about - quite beyond

Maximilian Werkhausen is a media artist and designer, living and working in Berlin.

Born in 1982 in Duesseldorf, Germany.

After working for agencies and film and commercial production companies, he studied Media Art and Design at Bauhaus-University Weimar. He works with mixed media.
His focus is not clearly defined. Influenced by the art of movie making. From fictional film, documentary, video installations, sound design, virtual reality, photography, 3D design, programming and painting – he is interested in a wide facette of arts and media.

Also the internet and new technologies are often parts of his works.

In 2001 he created a short music video about 911 on september 11th which went viral long before youtube was created. “Imagine USA”

In his video installations – like in “somewhere.here.” from 2012, he tries to show how far away places are closer than they appear to be. Two seperated rooms at different locations, connected over the internet – the one place is influenced by the other. This interactive video installation was deeply inspired by Paul Virilio. How a war, that seems far away is very close in such a globalised world.

Digital Fire will burn our souls someday – This installation wanted to show that digitization and the departure from the analogue world do not always have to be advantageous. The EU’s decision to ban light bulbs was the inspiration for this installation. There were no LED light bulbs at this time – but only uncomfortable energy-saving lamps, which in addition to a high mercury content also spread bad feelings. The end of the analog light bulb, which has been a part of our technical world since the beginning of technology, should be represented here by a digital fireplace, a stake. The many reflections in the glass of the light bulbs gave the impression that the funeral pyre was still blazing until it was finally extinguished. Nowadays, we have digital light bulbs, where the life cycle is preprogrammed.

somewhere.here. wanted to show how the irresponsible behavior of the western world in crisis areas can lead to the fact that one day the consequences of a war can be felt directly on our doorstep.

There was also a virtual reality experience – developed with the Oculus Rift Dev Kit 1 and Unity3d, a few years later.

With his multi-display video installation “Runner”, he showed how places can change through their own presence alone. The installation was exhibited in the Nietzsche Memorial Hall in Weimar with other exhibits. The exhibition was supervised by video artist Julian Rosefeldt.

The short film “MPW – my perfect world” from 2008 is about artificial intelligence that is able to simulate human behavior so precisely that it is possible to bring the dead back to life.

“Living is easy…with eyes closed” is a short film about breaking up. A coming of age film. Leaving places, partnerships and the urge to try something new in life. The film was released in 2009 as a new production based on the original in England and won a couple of awards.

Maximilian Werkhausen is still highly interested in the latest developments in technology like machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence. He paints fruits now with water color.