exploration of wonder and the intersections of art and science.
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He is currently developing the groundbreaking Mars Impression project in collaboration with master Hong Kong ink painter Hung Hoi. Using high-resolution NASA Mars rover data transformed into an immersive VR environment, the project enabled Hung Hoi to undertake a form of “spirit travel” (神遊) across the Martian landscape — widely regarded as the first Chinese ink painting of Mars created through direct artistic immersion.

Whittle is co-founder of 'Studio Pollen' an AI-powered creative studio founded in Kyoto, Japan, with artist-technologist Atticus Sims. Currently, he serves as Associate Professor of Contemporary Art in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Macau.