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GABRIELA LÖFFEL
documentation
(selection)
g_loeffel@bluemail.ch
http://vimeo.com/gabrielaloeffel
http://loeffelgabriela.com
Videostills “Offscreen“
Table of contents p 03 [performance] Video installation 2017 p 05 unseen Series of photos 2016 p 07 the case Video installation 2015 p 10 fassung #1 Video installation 2015 p 12 offscreen Video installation 2013 (DE 2014) p 16 embedded language Video installation 2013 p 18 untitled Series of photos 2012 p 20 setting Video installation 2011 p 23 the easy way out Video installation 2010 p 25 un temps Video installation 2010 p 27 fallbeispiel Video installation 2006 p 29 angle vide Video installation 2005 p 31 fokus Video installation 2002-2003 p 33 cv p 35 press release
[performance]
Installation / 2-channel video projection / Speakers / HD / 25’15’’ / 2017
In collaboration with
Amy Carroll - Speech Coach
Rudi van der Merwe - Speaker
This video installation is based on an audio recording of a conference speech presented by the CTO of a
homeland security company.
I made the recording during an international security industry trade fair.
During the last 15 years, globally, the security industry has undergone wide-ranging promotion and expansion,
and this development of industries and services in the domain of homeland security could possibly be read as
an economic reflection of politics. In national budgets and likewise the performance on the stock markets, the
security industry constantly generates both keen interest and high revenues. Politicised, the term „security“ is
turned into discourse and increasingly finds its way into everyday public and private events, but often without
allowing any consistent and highly necessary discussion of its definition to take place.
The content of the recorded conference presentation raises several questions concerning economic and political
interests, and at the same time the use of language and rhetoric appears into focus.
In order to examine this speech more closely, to work with what it says and how it says it, I commissioned the
optimisation of the recording of it by a coach for public speaking. Speech coach Amy Carroll, together with the
speaker, Rudi van der Merwe, reprocesses the speech on stage in an empty conference hall in front of my camera. Videostills [Performance] 2017
The perfecting which the recorded speech undergoes at the hands of the coach involves adapting both body
language and spoken language specifically to its function. This process of optimisation and appropriation by a
public-speaking specialist allows me to subject the spoken language and the content of the speech to sustained
scrutiny. The production of efficient language that serves, as in this speech, to convey economic and political
interests, should become visible here.
I filmed this performative moment of speech coach Amy Carroll and speaker Rudi van der Merwe with two
cameras and from different perspectives.
The filming location, the EPFL conference centre, serves as an aesthetically symbolic setting and space for,
likewise, posing the questions concerning language and re-presentation.
The installation comprises two video projections and stereo sound through speakers.
Filmed at the Swiss Tech Convention Center / EPFL Lausanne.
With support from the City of Bern Cultural Department, Canton of Bern Cultural Office, the Masé Studio in
Geneva and the Swiss Tech Convention Center / EPFL Lausanne.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/270951304
3
Videostills [Performance] 2017
EXCERPT FROM THE AUDIO RECORDING
„The market size last year is about three-hundred-ninety billion Dollars. One example of our findings is that the dominance
of the USA in this market will continue. The second one will be China, which is today the second one. () What are the
fastest-growing markets - this is very important, because you want to go to a market which grows very fast, because you
can then catch a market share - it is big data, video analytics, cybersecurity and video surveillance. And then border and
perimeter barriers due to, mainly to Europe, is the second-fastest market“
Situation of the Installation
2 Video projections
2 Speakers
4
unseen
Installation / Photo series / Lambda Print / 39cmx26cm / Light box / 2016
This series of photographs originated during the Swift International Banking Operations Seminar (Sibos) in
Geneva in 2016. Sibos is the most important global trade fair for the finance sector and takes place in a
different city each year. It is typically attended by as many as 8000 CEOs, decision-makers and experts from
financial institutions worldwide. Specialists from financial market infrastructures and global businesses, as well
as partners from the technology branch, gather together here, in an exclusive setting, in order to negotiate, to
develop business and fiscal strategies, to network and to determine the future issues facing the finance industry.
At this event I was able to observe the presentation and representation of the world of finance at close quarters
and investigate the codes produced by them. I infiltrated the gathering in order, with the camera, to establish
a view that was observant and yet distanced. Traces such as those of global financial policy rose to the visible
surface at this event intended exclusively for an embedded professional audience. The possible wider attendance
of the public at large was effectively excluded by the daily admission fee of CHF1000.
I focused my choice of view and image on the architecture of the fair stands. The design of these installations,
which steer the view of every outsider looking in; glazed spaces that control visibility and vision and prevent the
possible identification of the people inside. This fragmenting architecture, organising every look from outside,
was what interested me for this photo series, and it is here, therefore, that non-visibility takes centre stage,
forming the framework of «Unseen». The absent recognizability of the participating actors here becomes object
and theme denoting political terrain that frequently deals in constructed invisibilities.
The photographs are installed as light boxes, a form that allows me to integrate the content-related perspective
of closed space. The light box is an object that produces the separation of inner from outer and is thereby able
to translate and prolong the questions and themes of the photographs.
Light box Sibos, Swift International Banking Operations Seminar 2016. Photo: Gabriela Löffel 5
Sibos, Swift International Banking Operations Seminar 2016
Photo: Gabriela Löffel
6
the case
Installation / 2-channel video / Headphones / HD / Stereo / 34’ / 2015
The 2014 “ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law” (court competition in international trade law),
which took place at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, builds the base for “The Case“.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international organization holding authority over the rules
of international trade. In 1995, it replaced the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which had
been created in 1947.
WTO’s primary goal is to foster liberalism via the promotion of free trade, the settlement of commercial
disputes and the oversight of national policies.
