about | sebastianklug

My work spans from photography to sculpture and installation. It deals with questions of spatial perception and material design and questions the role of photography in shaping our world view, especially through social media. By using different materials and techniques, I create hybrid objects and immersive installations that invite viewers to engage with the thematic background through an aesthetic-sensual experience. Fragments of images, the material properties of their carriers and atmospheric influences such as light, shadow, movement and sound form an inseparable unit.

Bio

Sebastian Klug holds a diploma in Architecture, which he studied at TU Cottbus, IUAV Venice and ETSA Granada. He began to explore documentary photography during DAAD sponsored excursions and workshops in Egypt and Brazil. In 2008 he moved to Berlin, where he immersed himself in a subjective exploration of the city’s nightlife with a Nokia 6300 cell phone camera. After first exhibitions (including as a Highlight during the European Month of Photography Berlin 2010), he deepened his interest during undergraduate studies at the Neue Schule für Fotografie Berlin. By experimenting with photography on a haptic-material level, he found a way to combine image composition with the spatial thinking of his architectural background. Collaborations with various galleries and institutions have led to exhibitions throughout Europe. In 2019 he was presented as Artist Quarterly at Sotheby’s Munich, nominated for the Preis der Nationalgalerie in 2021 and received the Rumpenheimer Kunstpreis DIANA in 2023. He lives and works in Berlin.

Daniel Jones on "Photographic Landscapes" - solo exhibition as part of EMOP Berlin 2020

As Europe’s cherished club scene slumbers beneath the shroud of COVID, the fragments of what was seep across different mediums as a new expression of old desires. What is left in the reflection of a shattered disco ball? Sebastian Klug’s series ‘Mirage’ weaves a unique narrative, in both the literal and figurative. Through the eye of a by-then glaucomic Nokia 6300, the trained architect captures images of bars and clubs across various cities, a distillation of nightlife unfettered, yet seen through an obsolete technology. One might apply this ancient phone’s low-res camera to the haze of an infinite number of evenings spent amongst darkened rooms thick with the hum and throb of pulsating exuberance and intoxication. Using an interwoven technique that combines two photographs into a chimaeric sculpture, Klug reconceptualizes the events of one night or several, blurring the boundaries between image and object, as well as artifact and memory. Clear ideas are stripped of context; what you thought you knew has become something entirely different. New patterns emerge in the spaces between, a secret and intimate language born of night. It tells of the illusion that permeates our forays into those dimmed halls of joy—that this is Forever. In this Blurred New World, the architect's hands are our guide. While the shape of these memories might seem familiar, they travel to phantasmagorical places.

Pictures from press and media features

* 1981 in Munich, lives and works in Berlin

EDUCATION

2002-10 Architecture Studies at TU Cottbus (Diplom 2010)

2004-05 Erasmus Year at IUAV Venice (project with Prof. F. Venezia, stage design with Prof. M. Palli)

2006-07 Free-Mover Semester at ETSA Granada, Spain

2007-08 Workshops at American University Cairo, Egypt and Escola da Cidade Sao Paulo, Brazil

2016-17 Photography Studies at Neue Schule für Fotografie, Berlin

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2025 Mainzer Kunstpreis Einsenturm, nomination

