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Nils Völker is a media artist living and working in Berlin.

In 2004 he received a diploma from the Bauhaus University in Weimar. Afterwards he moved to Berlin where he started working self employed as communication designer. Since 2009 Nils Völker creates artworks with the means of physical computing somewhere at the intersection of technology and art. During the past years he realized mostly large scale installations which have been exhibited in museums and art spaces all over the world.

In June 2009 he realized an interactive installation for an exhibition in The Netherlands that visualizes the movement of the visitors eyes. Early in the year 2010 he built a machine that converts the sound of car engines into paintings made with used motor oil on canvas and a cars backlight on exposure photographs. Later that year he realized an installation mainly made from cooling fans and garbage bags. This work, called "One Hundred and Eight", has been exhibited in Mannheim, Istanbul and The Hague and has been widely published in books, magazines and online.

It was also the starting point for a series of installations based on inflating and deflating of cushions made from different materials. The largest one was made from 252 large silver bags for the exhibition "Captured – a Homage to Light and Air" followed by further site specific installations like, "Thirty Six" for Art Lab Gnesta, "Forty Eight" for the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, "Seventy Five" for Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei and "Eighty Eight" commissioned by the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, Switzerland.

Nils Völker's most recent work is "64 CCFL", a light installation that is mainly made from so called cold cathode fluorescent lights which normally are used as backlights for computer screens.

Currently he's working on the first large scale work that will be placed permanently outdoors as part of a sculpture park in Hangzhou, China.

Short CV
1979 born in Aalen, Germany

1999 – 2004: Studies of Visual Communication at the Bauhaus University, Weimar
since 2004 self employed communication designer
since 2009 working as an artist mainly in the fields of physical computing and media art

Exhibitions
upcoming:
– "Normandie Impressionniste", Eglise Saint-Sauveur, Caen, France
– "Coup de sac. Art et design autour du sac en plastique.", Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland
2012:
– "Fourth West Lake International Invitational Sculpture Exhibition", Hangzhou, China
– "Go with the Flø", Flø, Norway
– "Oh, Plastiksack", Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
– "Transjourney", Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
2011:
– Rewire Festival, The Hague, The Netherlands
– "Lost in Lace", Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK
– "Rhythm", Art Lab Gnesta, Gnesta, Sweden
– ISEA 2011, Cumhuriyet Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
– "Captured - A Homage to Light and Air", MADE Space, Berlin, Germany
– B-Seite Festival, Mannheim, Germany
2010:
– Smart Urban Stage, Berlin, Germany
2009:
– "Makers & Spectators", MU, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Published Work (excerpt)
books
upcoming:
– Innenräume entwerfen, Konzept, Typologie, Material, Konstruktion, Birkhäuser Verlag
– Inflatable Architecture, Art & Design, LinksBooks
2011: A Touch of Code, Interactive Installations and Experiences, Gestalten Verlag.
2010: Left, Right, Up, Down. New Directions in Signage and Wayfinding, Die Gestalten Verlag
2009: The Design and Design Book of the Year Vol. 1

magazines
2012: Designnet (4-2012), EGO Magazine (8-2012)
2011: D Lux (12-2011), PAGE Magazine (7-2011), Antipasto Magazine (1-2011)
2010: Der Kunsthandel (7-2010), Intersection (summer 2010)
2008: PAGE Magazine (7-2008, 10-2008), Form Magazine 07/08-2008