Werner Klotz

Werner Klotz, (* 1956 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 1956 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. 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 more than 30,000 people from the Holocaust.

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.

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

 * 2019-20  Candelabro - Aristides de Sousa Mendes, 13 channel Video/Audio sculpture commissioned by the Sousa Mendes Foundation, New York
 * 2019       Schlachtfeld( Battlefield), commissioned sculpture for Museum Dreissig Jaehriger Krieg, Wittstock, Germany
 * 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
 * 2023 Silent Stream, Union/Market Central Subway Station, San Francisco, with artist Jim Campbell, San Francisco Art Commission
 * 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, SEATAC Airport Light Rail Station, commissioned two kinetic light sculptures, Soundtransit Public Art Program, Seattle
 * 2004       Anemone, San Francisco International Airport, interactive kinetic sculpture, San Francisco Art Commission, SFO airport collection
 * 2002–06 Le Milieu du Monde, Staten Island Ferries, Commission for  a GPS steered Light-, Video- and Audio, Installation on all three bridge decks on each ferry, Department of Culture and Department of Transportation, New York City, USA
 * 2000       Spiegel/Spiegel (Mirror/Mirror),  Exhibition concept and optical instrument building, Kinder- und Jugendmuseum, Munich
 * 1999       Scala, Charité Universitätsklinikum, Berlin, permanent Installation historical Auditorium, Medizinhistorisches Museum, Berlin
 * 1999       Colloquium Externum, permanent kinetic out door sculpture, Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft, (University of Business), Ludwigshafen
 * 1997       Doors, Brenner Pass, out door sculpture, Italian/Austrian border

Public collections

 * Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Landesmuseum Rheinland-Pfalz
 * 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
 * New-York City Art Commission, USA
 * SFO-airport collection, San Francisco
 * San-Francisco Art Commission, USA
 * Sousa-Mendes Foundation, New York
 * Targetti-Light Art Collection, Florence, Italy

Teaching
Werner Klotz taught Installation, Social Sculpture and Public Art at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1997 - 2002

Social Sculpture at the California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA 2002 - 2003