Barbara Trautmann

Licht Skulptur Bau

Experiencing Space through Light

Barbara Trautmann (b. Oberhausen, 1966; lives and works in Berlin) has been realizing light sculptures in public and private buildings since 2002. Numerous handmade glass tubes filled with neutral white light form three-dimensional drawings in space that interweave the buildings’ interiors and exteriors. Trautmann’s practice is inspired by the work of artists including James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, and Tim Etchells. Many of her sculptures consist of over a hundred illuminants whose arrangement and orientation respond to the spatial situation she finds in place as well as functional features. The results are geometric-abstract light sculptures that subtly yet forcefully heighten the experiences of both private and public settings and the movements of a building’s users and visitors.

The publication features a selection from the artist’s light sculptures, which have garnered numerous prizes in art-in-architecture competitions. It also provides comprehensive insight into the design process, movement studies, and schematic drawings and includes extensive photographic documentation of the works. Essays by Thilo Bock, Klaus Gallwitz, Heike Sütter, Viola Hildebrand-Schat, Martin Seidel, and Helen Adkins discuss Trautmann’s oeuvre in context.