Burkhard Held was born in 1953 in West Berlin. From 1972 to 1978 he studied at the University of the Arts, West Berlin. From 1979-80 he studied for one year in Garrucha (Spain) with a scholarship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. From 1993 until his retirement, he was a professor at the University of Arts in Berlin. Held lives and works in Berlin.