The Elsa Moot Court Competition on WTO Law for jurists is a simulated hearing of a legal case, which
different parties expose and debate on. It constitutes a moment where language morphs into rhetorics and
thus also into a specific instrument of discourse and politics. These processes, by which lawyers and judges
rhetorically negotiate laws, also constitute political moments that unveil the power of language.
During the semi-final and the final round, I filmed two different teams. One was from the renowned Harvard
Law School in Cambridge, which acted as the complainant during the final round. The other team came from
the National and Kapodistrian University in Athens. It embodied the complainant at the semi-final, and the
respondent at the final round of the hearing on the same legal case.
The legal case at the 2014 ELSA Moot Court Competition is built on a complaint filed with the WTO Court
by the fictive African State “United Kingdom of Commercia” against another fictive African State called the
“Federal Republic of Aquitania”.
The case may be described as follows : Videostills “The Case” 2015
In 2005, Nova Tertia, one of the Federal Republic of Aquitania’s provinces, sells its water supply and water
treatment to a private company, Avanti SA, signing a contract for 20 years.
In 2007, the company rises its service costs by 70%. At the same time, it refuses to carry out the extension and
renovation works the government has been calling for several times. This leads to a protest movement against
the contract signed with Avanti SA among the population.
In 2009, the province of Nova Tertia suspends the contract concluded with Avanti SA by anticipation.
The Headquarters of Avanti SA being in Commercia, the company requests the Ministry of Trade of the United
Kingdom of Commercia to file a complaint against the Federal Republic of Aquitania with the WTO Court.
This fictitious legal case, its description and the utterly realistic issues it brings up, raises questions regarding the
production of rhetorics, of language and of their application within economic and political structures.
I confront these substantial questions with a visual language which produces fictive hypotheses to, once again,
blur the boundaries between documentary and fictional content.
The installation comprises 2 synchronized screens hanging next to each other. The sound is transmitted via
headphones.
Filmed at the WTO, Geneva.
With support from the Office of Culture Canton Bern.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/171408018
Exhibition “The Case” Dazibao Montréal, CA 2015
Photo : Marilou Crispin 7
Videostills “The Case” 2015
8
Videostills “The Case” 2015
9
fassung #1
Installation / Single channel video / Headphones / HD / Stereo / 24’20
Photograph 17x13cm diasec / 2015
In collaboration with
Benedikt Greiner - Actor
At the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Swiss Air Force “Air 14”, I staged an interview with one of the
employees of Pilatus Aircraft. Upon a common agreement, he exposed some of his personal positions to me.
Pilatus Aircraft is a company that may be qualified as a symbol of Swiss politics with regard to war material
exports and applications - politics that have been regularly criticized, both nationally and internationally, since
the 1970’s.
Shortly after the interview, which was recorded on video, and which quite unsurprisingly didn’t yield any new
information whatsoever on the company’s export strategy, I received a text message from my interview partner
at Pilatus:
“Hello Mrs Loeffel. I kindly ask you to keep any recording you made of me during the interview confidential
and I trust in your discretion. Best regards.”
That text message is the point of departure for the realization of “Fassung #1”.
After having consulted with several business journalists in Switzerland, it could be supposed that such mandate
to remain silent, such censorship, may not merely be a coincidence. Rather, it could be considered as a partially
internalised method in the world of business, especially targeting critical journalists (often based on and
elaborated in conjunction with the Swiss Federal Unfair Competition Law/ UWG, UCA).
I then transposed this filmed interview in a theater, on an empty stage, in the absence of an audience, a stage Videostills “Fassung #1” 2015
also being a space of rhetorics. There is an actor on the stage, he sits in front of a screen and watches the original
interview. He attempts to imitate the interviewee as faithfully as possible. His task is to translate the Pilatus
employee’s words from Swiss German into high German and to reproduce his gestures and body language - he
has to be that person. This process of direct duplication induces various emotions in the actor, stress as well as
disruptive moments where we can see and hear the failure of language and translation.
This imitation technique, one of the most basic methods in drama, allows for the observation of language use
through copying and simulating. Thanks to the translation and transfer of the recorded interview into another
linguistic space, we are able to build up some distance to the actual content, which in turn possibly allows for a
questioning of the circumstances which language and power relations evolve in.
The video is being presented on a screen equipped with headphones. A photograph of the text message hangs
beside the screen.
Filmed at the Stadttheater in Bern, Vidmarhalle.
With the support of Pro Helvetia und Konzert Theater Bern.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/167124085
“Fassung #1” Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunsthalle Bern 2015
Photo : David Aebi 10Videostills “Fassung #1” 2015
11offscreen
Installation/ 3-channel video projection / 2 framed screens / Wireless headphones
Speakers / HD / 28’/ 2012-2013
In collaboration with
Alister Mazzotti - Stunt choreographer
Tolga Degirmen, Sascha Girndt, Ralph Güthler, Anja Sauermann, Vanessa Wieduwilt - Stunt artists
Benedikt Greiner - German-language narrator
Paulo Dos Santos - French-language narrator
Julien Tsongas - English-language narrator
“Offscreen” is based on the account of a young man who went on a package holiday to Afghanistan and Iran in
2011. Holidaying in crisis zones, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea and Somalia is the latest holiday offer
from the tourist industry. Promotional slogans such as “Be there and Gain a real understanding of conflicts”
are used, while “Help rebuild” and “Get your hands dirty” appeal to tourists wishing to participate in on-site
aid efforts. Getting personally involved in “useful work”, for example clearing landmine fields, is just one of the
tours awaiting travellers. This new form of tourism is an extreme and worrying example of how we deal with the
realities of war, and of how tourism now deals with it as a consumer good.
An actor reinterpret the narrative text that I have edited, in order to create a shift here as well. This voice-over
takes centre-stage in “Offscreen”, it takes the visitors through the exhibition via headphones.
