Werner van der Zwan

Werner van der Zwan (The Hague, 1995) studied Fine Arts (WdkA) and Philosophy (EUR).

He creates robotic installations and sculptures from discarded objects and found materials, like a chair found on the street, or a tree that fell down during the storm. By de- and reconstructing, and intervening mechanically in the objects, he does not return them to their original function, but reanimates them with human-like characteristics.

This way he explores how a certain access can be created, allowing objects to be perceived as ‘other’; both as a flawed object to be empathized with and as familiar yet lifeless, where the mechanical intervention is in no way hidden.

Collaboration is an integral part of his practice. Projects are often a mix of different disciplines,

such as music, theatre, robotics, and visual arts. His work has been shown at Ars Electronica (AT),

Meta.Morf (NO), Chaos Communication Congress (DE), and TENT (NL). He lives and works

in Rotterdam.