Father's Window

2004/2014, Werner Klotz

  • © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017, Foto:
    Father's Window by Werner Klotz
    © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017, photo:

About the work

»Father's Window« by Werner Klotz is located in the historic ballroom of the Bahnhof Rolandseck. The East Window there is an instrument of perception. By means of periscopes and a complex construction it concentrates a wide range of impressions from outside: the River Rhine flowing past; the light reflections on the water; the passing clouds; the alternation of light and dark; the passing ships and the traffic on the main road.


Through this view of a specific point the viewer does not simply gain a visual, optical experience. At the same time he or she becomes increasingly aware of the noises in the immediate vicinity. Seeing into the distance and hearing at close quarters are directly linked. This disrupts the human instinct to reconcile what we can see and what we can hear.

Dionysos artworks

In 2014 three further artworks by Werner Klotz were integrated into the ballroom and the staircase. The subject of the three works is the Greek god Dionysos. The central object is the »Reisebar des Dionysos« (Travel Bar of Dionysos) (1996/2014). It consists of a mirrored box on wheels with 59 bottles that have been silver-plated by hand and a glass lid. A fictitious map engraved on the glass lid shows the extent of the Dionysos cult.


The second artwork »Aus der Sammlung des Dionysos« (From the Collection of Dionysos) (1993/2014) consists of 16 shattered glasses; the shards have been silver-plated by hand. The names of female figures from Greek mythology who had close connections with the Dionysos cult have been engraved onto the glasses. The broken glasses refer to a Minoan cult in which oracles were read from broken glass.

The work »Dionysos Supreme Selection« (1997/2014) plays with the optical irritation of perception using bottles that have been given a mirrored surface and the names of the enemies of Dionysos.

About the artist

Werner Klotz was born in Bonn in 1956. He lives and works in New York and Berlin and is famous for his installation art and his public art. He works only in contexts relating to a specific location and in an interactive manner in ways that require the participation of the viewer. In 2002 he was the recipient of the New York City Art Commission Award for Excellence in Public.

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