Werner Klotz

Werner Klotz (born in Bonn, Germany) is an artist based in Berlin and New York, working in the fields of installation and interactive art.

Life and career Werner Klotz was born in Bonn, Germany. In 1974 he moved to West Berlin.

He worked first as a painter then as a sculptor and installation artist. His work relies on natural contexts.

In 1981 he cofounded the artist group Material&Wirkung e.V., Berlin (Material&Effect), they organized art projects in public context and early installation art till 1985.

In 1982 he began a complex body of work with live Roman Snails (Helix Pomatia L.) in conserving their trails in time, space and movement-based art works as well as performances and interventions.

In 1990 he moved to San Francisco and became 2007 also US citizen. His work at this time included the development and fabrication of functional optical instruments and installations. These Perception Instruments are the foundation of this public art works leading to the present day.

His current artworks make use of site-specific and interactive contexts that rely on viewer participation to emphasize themes and ideas unique to each project. Using a variety of materials and strategies including light, sound, video and mechanics.

Realized projects include Le Milieu du Monde, a permanent multimedia installation onboard the Bridge deck of three new Staten Island Ferries in New York City and Anemone, an interactive kinetic installation permanently on view at the San Francisco International Airport. Flying Sails, two kinetic light sculptures at Seattle's SeaTac airport's light rail station are activated by the air pressure of passing trains.

From 2014-18 he realized three large scale kinetic light art works for the new sculpture park Dosse Park in Wittstock, Germany.

In 2020 Werner Klotz created the 13 channel video sculpture Candelabro commemorating the Portuguese Diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes who saved thousands of refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied France. This artwork was commissioned by the New York Sousa Mendes Foundation.

In April 2021 Werner Klotz, in collaboration with artist Jim Campbell, installed the artwork Silent Stream for the Union Square Station of the Central Subway in San Francisco. Silent Stream consists of more than 10,000 unique reflective discs of different sizes and is around one hundred and fifty meters long. This permanent artwork is open to the public as of January 2023.

Together with german artist Thomas Moecker and the italian Architect Anna Dilengite he won the 3. prize for the competition of the German National Freedom and Unity Monument in Leipzig.

Werner Klotz is the recipient of the New York City Art Commission award for excellence in Public Art and the Marler Medien Kunst Preis- Raum-Medien - Germany's most respected Media Art Award.

Beside his sculptural art works Werner Klotz created a two-dimensional body of work with printed digital files based on compositions of video imagery stills from water surfaces filmed in Californian waterfalls. Together with his daughter Nanette (* 2004 in Vancouver) he discovered and researched a section of a creek in the wilderness north of Vancouver, BC and is still working on photographic compositions of water, current, light and mineral structures directly in this stream.

Awards

2002 New York City Art Commission Award for Excellence in Design of Public Art 2002 Marler Medienkunst-Preis, Raum–Medien, Museum Glaskasten, Marl 1999 Arbeitsstipendium (working grant), Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn 1998 Istanbul Stipendium, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, Berlin 1997 Artist in residence, Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Woodside, USA 1996 Artist in residence, City Art Gallery Auckland, New Zealand 1994 Berliner Künstlerstipendium (artist working grant), Senatsverwaltung für Kultur, Berlin

Public art commissions

2023 Silent Stream, Union/Market Central Subway Station, San Francisco, with artist Jim Campbell, San Francisco Art Commission - Aristides de Sousa Mendes, 13 channel Video/Audio sculpture commissioned by the Sousa Mendes Foundation, New York 2014–17 Mitte der Welt (Middle of the World), permanent kinetic outdoor sculpture, Sonnenfänger (Sun Catcher), light sculpture and Wolkenhaus (House of Clouds), Kunsthaus Dosse Park, Wittstock 2011 Spiegelkabinett (House of Mirrors), Kindermuseum, Berlin 2006–09 Deutsche Telekom AG, Bonn, Commission and Prototypes for interactive bus stops, light sculptures and out of home furniture 2010 Flying Sails, 2004 Anemone, Berlinische Galerie, Landesmuseum Berlin Karl-Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen Kunstsammlung der Jenoptik, Jena Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medien, ZKM, Karlsruhe Museum-DreissigJaehriger Krieg, Wittstock, Germany Neuer-Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin Sammlung-Haupt, Berlin Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer, Germany New-York City Art Commission, USA