Molitor & Kuzmin

Lightinstallation "Do we need Light?" photographed on the occasion of the exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg 2022

Ursula Molitor (born June 6, 1947, in Hermannsburg, Lower-Saxony) is a German artist, graphic designer and light artist. She studied graphic design in Hamburg and later worked as a graphic artist and illustrator.[1] Since 1983 she has been working as a freelance artist in Cologne, Germany.

Vladimir Kuzmin (born October 16, 1943, in Zaporizhchja, Soviet Union, today Ukraine) is a Russian artist. He studied architecture in Moscow and worked as a freelance artist in the field of painting and graphic design in Moscow. Since 1992 he has been living and working in Cologne.[2]

Since 1996, together they have formed the artist duo Molitor & Kuzmin. In their installations and Light art objects they work with the play of light and shadow, with contrasts and paradoxes. Preferred materials include fluorescent lamps that they deploy like modules, as design elements of their artworks. At a remove from their original meaning, these modules are combined into artefacts, whose technical character and materiality appear to dissolve in radiant brightness, resulting in a work which presents light: Die Leuchtstoffröhre ist Form und Farbe zugleich. (in English: The fluorescent tube is form and colour as well.) [3]

Molitor & Kuzmin Installation Frachtgut, 1998

• Kunstmuseum Celle,[4] Celle, Germany
• Artothek Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders,[5] Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• Collection Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders,[6] Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany
• Sparkasse KölnBonn, Cologne, Germany
• IKK Bundesverband, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• Sammlung Schroth,[7] Soest, Deutschland
• L'Association Mouvement Art Contemporain (AMAC), Chamalières, France
• ART4.RU Contemporary Art Museum,[8] Moscow, Russia
• Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA),[9] Moscow, Russia
• National Centre for Contemporary Arts,[10] Moscow, Russia

• 2004: Light Art Prize LUX US,[11] City Museum of Lüdenscheid, Germany
• 2010: International André-Evard Art Award,[11] Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel, Germany
• 2015: International Lucas-Cranach-Prize,[12] Kronach, Germany
• 2016: International André-Evard Art Award,[13] Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel, Germany

• 2009: Ohne Titel, Light art Installation im Dachgiebel, Kunstmuseum Celle,[4] Celle, Germany
• 2016: Ein Pilgerstab für Soest, Light art Installation,[14][15][16] Soest, Germany

Molitor & Kuzmin Lichtinstallation Porta Savonarola, Padua, Italien, 2001

• 1999: Galleria Fioretto Arte Contemporanea, Padua, Italy
• 2000: Video- und Light art Installation, St. Gereon's Basilica, Cologne, Germany
• 2000: Millennium, St.Petri Kirche Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
• 2000: ZeitRäume, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• 2001: Light, Galleria Fioretto Arte Contemporanea, Padua, Italy
• 2001: Light art Installation in Porta Savonarola,[11] Padua, Italy
• 2003: Fiat Lux, Galerie Schröder und Dörr, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• 2006: Fiat Lux, Krokin Gallery,[17]Moscow, Russia
• 2007: Paradisi Gloria - 4 Licht-und Videoinstallationen zu den Konzerten, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Herz-Jesu-Kirche, Munich, Germany
• 2008: In a different Light, Shchusev Museum of Architecture,[18] Moscow, Russia
• 2010: ÖffentLicht, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders[19]Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• 2010: Requiem,[11] Projekt im Tschechow-Theater, Moscow, Russia
• 2010: Et fact est Lux,[20] White Square Gallery, Berlin, Deutschland
• 2016: Take me to the Light,[21] Galerie Floss & Schultz, Cologne, Germany
• 2022: Extended,[22] Museum L (Muze’um L Licht en Landschap), Roeselare, Belgium

