Jochen Sandig was born 1968 in Esslingen, Germany. In 1990 he moved to Berlin to study psychology and philosophy at Free University Berlin. He became one of the most active cultural entrepreneurs and founders of diverse art institutions in the German capital. He began as a founder with the legendary Tacheles Art Centre in 1990 which involved more than 100 international artists from all over the world and started as a squat directly after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990. In 1993, together with his wife Sasha Waltz, he founded the international highly acclaimed dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests. In 1996 he founded Sophiensaele, an independent venue for dance and theatre productions in Berlin-Mitte, which he directed until 1999. From 2000 to 2004 Jochen Sandig was a member of the artistic direction at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz together with Sasha Waltz, Thomas Ostermeier and Jens Hillje. In 2006, he founded in partnership with Folkert Uhde Radialsystem V in a transformed historical pumping station at the riverside. Within 10 years this “space for arts and ideas” was established as venue for new forms and innovations. That’s also where the Falling Walls Conference usually takes place as a physical yearly event. In February 2012 Jochen Sandig celebrated his first direction work with »human requiem«, a staging of Johannes Brahms’ »Ein Deutsches Requiem« in cooperation with the Rundfunkchor Berlin and Simon Halsey as chief conductor .