The text has been complemented and expanded upon with filmed images. In this visual language, I establish
yet another layer which creates space for reflection. To do this, I use the motion picture and its production
infrastructure, the film studio in Babelsberg Potsdam. These production sites, which have previously been Videostills “Offscreen” 2012-2013, Film studio Babelsberg, DE
used to make blockbuster films about historical and fictive wars, evoking a variety of memories, feelings and
experiences, were where I filmed for this project. With my camera, I observed the different scenes including the
plane set and the “Berliner Strasse” film set, which have become visual references for war films thanks to motion
pictures such as “The Pianist”.
I also filmed stunt artists rehearsing scenes in the special effects studio during their preparation, in a simulate
setting, for the actual shooting (so-called video previews). They used the holiday narrative as the context for the
Situation of the Installation
scenes. Stunt artists represent danger and action – they brave danger and thus lend their bodies to the original
person, the actor. In this way, stunt performers are body doubles, and as bodies that are exclusively in danger
and in action, they symbolise the perfection that can face up to almost (any) danger. I relate these aspects to
the war tourists.
In the installation, the studio recordings are projected onto two framed screens, which in turn are in the form Video projection onto the wall
of a stage scenery in the exhibition room. The recordings of the stunt performers are projected directly onto the
wall. This creates a landscape of imitations and reconstructions within which the visitor may move.
There are three versions of the installation, in English, in German and in French.
With the assistance of Studio Babelsberg AG, Potsdam Germany
With support from the City of Bern Cultural Department, Canton of Bern Cultural Office, 2012 grant from the Video projection onto 2screens,
Société des Arts in Geneva, the City of Geneva Contemporary Art Fund (FMAC), the Canton of Geneva Contemporary standing on the floor
Art Fund (FCAC) and the Masé Studio in Geneva
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/125989014
12Videostills “Offscreen” 2012-2013, Film studio Babelsberg, DE
13NARRATIVE EXTRACT
“I saw the ad for this trip in the newspaper about a year ago. “Adventure holiday”. My attention was drawn
to it mainly because trips to Iraq were also on offer. At the time, I had just finished my degree, and I saw this
as my reward I suppose. I was there for a whole month – first in Iran and then in Afghanistan. I would have
loved to have gone to Iraq as well, but it wasn’t good timing – it would have clashed with my exams. Then
once I was in Iran, once I was down there, then I wanted to stay a bit!
When you arrive in Kabul, the first thing that you see at the airport is soldiers, and lots of jeeps with soldiers
on the back. But you get used to that really quickly – it’s the same with the police and the army – after 2
days you’re used to it.
It was great one night. We were near Bagram, which is the biggest US air base that they have out there, and
planes are constantly flying overhead. We slept outside, and the flight path was right above us. That night,
loads of planes were flying about and we thought something must be up. The next day we got a text from
Switzerland: “Bin Laden has been killed”. It was only afterwards that we realised that Bagram had been the
base for the whole operation, and that probably one of the planes that we heard and saw was carrying the
people who stormed Bin Laden’s house and were then flown back. So we were there when he was killed, right
next to the air base, and that was really pretty... pretty impressive when you’re part of world history – almost!
The way it was for us was that the bodyguard was always just a few steps behind us, and he said to us: we
Videostills “Offscreen” 2012-2013, Film studio Babelsberg, DE
want you to be able to walk around, you can look for yourselves and go where you want, and we’ll always
be just a few steps behind and we’ll keep an eye on you. It wasn’t that he was always two metres... sorry, two
centimetres behind me, guarding over me – you had a lot of freedom, including in the bazaar, well, hmm,
yeah, in the bazaar actually you might maybe need him to stand right behind you. But like in Bamiyan, if
you somehow end up somewhere where, eh, where no-one’s about, then yeah, eh, yeah he sometimes leaves
his rifle in the car or yeah... sometimes he also took off his combat gear and just wore civilian clothes for
example...
So you don’t notice, and you just get used to it really quickly. And yeah... OK I did military service and
we always had my Dad’s rifle at home anyway, so in that sense it wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary
for me. And it’s not like, em, that you had the feeling of being, like, overprotected or anything. Sure, the
bodyguard was very watchful, but not in a bad way – you just knew that there were three other people there
who were looking out for you, and then you could really enjoy it, look round at your leisure, you could look
at different things, and then if there was any danger, they would just tell you straight away. Actually you
didn’t even have to worry yourself, you didn’t have to keep an eye on things – those guys were really great.”
