Artistic director

With effect from January 1, 2025, Jan St. Werner has taken over as the new artistic director of the Folkwang Pop Institute. This is also linked to the first pop professorship at the Folkwang University of the Arts, which Werner will also be responsible for.

‘I am delighted to have been appointed to the Folkwang University of the Arts and look forward to getting to know the students and teaching staff. It is an extraordinary task to fulfil and shape the newly established professorship at the institute. The focus will be on an expanded concept of sound that goes beyond music, experimental spatial concepts and the artistic-critical examination of new technologies. As I think closely about sound, visual art and architecture in my own work, this will also characterise the further development of the institute.’

In his sound works, Jan St. Werner seeks a dialogue with the visual arts and architecture. He has initiated collaborative projects such as the Transnational Sound Initiative and curated exhibitions and festivals such as The Sound of Distance at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin and docu/fiction at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. His works have been presented at the Ural Biennale, documenta 14, the Lenbachhaus Munich, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, the DAAD Gallery Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb, the Elbphilharmonie, the Chicago Symphony Centre and the Ruhrtriennale, among others. In 2023, the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden showed his first solo exhibition Space Synthesis. In 2024, he was one of six artists representing Germany at the Venice Biennale 2024. Werner taught at MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the Arts Culture Technology programme and was Professor of Dynamic Acoustic Research at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. He is a member of the music groups Mouse on Mars and Microstoria and has worked with musicians such as Mark E. Smith, Lee Scratch Perry, Stereolab and The National.

‘Since 2014, the Institute for Pop Music has been an important creative centre at Folkwang that has an impact beyond the region. I would like to thank the dedicated staff, teachers, students and now over 30 graduates for the artistic profiling of the still young institute. For a successful start to a new decade and development phase, I am particularly pleased that we have found a renowned personality in Jan St. Werner for the first Folkwang Professorship of Pop Music. With his interdisciplinary experience as a musician, artist and teacher, Professor Werner will provide important impulses for the further development of the Folkwang Pop Institute,’ emphasises Folkwang Rector Prof. Dr. Andreas Jacob.