Susanne Rottenbacher (born 11 July 1969) is a German artist primarily concerned with light, color and installation.
Life & Work
Susanne Rottenbacher studied stage design at Barnard College from 1988 to 1991 in New York (B.A.) and then (1991-1992) completed a degree in light (MSc) at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning in London. She worked as a set designer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as a light designer for the "LichtKunstLicht" planning office. In this context, among other things, she designed the lighting design for the Federal Chancellery and the new government buildings. She has been working as a freelance light artist since 2007. Susanne Rottenbacher creates expansive installations from sculptural elements that can best be described as light-colored bodies. Her sculptures are characterised by great lightness and transparency and change in dialogue with the surrounding space and times of day. They penetrate the surrounding space like three-dimensional drawings and thus reinterpret it. The organically curved forms seem to be in dynamic motion and at the same time frozen in time and space.
Awards 1991 Josephine Paddock Fellowship, Columbia University, New York City 1992 Henry Bartlett Travel Fellowship to Prague, University College London 2004 General Electric Edison Award of Excellence 2005 IIDA Award of Merit, Illuminating Engineering Society 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, Centro Cultural Andratx Mallorca 2018 1st place KAB competition board area "Headquarters Evangelische Bank eG", Kassel 2022 Shortlist Nomination: Art in Architecture Competition Extension of the Federal Chancellery, Berlin
Exhibitions (selection) 2007: LICHTBERLIN, Parcours Großer Tiergarten Berlin, Group exhibition 2008: "Berlin im Licht", Märkisches Museum, Berlin, Group exhibition 2010: Lichtparcours Braunschweig 2010, Group exhibition 2011: "MAX", Max-Planck-Institut, Berlin, Solo exhibition 2012: "Freiheit", Christuskirche Köln, Art Cologne, Solo exhibition 2013: TINA B., The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, GASK gallery (Czech Museum of Fine Arts) 2014: "Scheinwerfer, Lichtkunst in Deutschland im 21. Jahrhundert", Kunstmuseum Celle 2014: Art Dubai, Salsali Private Museum, Dubai 2015: The Looking Glass Room's Exploding Inevitable - 11m2, Berlin, Solo exhibition 2015: German Cool - SPM Salsali Private Museum, Dubai, Group exhibition 2016: "Unpainted LAB 3.0. (Nate Hitchcock)", Kesselhalle München, Group exhibition 2017: "Signal, Lichtkunst aus der Sammlung Robert Simon", Kunstmuseum Celle, 2017: La Biennale di Venezia, Group exhibition "Body and Soul", Palazzo Pisani, UNPAINTED art fair 2017: "Disassembly", BOX Freiraum, Berlin, Solo exhibition 2018: Haus am Waldsee im Bikini Berlin, "The Twist 01", Solo exhibition 2018: "Border Matters", Kunsthalle 1, Centre of Contemporary Art, Centro Cultural Andratx Mallorca, Group exhibition 2018: "Commedia della Luce", Gallery SER, Centro Cultural Andratx Mallorca, Solo exhibition 2019 "Museum of Now", Berlin Art Society, Berlin, Group exhibition 2019 "Winterlicht", DA Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst, Solo exhibition 2020 "PArt-Producers Art Platform", Rene Spiegelberger Stiftung, Hamburg, Group exhibition (digital) 2020 "In einem anderen Licht", Kunsthaus Dahlem Berlin, Solo exhibition 2021 "Im Schein der Sterne", Museum Starnberger See, Group Exhibition 2022 "In Love With Tomorrow", solo exhibition Swarovski Crystal Worlds Vienna 2023 "Berlin-Seoul", group exhibition, Bermel von Luxburg Gallery in cooperation CHOI&CHOI Gallery SEOUL, Korea 2024 "Light Without Borders", The Small Museum - Culture on the Peunt, Weissenstadt 2025 Spark Art Fair Vienna, solo presentation
Further reading Susanne Rottenbacher - Radiationen, STRZELECKIBOOKS Verlag, Cologne 2016, Susanne Rottenbacher, Volume I – Beginning to see the light, www.darling publications.de, Cologne 2009, Berlin im Licht, Exhibition catalogue, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Märkisches Museum, Dr. Yvonne Ziegler, Berlin 2008, LICHTBERLIN, Parcours Tiergarten, Exhibition catalogue, Christiane Meixner, published by: Bruno Dorn Verlag, Berlin 2007, Lichtparcours Braunschweig 2010, Exhibition catalogue, Gesine Borcherdt, published by: Appelhans Verlag 2010 Radiations, monograph, with texts by Gérard Goodrow and Julia Ritterskamp, STRZELECKIBOOKS Verlag, Cologne 2016, Susanne Rottenbacher, Radiationen, Monograph, With texts by Dr. Katja Blomberg and Dr. Mark Gisbourne, DCV Books Verlag, Berlin 2022,
References
External links
BOB, The international magazine of space design, Article about Susanne Rottenbacher Artist Instagram