Exhibition “Geschichte in Geschichten” Helmhaus Zürich, 2015
Photo : FBM Studio
149’500 euros, c’est beaucoup et c’est peu d’argent. 9 500 euros pour des vacances, c’est toutefois un joli budget. Au choix, vous pourriez aujourd’hui acheter une caravane tout confort et envisager de nombreux voyages avec, ou louer un domaine d’exception en Bourgogne pouvant contenir jusqu’à 65 personnes pour 7 nuits. Tant qu’à faire, partir loin à ce prix, seul ou en famille, est possible en louant, par exemple, une villa de luxe sur les hauteurs de Toiny à Saint-Barthélemy avec une vue époustouflante sur l’océan, une piscine chauffée et un jaccuzzi à disposition, une semaine, vol compris. 9 500 euros, c’est également le prix d’un séjour de deux semaines proposé par une agence ad hoc pour s’offrir des « vacances en zones de crises », comme on l’apprend dans Offscreen de Gabriela Löffel. Un « voyage d’aventure », comme il a été entrepris par un jeune Suisse souhaitant s’offrir « une récompense » à la fin de ses études. « Un voyage qui vaille le coup. » D’abord en Iran, puis en Afghanistan. Après s’être intéressée de très près ces dernières années à un camp d’entraînement militaire américain installé en Bavière (Setting, 2011), Gabriela Löffel qui, en 2010, réalisait déjà The Easy Way Out en s’appuyant sur une discussion surprise au bar d’un hôtel non loin de ce même camp américain, nous livre aujourd’hui Offscreen (2013). Dans la prolongation des autres travaux, Offscreen dénonce une situation liée aux guerres du Moyen Orient et politiquement tolérée par notre société bien pensante. L’artiste découvre ses sujets sur Internet, puis procède à un travail d’enquête. Elle réunit dans un premier temps une solide documentation qu’elle déconstruit par la suite avant d’en recréer un scénario qui ne peut qu’éveiller l’esprit critique du spectateur tout en évitant les terrains glissants du voyeurisme, du jugement facile ou de la synthèse trop rapide. L’installation Offscreen présente trois écrans qui plongent le visiteur dans trois scénarios visuels projetés parallèlement tout en étant accompagnés par un même récit en voix off : le récit d’un voyage « en zones de crises ». Passé le premier mouvement de caméra balayant un rideau de scène, le théâtre peut commencer. Sur des fonds d’images de qualité, qui ne sont en rien illustratives, la voix d’un homme raconte alors non sans fierté cette expérience qui l’a fait « participer à l’histoire ». Comme dans The Easy Way Out, ou dans Setting, dans Offscreen Gabriela Löffel ne pointe pas sa caméra précisément sur le sujet dont il est question. Elle trouve des moyens imagés de mettre en perspective les propos recueillis en insistant sur le décalage qui Exhibition “Offscreen” Halle Nord, Genève 2013. existe entre le réel et le vécu, la projection et l’expérience, la réalité et la mise en scène. Orchestrés par l’artiste, les constructions Photo : Erika Irmler de boîtes en carton, les travellings à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur d’un avion de ligne, les répétitions de cascadeurs professionnels soulignent l’artifice, le décor, la rupture d’avec le vrai monde. Le protagoniste d’Offscreen a donc trouvé sa destination, originale et atypique : une chose qu’il se doit d’expérimenter avant d’avoir « un emploi fixe ou une famille… ». Et profiter également d’une destination « sans touristes ». Enfin, « ne pas perdre son temps », comme tant d’autres le font « en lézardant sur une plage ». Son histoire – adaptée à partir d’une vraie interview, puis retravaillée avant d’être lue par un comédien professionnel – capte l’attention du visiteur qui, affublé d’un casque audio pour l’écouter, ne peut que difficilement couper court à la densité du contenu. Plus de 600 photographies ont été prises par le jeune étudiant lors de ce voyage. Aucune de ces 600 images ne vient pourtant prendre place dans les vidéos de Gabriela Löffel. Bien au contraire, sa caméra filme par exemple les rues désertes d’une ville européenne ou des immeubles ternes qui, dans la mémoire collective de tout Occidental, lorsqu’elles sont accompagnées par un récit de guerre, font penser inévitablement à la Seconde Guerre mondiale…plus loin, les plans révèlent finalement l’arrière d’immeubles …et surtout les échaffaudages de décors. Ceux des studios cinématographiques de Babelsberg à Potsdam, là où a notamment été tourné Le Pianiste de Roman Polanski. Les mises en relation avec l’histoire, l’actualité, les médias, mais également avec le cinéma, la narration s’imposent d’elles- mêmes. Le travail de Gabriela Löffel n’est là ni pour documenter ni pour relater ni pour condamner, il permet au visiteur de comprendre par lui-même, grâce à la construction du récit proposé, un état de fait pour le moins alarmant... quelle frontière existe-t-il encore entre le quotidien et les lieux en guerre ? Adressé à une génération habituée au zapping, le dispositif présente donc trois sources visuelles et deux sources sonores (l’histoire narrée dans le casque et un son de bruissement sourd emplissant la salle d’exposition) qu’il s’agit de combiner entre elles afin de saisir le propos d’Offscreen. Le spectateur regarde, écoute et est invité à se déplacer physiquement dans l’espace de l’exposition entre des écrans monumentaux. Des conditions propices au déclenchement d’une réflexion qui s’impose devant cette nouvelle production, percutante, de l’artiste bernoise. Karine Tissot Director Centre d’art contemporain, Yverdon-les-Bains 15
embedded language
Installation / Video projection / Flat screen / Headphones / HD / 19’ / 2013
In collaboration with
Jean-Luc Montminy - Dubbing artist
Joey Galimi - Studio director
Caroll Cafardy - Sound engineer
At the “20th International Defence Industry Exhibition MSPO” 2012 in Poland, I interviewed, in English, an
executive from a Polish arms manufacturing firm. I then transposed this filmed interview in a Dubbing-studio
in Montreal, Canada.
Dubbing artist and actor Jean-Luc Montminy (who is the French-Canadian voice for actors including Bruce
Willis and Denzel Washington) dubbed the interview into French in collaboration with a studio director and a
sound engineer, as would be done for a motion picture production.
I captured this moment of language and discourse deconstruction and reconstruction with my camera. The
moment at which an arms manufacturer is given another language and other words by a dubbing artist and
the technical infrastructure at a cinema becomes visible here. This process can lead to questions about language
and power and their (in)visibility, and also brings in the issue of armed politics in relation to film/the world of
cinema. Film and war have had a complex dialectic relationship since the beginning of motion picture history,
and are closely connected in terms of the production, the technology and image reception. Looking at these
relationships is part of this discussion.
This shift of a documentary to the production site of fiction – the film studio, should allow questioning around
Videostills “Embedded Language” 2013
the complex issues of political and economic interests on the difficult grounds of arms dealing.
