Luftwerk is the artistic duo of Petra Bachmaier (b. Erding, Germany) and Sean Gallero (b. Bronx, NY).
Their interdisciplinary practice centers on exploring color theories, the physics and experiential properties of light, and the historical narratives embedded within architectural structures. Their work often interprets complex environmental data into visual and chromatic experiences and illuminates processes, phenomena, and histories that shape our everyday experience and perception of a place. Their practice is based on light and color as both material and concept.
Installations and artwork by Luftwerk have been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as the Driehaus Museum, Haggerty Museum of Art, Chicago Cultural Center, Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Mattress Factory, Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich, Arts Club of Chicago, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, White Space Black Box. A significant aspect of Luftwerk’s practice involves engaging with notable modern and contemporary architecture. This portfolio includes projects with: Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago (Gehry Partners); German Pavilion, Barcelona, and Farnsworth House, Plano (Mies van der Rohe); Ford Residence, Aurora (Bruce Goff); Fallingwater, Mill Run and Robie House, Chicago (Frank Lloyd Wright); and Netsch Residence, Chicago (Walter Netsch). The artists have completed numerous large-scale permanent public and private commissions in cities including Atlanta, Calgary, Charlotte, Chicago, Harare, Tampa, and Kansas City. Luftwerk is a recipient of multiple honors, including the Graham Foundation for the Advanced Studies of Fine Arts, project awards from the AIA Chicago, and the Illinois Arts Council. Their work is held in several public and private collections, such as the Public Art collections of Chicago and Fulton County, Museum Buchheim, and USF Institute for Research in Art.
Their artwork and projects have been featured in publications such as Artforum, Hyperallergic, Time Magazine, and The New Yorker.
Exhibitions
Lubeznik Center for the Arts
Michigan City, 2025
EXPO Chicago
Chicago, IL 2025
Secrist | Beach
Chicago, IL 2024
Haggerty Museum of Art
Milwaukee, WI 2024
Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago, IL, 2022
Cheekwood Estate & Gardens
Nashville, TN, 2022
Mattress Factory
Pittsburgh, PA, 2021
Museum für Gestaltung
Zürich, 2020
Mies van der Rohe Pavilion
Barcelona, Spain, 2019
Elmhurst Art Museum
Elmhurst, IL, 2019
Cleve Carney Museum of Art
Glen Ellyn, IL, 2017
Arts Club of Chicago
Chicago, IL, 2016
Garfield Park Conservatory
Chicago, IL, 2015
Exploring, shifting, evolving. Our work harnesses the creative possibilities of nature, data, and the built environment to shift perceptions and create immersive experiences. Highlighting the interplay between light and color, we construct artwork that shapes new understandings and perspectives of our surroundings.
Spanning a range of scales—from installations and strategic interventions to prints and sculpture—each project is part of a continuum of exploration with each piece building from one another. We utilize opposing dynamics to unearth the inherent complexity, depth, and dimension of materials and contexts with an expansive approach that engages landscapes, gardens, and architecture along with museums, galleries, and art centers. Through site-specific installations, atmospheric environments, and two and three-dimensional artwork, we develop projects that emerge from a specific context and are responsive to and reflective of each site. We are inspired by the depth and malleability of light and color, and the relationship of these two materials when brought together. Throughout our work we create projects that bring together the material and immaterial qualities to explore aspects of the natural and constructed worlds around us. As light changes, it alters color perceptions and creates atmospheres that bring once invisible qualities to the surface. By integrating movement, shifting light conditions, and using dynamic color pairings, we push beyond the static to create active forms of expression.
Our practice is constantly evolving with each piece igniting future threads of exploration and shaping our approach. We create dialogues that are responsive and interpretative to the site, conditions, and materials; a reciprocal relationship from which we learn and evolve. At all scales, our explorations are generative, providing new perspectives of the rich dynamics in our world.