Sebastian Klug (* 1981 in Munich) is a photographer and visual artist based in Berlin. His practice spans photography, sculptures, and installations. He started using photography whilst studying architecture, documenting his view of Berlin’s vibrant nightlife with a Nokia 6300 mobile phone camera in low light levels. The atmospheric visual diary that mixes the grain, noise, and strange colors of his phone’s pictures with that of his nocturnal encounters was chosen as a highlight at the European Month of Photography Festival in Berlin in 2010 and shown across venues in various cities including Venice, London, Istanbul, Copenhagen and Helsinki.

As a trained architect, he seeks to combine his passion for photography with that for spatial thinking. He started working on a series of woven objects by cutting and interweaving two prints of a photograph in 2012. These hybrid compositions emphasize the material qualities of the image carrier and play with optical distortions. Manually produced pixels, the three-dimensional structure, and haptic features of the applied materials form an indivisible, multisensory entity. Through experimenting with a range of techniques, formats, and materials, his work gains more and more sculptural qualities and develops continuously into space. In 2021, he was invited by MUCA Munich to create an immersive, site-specific installation for KUNSTLABOR 2, resulting in a wave-like all-enclosing structure of photo strips in deep blue forming an immersive environment, recalling underwater cave formations or space photography.

Following this new experience, Klug shifted his focus from the production of wall pieces towards the creation of fully immersive installations and environments. He experiments with moving installations, free-standing sculptures, and walk-in spaces that re-bond with his desire to create spatial experiences. In a parallel movement, he begins to use images from research on specific topics. Using imagery from social media about body transformation for the free-shaped “Skinny Guys” – series opens a conceptual frame of reference. While cutting and stapling are technical analogies to cosmetic surgery, the idea of the free malleability of our bodies is transferred into the meandering coils of the found images that have become physical working material. By cutting off parts of images in which SUVs are staged as lifestyle objects in front of wild nature, he finds the sculptural form of the kinetic installation “Schöne Welt“. The walk-in installation “Fuji San” represents the famous Japanese mountain that, by cutting off parts of the images, is transformed into a hollow space, while random and kitschy elements of the photographs posted online by tourists are at the true center of the work.

His recent works have been shown at Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin, Photoszene Festival Cologne, Artspace Bremerhaven, Feel Festival, and Schlosskirche Rumpenheim. He has been featured as “Artist Quarterly” at Sotheby’s Munich in 2019, was nominated for “Preis der Nationalgalerie” in 2021, and he has been awarded with “Rumpenheimer Kunstpreis DIANA” in 2023.

Awards/ Grants
“Rumpenheimer Kunst.Preis.DIANA 2023”, recipient
“Kulturförderung des Bezirks Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 2023” – culture grant, recipient
“Preis der Nationalgalerie 2021”, nomination

Solo- and Duo-Exhibitions
2023 “Himmelszelt”, Installation, Schlosskirche Rumpenheim, Offenbach
2023 “MATEREALITIES”, with Antonia Gruber, Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin and
Beiste Kunstraum, Photoszene Festival, Köln
2022 “Werkschau”, KUNSTLABOR 2, Munich
2022 “Don’t look now! 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 Photography, Mainoeuvre, Berlin
2020 “Fragmented Realities”, with Markus J. Becker, Andreas Reinisch Project, Berlin
2019 “Interwoven”, Artist Quarterly, Sotheby’s München, Munich
2018 “Blue memories”, Bernheimer Contemporary, Berlin
2016 “Diese Ausstellung”, Tamtam Bar (Münchner Kammerspiele), Munich
2013 “Nattens Møder i Berlin”, Mellemrummet, Copenhagen
2013 “Dissolutions”, Factory Street Gallery, Helsinki
2010 “Durch die Nacht”, European Month of Photography, Galerie Ina Köhler, Berlin
2010 “Es war so schon bei dir Marie…”, Fenster 61, Berlin
2010 “In the Nighttime”, Galerie Fango, Cottbus

Group Exhibitions
2023 “Weite Felder”, Kunstgut Krahne, Kloster Lehnin
2023 “Keep your eyes peeled”, AFF-Galerie, Berlin
2023 “Hdden Messages”, Glue Berlin, Berlin
2023 “Photo Jungle”, Installation, Feel Festival, Lichterfeld
2022 “Artspace Bremerhaven”, Festival, Alte Bürger, Bremerhaven
2022 “Mindscape”, studio exhibition curated by Suzy Royal and Luisa Catucci, Berlin
2021 “KUNSTLABOR 2”, site specific installation, MUCA Munich
2021 “Direkte Auktion”, exhibition and auction, Pirol Studios, Berlin
2019 “Other Identity”, Giudi & Schoen, Genua
2018 “Ansbach Contemporary”, biennial for contemporary art, Ansbach
2018 “Here 3”, Cavallerizza Irreale, Turin
2017 “Streamflow”, Bernheimer Contemporary, Berlin
2016 “When did we stop playing?”, Anna Laudel Contemporary, Istanbul
2016 “Berlin Art Week Exhibition”, Enter Art Foundation, Berlin
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”, slide show, London, Leeds, Cardiff, Brighton
2011 “…off the beaten tracks”, Neonchocolate Gallery Berlin
2011 “Berlinoir”, Schiume Festival, Forte Marghera, Venice

Publications & Press
Super Massive Blackhole Magazine, Issue 11
“Berlin What?”, book by Olliver Thoben a. Uwe Neu, Verlag Die Neue Sachlichkeit, Berlin 2013
“Berlijn voor Gevorderden”, book by Jaco Boer and Bram Vermeer, Amsterdam 2012
“Berlinoir”, photo book by AGLU, 2012
“Einmal etwas genauer hinsehen”, Offenbach Post, 18.9.2023
BR – Space Night Science, Interview with Dr. Heino Falcke about the first photographic proof of
Sagittarius A, filmed in KUNSTLABOR 2, 6.5.2022
Exibart, Interview (Online, 2022)
Munichmag, Exhibition review (Online, 2021)
Juliet Magazine, Exhibition review (Online, 2019)
“Internationale Kunst in der Klostergalerie”, Frankenpost, 12.5.2019
“Berlijn danst”, Jaco Boer in Tijd, Amsterdam 14.4.2012
“Durch die Nacht, von der Sehnsucht nach Auflösung in 1000 Pixel”, by Ina Köhler, Museumsjournal 04.2010
“Techno, Tristesse, Tacheles”, by Daniel Grinsted, Tagesspiegel, 29.10.2010