In the exhibition, the video with the dubbing artist is projected onto the wall. The video with the interview is
set at the same height and size on a flat screen that is integrated into the wall. The sound comes through the
headphones.
Filmed in Cinélume film studio in Montreal.
In co-production with “Vidéographe” Montreal and “La Bande Vidéo” Quebec.
With support from the Canton of Bern Cultural Office.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/125994663
16Videostills “Embedded Language” 2013
Situation of the Installation
Video with the dubbing artist
as a projection
Video with the interview
on a flat screen integrated into the wall
Headphones
17untitled
Series of photos / 23x34.5cm / Diasec / 2013
This series of photographs is part of a research project that took me to the 2012 “International Defence Industry
Exhibition” in Poland. I spent four days on site researching, taking photographs and filming. There are around
400 companies from 29 countries at this trade fair, presenting their “goods” and “services”. Politics and business
go hand and hand into the spotlight. For a week, contracts, agreements and deals are negotiated – and no-one
worries about possibly being observed by a critical eye. All of this takes place at a standard trade fair: there is a
festive atmosphere, with culinary and musical entertainment provided round the clock. Predominantly female
trade fair hostesses also help create a “inviting” environment for businesspeople and politicians.
Reality-distorting constructions seemed to hit me right between the eyes over the course of these few days. The
fair is a way of utterly trivialising armed politics and military force. The reality of war is completely masked and
replaced with a show of technology and entertainment, and, in my opinion, this perfectly illustrates the very
pertinent and complex issues surrounding how realities are made (in)visible. To consider this question further,
I refer to extracts of texts, including this one by Judith Butler:
“Efforts to control the visual and narrative dimensions of war delimit public discourse by establishing and disposing
the sensuous parameters of reality itself – including what can be seen and what can be heard. As a result, it makes sense
to ask, does regulating the limits of what is visible or audible serve as a precondition of war waging, one facilitated by
cameras and other technologies of communication?“
Judith Butler
In: “Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?“ Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2009 Photo : Gabriela Löffel
International Defence Industry Exhibition Poland, 2012
18Photo : Gabriela Löffel
International Defence Industry Exhibition Poland, 2012
19setting
Installation / 2-channel video projection / Speakers / HDV / 33’ / 2011
In collaboration with
Situation of the Installation
Daniel Hug - Sound Designer
Miruna Coca-Cozma - French-language narrator
Nadja Schulz-Berlinghoff - German -language narrator Video projection
Grafenwöhr is the biggest US army training camp outside the United States. The camp, comprising a total
area of 276km2, was set up under the Kingdom of Bavaria and has been US property since 1945. It lies within
a nature reserve, public access is prohibited. Soldiers stationed at Grafenwöhr usually undergo a three weeks
training before being sent off to Iraq or Afghanistan. At the same time, students, unemployed persons and other
German nationals are employed as extras at the training area. For three weeks, they are supposed to act the part
of Arab civilians to assist the soldiers in their training.
The accounts of two former extras build the backbone of “Setting”. The recordings that I made with the extras
are reinterpreted by an actress. This voice-over creates another shift in which realities, staging and facts, which
have been transferred to different arenas, reappear. Attention is therefore focused on the actual starting point
of this “staged war in Bavaria”.
These shifts are also present at the audio-visual level. I worked with sound designer Daniel Hug on the narratives
Video projection
of the extras. We created a soundtrack containing references to films and war films, and the different sounds
associated with these. The sound manufacturing process is filmed with static video cameras in the radio play
Speaker
studio, in order to allow sound, in its visual form, to take centre stage. This provokes questions about staging ambient sound
and realities.
These video recordings are assembled as a rhythmic image composition and installed in the room as a dual
projection, alongside the audio track. However, for a large part of the narrative, no pictures are visible. The
sound fills the whole room and the video images appear unexpectedly at various dramaturgical points in the
narrative. Speaker
Stereo right
Speaker
There are two versions of the installation, in German and in French. Stereo left Speaker
voice-over
With support from the City of Bern Cultural Department, Canton of Bern Cultural Office and the Migros Cultural
Percentage. TPC - Technology and Production Center Switzerland AG, Basel and the Département Cinéma / Cinéma
du réel at Head, the Geneva University of Art and Design.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/124518615 Speaker
ambient sound Speaker
ambient sound
20EXTRACT FROM THE ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRA
“The training villages... didn’t actually represent villages, but were actually sometimes really cities – I mean Tikrit is
a city, and so is Basra. But because there’s not enough space at the training area, and because of the effort and cost
involved, they just call them villages and you are supposed to imagine that it’s actually a huge city. So... that means
that everything’s actually really pretty... off-the-wall actually, if you think about it! So you have a couple of huts, there
are these villages with stone houses, and then there are the mini mounts. They have, I don’t know, five or six log huts, I
mean mini huts, and then these are supposed to represent a city sometimes, depending on the run-through. So yeah, you
really have to use your imagination, and so do the soldiers. They have to imagine that they’re somehow in a city district
in... Iraq... or... yeah.
There was quite a big village, where a lot of people could be at once... they also have several houses. The houses, well,
originally they were built with pointed roofs, and then they began gradually flattening these out to make flat roofs,
because in the Middle East they have flat roofs. Originally the whole place was built for Kosovo. And that’s why they had
pointed roofs. But for this kind of rooftop urban warfare that’s fairly common in Iraq or Afghanistan, they put on flat
roofs... and then they made kind of balustrades around them. Each village also always had a street, and then the houses
were either close to or further away from the street, and every village had its own features. It’s in a huge nature reserve,
and it’s also fairly hilly, so some places looked very different. One of the villages was in a dip, the next halfway up a slope
and so on. Yeah, and the houses were also designated as something in particular, for example there was the town house,
then the school and the residential housing, then the mechanics and a café, and the mosque as well...”
