Susanne Rottenbacher

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

The artist at her studio, 2013

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 Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City 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 interventions.

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
1991Josephine Paddock Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1992Henry Bartlett Travel Fellowship to Prague, UCL London
2004GE Edison Award of Excellence
2005IIDA Award of Merit, IESNA
2009Nomination for “Targetti Light Art Award 2009”
2013First 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)

2018

Solo exhibition "Commedia della Luce", Gallery SER, Centre of Contemporary Art, CCA Andratx Mallorca 2018Group exhibition "Border Mattters", Kunsthalle 1, Centre of Contemporary Art, CCA Andratx Mallorca 2018Solo exhibition Haus am Waldsee im Bikini Berlin, "The Twist 01", Lichtinstallation 2017/18Solo exhibition "Disassembly" (Rauminstallation), BOX Freiraum, Berlin, www.box-freiraum.berlin 2017/18Solo exhibition "Commedia della Luce", Ausstellungsraum IrminRodenstockBeck, München 2017Group exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, "Body and Soul", Palazzo Pisani, in cooperation with UNPAINTED art fair 2017Group exhibition, "Signal, Lichtkunst aus der Sammlung Robert Simon", Kunstmuseum Celle 2016Group exhibition, Between Sunrise and Sunset - Schloss Tüssling, Tüssling 2016Group exhibition, "Unpainted LAB 3.0.", Kesselhalle München, kuratiert von Nate Hitchcock 2016Group exhibition, deLight - FELDBUSCHWIESNER, Berlin 2015Group exhibition, German Cool - SPM Salsali Private Museum, Dubai 2015Solo exhibition, The Looking Glass Room`s Exploding Inevitable - 11m2, Berlin
2014Art Dubai, Salsali Private Museum
2014Group exhibition, "Scheinwerfer, Lichtkunst in Deutschland im 21. Jh.", Kunstmuseum Celle
2013Contemporary Istanbul, Galerie artOnIstanbul, Istanbul
2013ViennaFair, Galerie Teapot
2013Group exhibition "Spectrum, the power of colors", Anacapri, Italy
2013Group exhibition TINA B., The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Museum GASK Gallery
2013Soloprojekt VOLTA NY, New York
2012Solo exhibition „Freiheit!“, Christuskirche Cologne
2011Solo exhibition „MAX“, Max Planck Institut, Berlin
2010Group exhibition „Lichtparcours Braunschweig 2010“, Braunschweig
2008Group exhibition „Berlin im Licht“, Märkisches Museum, Berlin
2007Group exhibition „LICHTBERLIN“, Grosser Tiergarten, Berlin
2006Group exhibition “Talents in Residence”, Former Federal Railways Authority, Cologne

Further reading
  • Susanne Rottenbacher - Radiationen, STRZELECKIBOOKS Verlag, Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-946770-02-2
  • Susanne Rottenbacher, Volume I – Beginning to see the light, www.darling publications.de, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-941765-06-1
  • Berlin im Licht, Exhibition catalogue, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Märkisches Museum, Dr. Yvonne Ziegler, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-940939-06-7
  • LICHTBERLIN, Parcours Tiergarten, Exhibition catalogue, Christiane Meixner, published by: Bruno Dorn Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-9810382-9-3
  • Lichtparcours Braunschweig 2010, Exhibition catalogue, Gesine Borcherdt, published by: Appelhans Verlag 2010
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