LUFTWERK

Total Space: Landscape is a Composition 2020

Petra Bachmaier (b. 1974) & Sean Gallero (b. 1973) live and work in Chicago.

Luftwerk was founded in 2007.

The artistic collaboration between Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero of Luftwerk studio centers on the exploration of light and color. Bachmaier and Gallero take an interdisciplinary approach, experimenting with a spectrum of materials and techniques to advance their artistic medium and vision. Their work intends to shift the viewer’s perceptions of space and site through light, color, and sound, opening new conversations by inviting the public to experience the familiar transform. Since founding Luftwerk in 2007, Bachmaier and Gallero have amassed a significant body of work ranging from site-specific installations to experimental projects that interpret data, with immersive artwork at icons such as Chicago’s Millennium Park, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, Mies van der Rohe’s German Pavilion and Farnsworth House, Marcel Breuer’s Central Library of Atlanta, as well as museum exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center, Zürich Museum für Gestaltung, MASS MoCA, and Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory.

CURRENTLY LIVE & WORK IN CHICAGO

SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022: Exact Dutch Yellow, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Frequency / Chronology, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, NY
Colorscapes, Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, Nashville, TN
2021: Open Square, Mattress Factory Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
2020: Chiaro Oscuro, Volume Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019: Parallel Perspectives, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst IL
2018: afterglow, Volume Gallery, Chicago IL
2017: Color Code, Cleve Carney Gallery, Glen Ellyn, IL
White Wanderer, NRDC X EXPO Chicago, IL
2016: Corner of a Square, The Arts Club of Chicago, IL
2015: solarise: a sea of all colors, Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, IL
2014: Into And Out Of, The Franklin, Chicago, IL
2013: SHIFT, The Chicago Rooms, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2010: Driftless, American Institute of Architects DesCours, New Orleans, LA
2010: Projecting Modern, The Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, IL

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022: The Solar Biennial, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2021: Off the Charts, Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2020: Total Space, Museum of Design, Zürich Switzerland
Nothingness, White Space Black Box, Neuchatel, Switzerland
2015: Terrain Biennial, 6018 North, Chicago, IL
2014: Currents New Media Festival, Santa Fe, NM

TEMPORARY INTERVENTIONS

2023: Open Space, Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg, Germany (fortchoming)
2020: SOS Color Code, multiple institutional and private sites throughout the US
Requiem: A White Wanderer, Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
2019: Geometry of Light, Barcelona Pavilion | Edith Farnsworth House, Plano, IL
Center of Rotation, Robert F. Carr Memorial Chapel of St. Savior IIT, Chicago
2017: Becoming, Design Miami X Perrier Jouet, Miami, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Munich
Transition, Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston, MA
CloudLand, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
Turning Sky, The 606, Chicago, IL
2016: bLUMEN Pavilion, Homan Square, Chicago, IL
Recurrence Kiley Gardens, Tampa, FL
Geometry in Space, Denver Art Museum, Denver
Mauerschau, Bayerische Staatsoper, Sommerfestspiele, Munich, Germany
2014: Lyrical Geometry, Bruce Goff designed Ford House, Aurora, IL
Modern Ball, Architecture and Design Society, The Art Institute of Chicago
INsite, Edith Farnsworth House, Plano, IL
FLOW / Im Fluss, Couch Place Alley, Chicago, IL
2012: Luminous Field, Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
2011: Art in Nature: Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

PERMANENT INTERVENTIONS

2023: Journey of the Sun, Duke Energy, Charlotte, NC (forthcoming)
Woven Together, 4900 S Ashland Viaduct, Chicago Public Art Collection
2022: ZUVA, Dzimbanhete Arts & Culture Interactions, Harare, Zimbabwe
Arboreta, BMO Tower, Chicago, IL
2020: Aelous: Fast Shifting, Old Post Office of Chicago, Patti Gilford Fine Arts
Tree of Light, Atlanta Central Library, Fulton County Public Art Collection
Starry Fields, 19th District Police Station, Chicago Public Art Collection
2019: Field, Walter Netsch Residence, Chicago
2018: Occurrence of Light, 707 Fifth Street, Calgary Canada
Linear Sky, Kansas City, 21c Museum Hotel

RESIDENCIES

2022: Bellevue University, Sustainability Lab | Omaha, NE
Institute of Electronic Art | Alfred University | Alfred University, NY
CTG Collective | Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa
Loghaven Residency | Knoxville TN
2021: Fallingwater Artist in Residence | Mills Run, PA
Montello Foundation Artist in Residence | Montello, NV
The Mattress Factory Residency | Pittsburgh, PA
2020: Institute of Electronic Art | Alfred University | Alfred University, NY
2019: Outer Ear Residency | Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, IL
3Arts Residency Fellowship | Djerassi Residency, Woodside, CA
2018: Institute of Electronic Art | Alfred University, NY
Latitude Artist Residency | Chicago, IL
2017: 3Arts Residency Fellowship | Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Captiva, FL
Winter BAiR | Banff Centre for Art and Creativity, Canada
2013: 3Arts Residency Fellowship | Ragdale, River Forest, IL
Institute of Electronic Arts | Alfred University, NY
2011: Lucerne Artist Residency | Swiss Benevolent Society

AWARDS

2022: Artist Award | Illinois Arts Council
Hopper Prize Finalist
2021: Artist Fellowship | Illinois Arts Council
2020: Individual Artist Program | DCASE
2019: Artist Award | Illinois Arts Council
Project Support | Year of German American Friendship
Project Grant | The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
Individual Artist Program | DCASE
2018: AIA Chicago Small Projects Award for bLUMEN Pavilion
2017: Featured Project: Solarise | Americans for the Art Public Art Network
2015: Featured Project: INsite | Americans for the Arts Public Art Network
2015: Endorsement Award for Innovation | Surface Magazine
2014: Media Art Award | National Endowment for the Arts
2013: Featured project: Luminous Field | Americans for the Arts Public Art Network
2010: Project Grant | The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOK MENTIONS

New Media Installation: Technology in Public Art, Sandu Publications, 2018
Why Look at Plants,Giovanni Aloi, Brill Publishers, 2018
Elements and Principles of 4D Art and Design, OXFORD University Press 2016
The State of Art, Installation & Site Specific #2, Bare Hill Publishing, Fall 2015
Public Places, Gestalten, Fall 2012

MEDIA

The Art Assignment | Art Trip: Chicago 2, The Great Outdoors, 2016 | PBS