Exhibition “Setting” Les Halles, Porrentruy 2012
We once did a...a bomb attack... that was pretty creepy. There was a very big emergency services response, and we Photo : Philippe Queloz
were all at a demonstration, that is almost all of the villagers went to a demonstration for, em, better conditions. We
demonstrated in front of the military barracks... in front of the medical staff actually, and we protested about the fact
that there was still such a lot of uncertainty despite the foreign military presence. And that the civilian population was
actually permanently in danger, from both sides actually, and then in the... middle... of the demonstration, a bomb
exploded, a suicide bomb. We had all been prepared in advance, I mean all of our wounds and injuries had already
been prepared and then we had to em... based on that... and we also had a card. I had a really gruesome wound. I had
shrapnel in my head and... then... I, yeah, and my husband was uninjured... and then I, well lots of people were lying
around – lots of them were dead, many were injured, and there was lots of groaning and blood everywhere – they sprayed
red paint everywhere.
And then I started running around, I mean I kind of really played the part. And the American soldiers actually were
supposed to have been providing security for this protest, but it was useless, and so they were just standing around. Yeah.
And then they were actually completely nervous, because what quite often happens is that two bombs go off one after the
other, so that em, there are as many victims as possible. And that’s why they were actually so nervous. And I was running
around deliriously, completely covered in blood. My husband tried to support me and help me, and he was asking the
soldiers for help. And priorities were marked on these cards, so head injuries obviously had top priority, unlike... I don’t
know, a scratch on the arm or something. And it took a really long time for the medical team to react, and then I kept
going up to these soldiers who were, I guess just reeling really, and then I tried to... hold onto them, because my legs
were so weak and then one of them... he just pointed his rifle right into my face... like that! And that was really, I mean
then I really... I really got a shock as a real person... because... well.”
Exhibition “Crosnier Extra Muros” Bac, Genève 2011
Photo : Erika Irmler
21Videostills “Setting” 2011
22the easy way out
Installation / 3-channel video rear projection / Headphones / Speakers / Slideshow
Citation by Karl Kraus / 20’ / 2010
Situation of the Installation
In collaboration with
Sophie Hengl, Benoît Kremer, Nathalie Loiseau - Simultaneous interpreters for the French-language version
Carmen Delgado, Markus Mettler, Valeria Tschannen - Simultaneous interpreters for the German-
language version
Speaker
In “The easy way out“ interpreters, who normally work in the shadow of the diplomats and politicians for
Speaker
whom they interpret, are put in the spotlight, in front of the video camera, and observed. The starting point of
this project was an audio recording that I made on the border of the US military training area in Grafenwöhr, 3 video
Bavaria. It centres on a discussion between a US soldier who has just come back from Iraq, a German hotel rear projection
owner in Grafenwöhr who provides accommodation for soldiers and the bilingual car saleswoman who lives
next door. The three interpreters experiment with simultaneously interpreting this conversation which moves
from everyday life in Bavaria and in conflict zones right through to political opinions and stances.
I filmed this moment of seeking words and comprehension, of attempting to transfer information and of
simultaneous understanding in a situation that is stressful for the interpreters. The recording is on three separate,
synchronously recorded pieces of footage.
In the exhibition room, the interpretations can be heard through the headphones, and at the same time the
video images of the respective interpreters appear projected on three screens. The original audio conversation, Slideshow Slideshow
Headphones
recorded in Bavaria, is broadcast into the room over speakers. The information in the conversation is fragmented
and thus leaves space for verification and attentive listening to the words and meanings, and their origins.
The observer is also struck by the repeated speechlessness of the interpreters faced with the conversation
to be interpreted, as well as their efforts to extract themselves from this void. Photographs of this “border
was zu sagen hat, trete vor und schweige! »
area” between the US military training area and the Bavarian country landscape are presented on flat screens.
Territorial symbols and cultural traces can be identified.
Karl Kraus, 1914
„Wer etwas zu sagen hat, trete vor und schweige!“
[veːr] [ˈɛtvas] [tsuː] [ˈzaːgən] [hat], [ˈtreːtə] [foːr] [ʊnt] [ˈʃvaɪgə]
Karl Kraus, aus „In dieser grossen Zeit“ Die Fackel Nr. 404, Dezember 1914
There are two versions of this installation, with German interpreters and with French interpreters.
With support from the City of Bern Cultural Department, Canton of Bern Cultural Office and the Migros Cultural
Percentage.
With assistance from the École de traduction et d’interprétation ETI, Geneva.
Exhibition “The easy way out” Galerie Ex-Machina Genève 2010
Photo : Erika Irmler
23Videostills “The easy way out” 2010
Slideshow “The easy way out” 2010
24[un temps]
Installation / Video projection / Headphones / HDV / 10’ / 2010
In collaboration with Installations-Situation
Sylvie Rey – Sign-language interpreter Video projection
Michel Grobety - Actor
In [un temps] the actor Michel Grobety, who played Clov in Michel Soutter’s 1978 production of “Endgame” by
Samuel Beckett, remembers the staged scenes and his movements. He reads aloud the parts of main characters,
Clov and Hamm, from the book. At the same time, interpreter Sylvie Rey works simultaneously into sign-
language. This interpretation can, however, only be seen when Clov’s part is being read. Hamm’s part can
only be heard and the stool, site of the interpretation, remains empty. The microphone is directed towards the
empty stool, making this lack of words and language audible and visible. On the stage, I confront the sustained
and extreme disappearance of the dimension of time, of nothingness, punctuated with fragments of words
attempting to fill it, with the background sounds of sign language. The absence of a theatre audience represents
the continuation of these voids.
What I take from Beckett’s “Endgame” is primarily the maintenance of emptiness and silence as they bear
witness to the absurd events taking place, as well as the pointless communication, the impossible dialogue.
