Franz John | Light on Earth

Franz John | Light on Earth

Open lecture (ATRIUM)
21.03.2024 / Thursday, 19:00

Workshops (Building B, room 02)
20.03.2024 / Wednesday
10:00–13:00

21.03.24 / Thursday
9:00–12:00 and 13:00–16:00

Curator: Marc Tobias Winterhagen

The event is held under the support of the City of Poznan within the frames of the Academic Poznan programme.

In his artistic projects, Franz John deals with nature and the possibilities of its media representation. His work combines intensive scientific research and analysis with living, haptic and usable installations in public spaces. Since 2011, Franz John has been producing his own dye solar cells from plant pigments, which are used as a sustainable energy source for his artistic works. The special feature of these dye-sensitized solar cells is that their photosynthetic functional components represent a sustainable and environmentally friendly technology.

After completing a degree in visual communication at the University of Würzburg (1980), Franz John pursued camera-free photography, new and old media at the interface between human and machine perception. He has held guest professorships and artist residencies in San Francisco (Headlands Center for the Arts), Ohio State University, Paderborn University, University of Michigan, Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Auckland University of Technology and Oldenburg University. Franz John has received numerous art scholarships, including Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, ZF Kunststiftung in Friedrichshafen, Neustart Kultur, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, Neustart Kultur, Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst. Since 2011, Franz John has been involved in the production of dye solar cells from plant pigments.