Susanne Rottenbacher

The artist at her studio, 2013

Susanne Rottenbacher (born 11 July 1969) is a German artist primarily concerned with light, color and installation.

Life and work

Installation "Freiheit!", Christuskirche, Cologne, 2012
Installation "Shine A Light", showroom Manske, Berlin, 2013
Installation "Talk, Talk", Berlin, 2014

Rottenbacher was born in Göttingen and is now based in Berlin. The artist enrolled at Columbia University, Barnard College, New York, in 1988. After graduating in 1991 (B.A., scenography / theatre) she attended the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning in London to study light and lighting design (M.Sc.,1992).

Rottenbacher creates spacious installations assembled from individual sculptural elements best to be described as light-colour corpuses. They are made of perspex constructs equipped on their inside with LED lights and painted on their outside with dynamic stripe-patterns. Suspended from the ceiling by strands of wire, the sculptures seem to be floating in space. Others are placed on the ground, either free standing or simply laid down. Truncated forms seem to merge into the architecture, apparently progressing into walls and floors. All such elements may be presented individually or pooled to form larger ensembles that function as site-specific intenventions.

In Rottenbacher's sculptures, the coloured light firstly correlates with the stripe-painting and the form of the perspex corpus. It then als interacts vividly with the specific light dynamic of the surrounding space creating a form of a continuous dialogue. Given a strong surrounding light, colour and form seem to be very much focussed on the sculpture´s specific form. With decreasing daylight, the work increasingly radiates into the space in an occupying manner. Changing daylight allows for a spectacle of great poetic power to occur, showcasing the sculpture as its bright and shining "hero".

Although she creates massive sculptural bodies and spacious installations, Rottenbacher's sculptures are generally characterized by particular lightness and transparency. Often enough these playfully enter into an exciting and ironic tribute playing dialogue with the works of some of the most prolific sculptors of the 20th century. (text: Rafael von Uslar)

Awards

1991 Josephine Paddock Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1992 Henry Bartlett Travel Fellowship to Prague, UCL London
2004 GE Edison Award of Excellence
2005 IIDA Award of Merit, IESNA
2009 Nomination for “Targetti Light Art Award 2009”
2013 First prize (call for entry), C.O.R. building Düsseldorf, permanent installation “Gustaf”

| 2016 || Artist in Residence, Centre of Contemporary Art, CCA, Andratx Mallorca

Exhibitions (selection)

2016

Group exhibition, Between Sunrise and Sunset - Schloss Tüssling, Tüssling

2016

Group exhibition, Der Flug Der Königinnen - Women at work - Rompone, Cologne

2016

Group exhibition, Unpainted 2016 - 99artfairs GmbH, Munich

2016

Group exhibition, deLight - FELDBUSCHWIESNER, Berlin

2015

Group exhibition, German Cool - SPM Salsali Private Museum, Dubai

2015

Group exhibition, Die Kraft der Idee - Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle

2015

Solo exhibition, The Looking Glass Room`s Exploding Inevitable - 11m2, Berlin
2014 Solo exhibition, Wiplash In The Dark, Gallery Teapot, Cologne
2014 Group project, Vienna International Art fair
2014 Art Dubai, Salsali Private Museum
2014 Group exhibition, "Scheinwerfer, Lichtkunst in Deutschland im 21. Jh.", Kunstmuseum Celle
2013 Contemporary Istanbul, Galerie artOnIstanbul, Istanbul
2013 Group exhibition TINA B., The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Museum GASK Gallery
2013 Soloprojekt VOLTA NY, New York
2012 Solo exhibition, „3 Kontrapunkte für 20 Ringe“, Kunsthaus Grosse Bleichen, Hamburg Art Week, Hamburg
2012 Solo exhibition „Freiheit!“, Christuskirche Cologne
2011 Solo exhibition „MAX“, Max Planck Institut, Berlin
2011 Solo exhibition „6 Kontrapunkte für 22 Ringe“, Gallery Teapot Cologne
2010 Group exhibition „Lichtparcours Braunschweig 2010“, Braunschweig
2009 Solo exhibition, Exhibition room “Wallrafplatz 1”, Düsseldorf Cologne Open Galleries 2009
2008 Solo exhibition „Synthetic Landscapes“, Gallery Teapot, Cologne
2008 Group exhibition „Berlin im Licht“, Märkisches Museum, Berlin
2007 Group exhibition „LICHTBERLIN“, Grosser Tiergarten, Berlin
2006 Group exhibition “Talents in Residence”, Former Federal Railways Authority, Cologne

Further reading

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