The video is installed as a projection in the exhibition room, which is equipped with fewer stools. The sound is
audible on the headphones.
A version of the video with German subtitles is available.
With support from L‘association Michel Soutter, Erika Irmler and the theatre of Carouge.
Headphones
25Videostills [un temps] 2010
26fallbeispiel
Installation / Multi-channel video projection / Surround sound / 2006
In collaboration with Situation of the Installation
Julie Beauvais, Fabio Bergamaschi, Antonio Buil, Catherine Büchi, Romaine Chapuis, Delphine Lanza, 3 Video projection
Ismael Oiartzabal, Paola Pagani, Pauline Wassermann - Actors and dancers
In “Fallbeispiel”, which looks at the “falling body”, professional dancers and actors perform examples of falls.
The falls are repeated relentlessly until their physical effects can be seen, thus allowing the viewer to discern the
passage of time. Only the seconds just before and after the fall – the preparation, the effect and the reaction
of the falling person – are made visible. The traces and signs of the moments just before or after the fall entail 4 Speakers
the uneasy question of how much longer each steady position can be held, thereby potentially depriving the
observer from their own protected position.The fall itself is replaced in the picture by a rhythmic “fading-out”
and reappearance of the body. Depending on the available space, life-size pictures of this filmed dancers and
actors are installed as a dual or triple channel projection.
The actual action, the fall not shown in the picture, is resumed on the sound track, which captures the adapted
and abstracted sounds of the bodies and their internal throbbing, vibrating, thudding and scuffing. This stands
in opposition to the image and its silence. These noises are recorded using contact and stethoscope microphones,
and represent an audio composition within the installation, in the form of surround sound.
With support from City of Bern Cultural Department, Canton of Bern Cultural Office and the Migros Cultural
Percentage.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/83380266
Exhibition “Fallbeispiel” Galerie Stargazer, Genève 2010
Photo : Erika Irmler
27AESCHLIMANN CORTI AWARD 2007
Jury: Madeleine Schuppli, Director of Kunstmuseum Thun
Christoph Lichtin, Curator Kunstmuseum Lucerne
Dr. Holger Hoffmann, Bernische Kunstgesellschaft
Susanne Kulli, Bernische Kunstgesellschaft, President of visarte.bern
Mario Sala, Artist, Winterthur
In her video installation “Fallbeispiel”, Gabriela Löffel (1972) depicts how individuals, shown on
two projections facing each other, get progressively marked by exhaustion. As observers, we stand
in between these young and old men and women and we participate in the strenuous scene they’re
being subjected to. We never get to see the actual reason for their strain: a constant movement of
falling down and getting up again. The falling moment is blinded out. What we see are the instants
just before the fall and just after the rise. But we do hear the sounds of bodies landing with a
smack on the ground, we hear the bodies’ respiration getting heavier, the sound track and the image
follow different logics. The artist suppresses the essential moment of the sequence, while creating an
overpowering sound effect. In so doing, she makes up room for imagination. Indeed, we fill up the
space with our own pictures as determined by the sound. It seems impossible to extract oneself from
Gabriela Löffel’s video installation: the images she produces are striking, and the ones she doesn’t
show, the ones that are within us, deploy their dramatic effect up to the edges of brutality.
This work stands out by its reduced and highly metaphorical nature. Of course we know that these
people, who stand up in front of us, drenched in sweat, are all actors. However, the skilful artistic
realisation, the purposeful selection of different types of persons, the rhythmic sound, the subtleness
of the fade-ins and fade-outs, all these features open up so much space, allowing us to connect
what we see to actual facts and to a more general image of society. We recognise for instance that in
society, just as in the video, people wear themselves out up until the moment they get replaced by
Videostills “Fallbeispiel” 2006
other people.
Although Gabriela Löffel’s work may take up a critical stance, it also pertains to a specific tradition
of image, which takes as a starting point performance art out of Body Art from the late sixties and
extends until today. The artist doesn’t draw back from the archaic images created by her predecessors
and their body performances. Quite on the contrary, she takes them up and translates them into a
new visual language via the subtle manipulation of video art and sound art.
The jury has decided to award to Gabriela Löffel the main prize of this year’s Aeschlimann Corti
grant for the excellence in form and content of her work. It is a very telling example (a so-called
“Fallbeispiel”) of just how powerful the art of omission can be.
Jury report by CHRISTOPH LICHTIN
(Translate by Sophie Hengl) 28angle vide
Installation / Video rear projection / Surround sound / 2005
In collaboration with Situation of the Installation
Giuditta, Joëlle, Saskia, Sebastien, Sony - Boxers
An important part of boxing training is the “shadow”, known as the “vide” in French. Shadow-boxing is fighting
alone against an invisible adversary. This imaginary, invisible opponent, and the fight against him, are the focus
of “Angle vide” for which I worked with professional boxers.
To what extent, and based on which imaginings and interests, can we create opponents and enemies? How do
4 Speaker
we appropriate them? The invisible enemy and opponent, the pervasive danger, could be anyone.
The camera records the progressive, physical transformation and exhaustion, the loss of emotional control and
video rear projection
the concentration of the boxers.
These images are projected onto the screen in the middle of the exhibition room as video rear projections.
The imaginary opponent is also part of the content of the audio recordings. I asked the boxers how they entered
into this “state” of imagining an opponent. How do they transform the situation into an authentic fight with
an invisible opponent? How do they experience this situation of targeted aggression towards an “empty” target?
These audio recordings are installed and played as surround sound, meaning that the voices move throughout
the room.
With support from City of Bern Cultural Department and Canton of Bern Cultural Office.
A version of the video with German subtitles is available.