2023 Rumpenheimer Kunst.Preis.DIANA 2023, winner

2021 Preis der Nationalgalerie 2021, nomination

2021 Erasmus+ Grant for Post-Graduate Traineeship Programme 2021 as receiving organization

SOLO / DUO SHOWS

2025 Sous les Ondes, Plat/Form Paris, commisioned by Quai 36, Paris

2025 Mitte | Nacht, Berlin Weekly, Berlin

2024 Wand vor lauter Räumen, Das Klohäuschen, Munich

2024 7020 t, Nachtspeicher 23, Hamburg

2024 Blues, with Christian Thomas SO/Berlin Das Stue, Berlin

2023 Above us, only sky, Rumpenheimer Kunstpreis, Schlosskirche Rumpenheim, Offenbach

2023 Materealities, with Antonia Gruber, Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin

2023 Materealities, with Antonia Gruber, Beiste Kunstraum, Photoszene Festival, Cologne

2022 Werkschau, Kunstlabor 2, Munich

2022 Don't look know! A voyeuristic view, with Nadja Lana, Gallery N° 10, Berlin

2021 Polyflowers//Technocolor, with Vanessa Leissring Photoszene Festival, Cologne

2020 Photographic Landscapes, European Month of Photograph Berlin, Mainoeuvre, Berlin

2020 Fragmented Realities, with Markus J. Becker Andreas Reinisch Project, Berlin

2019 Interwoven, Artist Quarterly, Sotheby's Munich

2018 Blue Memories, Monat der Fotografie Off, Bernheimer Contemporary, Berlin

2015 Sleepers, Giftraum, Berlin

2014 O du mein holder Abendstern, Team Titanic, Berlin

2013 Nattens Møder i Berlin, Mellemrummet, Copenhagen

2013 Dissolutions, Factory Street Gallery, Helsinki

2010 Durch die Nacht, European Month of Photography (highlight), Galerie Ina Köhler, Berlin

2010 Proyecto Final: Es war so schön bei dir Marie..., Fenster 61, Berlin

2010 In the nighttime, Galerie Fango, Cottbus

GROUP SHOWS

2025 Ortung 14, Biennale, Schwabach

2025 30. Mainzer Kunstpreis Eisenturm, MVB-Forum, Mainz

2025 Europa ohne Ende, Spor Klübü, Berlin

2025 Ne travellez jamais, Geh8 Kunstraum, Dresden

2025 Fix It!, curated by Architects4Future, nGbK Berlin

2025 DNA. Art House, Night Art Club, Berlin

2024 Lost, group show with Kristoffer Axén and Damien Bockenmeyer, Galerie Hors Champs, Paris

2024 Temps de Jou(i)r, Galerie Nocte, Paris

2024 Plein Air Bayreuth, Installation, 6* Festival, Bayreuth

2024 Airdrop, outdoor installation, Forestival, Lahnstein

2024 Erregung öffentlicher Freude, Hilbertraum, Berlin

2024 Everyone but Caspar!, Kunsthalle Niendorf, Hamburg

2023 Carte blanche, Nachtspeicher 23, Hamburg

2023 Darkness Falls, Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow

2023 Weite Felder, Kunstgut Krahne/ Kloster Lehnin

2023 Keep Your Eyes Peeled, AFF Galerie, Berlin

2023 Hdden Message, Installation, Glue Berlin

2023 Écran tactile, Installation, Feel Festival, Lichterfeld-Schacksdorf

2022 Artspace Bremerhaven, Installation, Die Alte Bürger, Bremerhaven

2022 Damnatio Memoriae, Gefängnis am Amtsgericht Köpenick, Berlin

2022 Mindscape, Luisa Catucci Gallery, Berlin

2021 Blauer Raum, Installation, Kunstlabor 2 (MUCA), Munich

2021 Widerschein, Installation,Tag des Offenen Denkmals, KUKUK Berlin, Berlin

2021 Photoscenes, Flies and other Dots, Direkte Auktion, Pirol Studios, Berlin

2019 Stadtansichten in zeitgenössischer Malerei, Grafik und Fotografie, Klostergalerie Hof

2019 Other Identity - altre forme di identità culturali e pubbliche, Guidi & Schoen, Genua

2018 Ansbach Contemporary 2018, Biennial for Contemporary Art, Ansbach

2018 Here 3, Cavallerizza Irreale, Turin

2018 Wonderland, Bernheimer Contemporary, Berlin

2017 Streamflow, Bernheimer Contemporary, Berlin

2017 A Contemporary Show, Conception Arts, Dovetail Brewery, Chicago

2017 Weinosten, curated by Sandra Schlipkoeter and Ellen DeLaine, Hilbertraum, Berlin
2017 Art Karlsruhe, booth of Bernheimer Contemporary, Karlsruhe

2016 When did we stop playing?, Anna Laudel Contemporary, Istanbul
2016 Berlin Art Week Exhibition, Enter Art Foundation, Berlin

2016 Borders + Cities Skin, Venice Art House, Venice

2016 Diese Ausstellung, Tamtam Bar, Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich

2016 Other Identity, Loggia della Mercanzia, Genua

2015 Die Lichtenberg Norm, Galerie Zwitschermaschine, Berlin

2014 Shunga - Träume einer fließenden Welt, Glashaus/Arena, Berlin

2013 Nighthawks Neukölln, Galerie Michaela Helfrich, Berlin

2013 Berlin meets Wiesbaden, Galerie Grötecke, Wiesbaden

2012 Portrait Salon, The Roxy/London, Miniclick/Brighton, Third Floor Gallery/Cardiff a.o.
2012 Cell Phones in Summer, Artspace at Untitled, Oklahoma City

2011 ...off the beaten tracks, Neonchocolate Gallery, Berlin

2011 08. Berliner Kunstsalon, art fair, Uferhallen, Berlin
2011 Berlinoir, Installation as part of Schiume Festival, Forte Marghera, Venice

2011 Berlin - Choreographie einer Stadt, Forum Factory, Berlin

PUBLICATIONS

2025 Ortung 14, Schwabach Biennial, catalogue

2023 Kunst.Ort.Rumpenheim, catalogue

2023 Internationale Photoszene Köln, catalogue

2023 Monat der Fotografie Off, catalogue

2021 Tag des Offenen Denkmals, Berlin, catalogue

2020 EMOP Berlin 2020, catalogue

2018 Ansbach Contemporary, biennial for contemporary art, catalogue

2018 Monat der Fotografie Off, catalogue