Molitor & Kuzmin Lichtinstallation, Römerturm, Köln, 2000

• 2000: Raumüberschreitungen - Visionen zum Weltall, Galerie Inge Baecker,[23]
• 2000: ZeitRäume, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, (a.o. with Hanne Darboven, Douglas Allsop, Madeleine Dietz)
• 2005: De Kunst van TL (Tube Luminescent),[11] Centre for International Light Art, Eindhoven, Netherlands
• 2006: Lichtrouten Luedenscheid,[24] Lüdenscheid, Germany
• 2006: KunstLichtTore Bochum,[25] Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany
• 2007: Signaal,[11] Centre for International Light Art, Eindhoven, Netherlands
• 2008: Pas de deux - Wie sich die Bilder gleichen. 15 Jahre Artothek,[26] Artothek Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders,Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany
• 2009: Lichtwelten, Weltenlicht, Galerie Inge Baecker, Bad Münstereifel, Germany (with Rosa M. Hessling)
• 2009: Leuchtzeichen, Kunstmuseum Celle,[27] Celle, Germany (with Jan van Munster)
• 2010: '*'Requiem, Chekhov Theatre, Moscow, Russia
• 2013: Firmament, Krokin Gallery, together with the planetarium of the city of Moscow, Russia
• 2013: Ceci n'est pas une Lampe..., Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung,[28] Bonn, Germany (a.o. with François Morellet, Jan van Munster)
• 2013: Scheinwerfer – European Lightart, Kunstmuseum Celle,[29] Celle, Germany (with Jürgen Albrecht, Tim Berresheim, Urs Breitenstein, Klaus Geldmacher, Andrea Thembie Hannig, Detlef Hartung und Georg Trenz, Daniel Hausig, Margareta Hesse, Christoph Hildebrand, Hans Kotter, Siegfried Kreitner, Mischa Kuball, Vollrad Kutscher, Stefanie Lampert, Heinz Mack, Francesco Mariotti, Jakob Mattner, Chris Nägele, Otto Piene, Stephan Reusse, Susanne Rottenbacher, Max Sudhues, Timm Ulrichs, Nils Völker, Rosmarie Weinlich, Claudia Wissmann, Achim Wollscheid)
• 2013: Vielfalt statt Einfalt. 20 Jahre Artothek Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders,[30] Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• 2014: Lucida Space, National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA),[31] Moscow, Russiad (a.o. with Ilya Kabakow, Erik Wladimirowitsch Bulatow, John Cage)
• 2015: Lichtungen, Internationales Lichtkunstfestival,[32] Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany
• 2017: Signal. Lichtkunst aus der Sammlung Robert Simon, Kunstmuseum Celle,[33] Celle, Germany (with a.o. Klaus Geldmacher, Daniel Hausig, Albert Hien, Christoph Hildebrand, Kazuo Katase, Hans Kotter, Brigitte Kowanz, Siegfried Kreitner, Mischa Kuball, Francesco Mariotti, Otto Piene, Stephan Reusse, Susanne Rottenbacher, Max Sudhues, Timm Ulrichs)
• 2017: On Target,,[34] Exhibition in the framework of European Capital of Culture Paphos 2017, Paphos, Cyprus
• 2017: //Responsive: International Light Art Project Halifax,[35] NSCAD University , Halifax, Canada
• 2017/2018: ¡Bright!,[36] Centre for International Light Art, Unna, Germany
• 2018: Collumina I - Internationales Licht Kunst Projekt Köln,[37] Cologne, Germany

* 2022: Macht! Licht!,[38] Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany

• 2022/2023: Fantasy of Light,[39] Galerie Braunbehrens, Stuttgart, Germany

• Inge Baecker, ed. (2003-07-01), St. Gereon moderne Kunst im liturgischen Jahr: Ein Ausstellungsprojekt im Zeitraum von Ostern 1996 bis Ostern 2003 (in German), Mitwirkende: Karl J. Daverkausen, Christa Stehmans, Oliver Pütz, Simon Pütz, Renate Pütz, Köln: Klaus Bittner, ISBN 978-3926397102
• Werner Schäfke, ed. (2006), Am Römerturm. Zwei Jahrtausende eines Kölner Stadtviertels (in German), Köln: Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, ISBN 978-3927396999 (Included is an article with illustration about the exhibition of Molitor&Kuzmin at Römerturm/Galerie Inge Baecker in 2000)
• Staatliches A. W. Schtschussew-Museum für Architektur (Moskau), ed. (2008-11-01), Molitor+Kuzmin (in German), Dortmund: Kettler, ISBN 978-3941100442
• Jürgen Kisters; Petra Oelschlägel; Wolfgang Vomm (2010-01-01), Molitor & Kuzmin: öffentLicht. Katalog zur Ausstellung (in German), Bergisch-Gladbach: Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders, ISBN 978-3981040173
• Julia Otto; Robert Simon, eds. (2015-07-30), Scheinwerfer - Aktuelle Lichtkunst in Deutschland im 21. Jahrhundert (in German), Kerber, ISBN 978-3-7356-0056-1
• Beitin, Andreas, ed. (2022). Macht! Licht! Catalog of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (in German). Cologne: Walther König. ISBN 978-3960987758.
• Weibel, Peter; Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien; Karlsruhe Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, eds. (2023), Encyclopedia of the media. Volume V: Politics and media (in German), Berlin: Hatje Cantz, p. 169, ISBN 978-3775738743

• Website of the artists
• Literature by and about Molitor&Kuzmin in the German National Library catalogue
• Catalog of the exhibition Take me to the Light, 2016
• "Licht Kunst Licht" (PDF; 1,7 MB) (in German). ArToll Kunstlabor. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
• Light installation October 2023 at and in the Artothek Cologne