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/49305399
29Videostills “Angle vide” 2005
30fokus
Installation / Video projection / Headphone / 5’41’’ / 2002-03
In collaboration wtih
Ariane Blatter, Cora Liechti, Letitia Ramos, Doris Schmid.
Four women, who have never before had any contact with weapons, shoot a pistol for the first time at an
indoor gun range. The women confront their own limits and experiences of the perception and representation
of violence. This brief moment of confrontation has been recorded using a special 16mm high-speed camera
(150 frames/second).
“Fokus” is projected on loop. The original sound track (the breathing of the women and the shot) can be heard
through headphone. As the observer watches the film, they are in the same “isolated” situation as the women in
the film, who are also wearing headphones.
“Fokus” is also set against the backdrop of the question of how violence and gender roles are depicted in the
media. It is an attempt to questioning these representations of violence and roles constructions. Videostills “Fokus” 2003
With support from City of Bern Cultural Department and Canton of Bern Cultural Office.
Situation of the Installation
Link video-excerpt :
https://vimeo.com/83379312
Video projection
Headphone
31Videostills “Fokus” 2003
32*1972 Oberburg/ CH
2005 / 2006 Formation pour l’enseignement artistique HTA, ESBA Genève. Liliane Schneiter
2000 - 2005 ESBA, Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts Genève. Ateliers Laurent Schmid, Carmen Perrin
2002 / 2003 Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien / Meisterklasse Peter Kogler
EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS (selection)
2018 2010
“Gut gespielt. Der Mensch und sein Avatar” Alte Fabrik Rapperswil-Jona Jahresausstellung Kunsthalle Bern
“Art Paris” Art Fair, Videoprogram by Karine Tissot, Paris F “The easy way out” Standard/deluxe, Lausanne
“Stumble and choose” Médiathèque FMAC Genève “Fokus” Schweizer Videokunst, Landshuter Kunstnacht, Neue Galerie D
“Multiple Contexts” Around Space Gallery Shanghai, CHN “Fallbeispiel” on Arte “die Nacht/la Nuit” by P. Ouazan
“Choreography of the frame” Kunsthalle Exnergasse Wien A “50JPG” Galerie Stargazer, Genève
2017 “The easy way out” Galerie Ex-Machina, Genève
“Work in motion” Mast Bologna IT, kurated by Urs Stahel 2009
Espace libre, Biel “Angle vide” on Arte “die Nacht/la Nuit” by P. Ouazan
“Video–∑” Neues Kino, Projektraum M54, Basel Duplex, Genève
“Extended Cahiers” Ground, Moskau RUS “MAC” Fmac Genève
2016 2008
“Komplexe Systeme” E-Werk Galerie für Gegenwartskunst Freiburg iB D “Fenstersprung” PROGR Bern
“TWISTING C(R)ASH” Athen, GR “Gleiche Höhe” Kunstprojekt Schweiz/Österreich, Wien A
Swiss Art Awards, Basel “Tribühne” Passagegalerie Künstlerhaus Wien A
2015 “In Progress” PROGR Bern
“Geschichte in Geschichten” Helmhaus Zürich “700IS Selection 2007” ATA, San Francisco USA
“TWISTING C(R)ASH” Le Commun Genève 2007
“Embedded Language” Dazibao Montréal CA “700IS Selection 2007” Filmcentre Rodina, St.Petersburg RUS
“Fassung #1” Liste Art Fair Basel, Special Guest at Druckwerk “700IS Selection 2007” Alsager Gallery, Manchester GB
“Kinematographische Räume” Kaskadenkondensator Basel “700IS” Experimental Film and Videofestival, Egilsstadir IS
2014 “Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendienausstellung” Kunstmuseum Thun
Swiss Art Awards, Basel “CWW” O3ONE, Belgrad RS
“Bieler Fototage 2014” 2006
“Cantonale Berne Jura” Kunsthaus Langenthal Centre Georges Pompidou “Live-Streaming Arte die Nacht/la Nuit” Paris F
2013 “Angle vide” on Arte “die Nacht/la Nuit” by P. Ouazan
“The easy way out” La Bande Vidéo, Québec CA 2005
Selection for „Fotopreis 2013 des Kantons Bern” Kornhausforum Bern “Angle vide” Progr Ausstellungszone, Bern
“Move Movie” Centre d’Art Contemporain, Yverdon-les-Bains “Fokus” on Arte “die Nacht/la Nuit” by P. Ouazan
“Offscreen” Halle Nord, Genève “Success, Friends and career” Attitudes, Genève
2012 “Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendienausstellung” Kunstmuseum Bern
“Setting” Espace d’Art Contemporain (les halles) Porrentruy “En mai, fais ce qu’il te plait” Palais de l’Athénée, Genève
2011 “Les lois de l’hospitalité” Esba, Genève
“Hors Bords” Halle Nord, Genève 2004
“Staging Voices” Progr / Stadtgalerie Bern “Fokus” Kunstsalon Berlin D
Swiss Art Awards, Basel “Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendienausstellung” Centre PasqueArt Biel
“Crosnier Extra Muros” Société des arts Genève, BAC Genève RatLab bei Attitudes, Genève
“Rodeo.12” Genève “Gonna Take You On” Zentralbüro, Berlin D
“Ex-Hibition” Galerie Ex-machina, Genève “Kinolinie6” Basel
Mediathek “Café de rêves” Helmhaus Zürich “Mitte voll ins Schwarze” Videoprogramm VID, Grosshöchstetten
33
“Art film screening” Red House Gallery, New York USA “Electric rendez-vous” Plug.Ins BaselGRANTS AND AWARDS COLLECTIONS
2018 Swiss Federal Art Collection, Federal Office of Culture
Work grant, Pro Helvetia Swiss National Library Collection
2017 Collection des Beaux-Arts Jura
Bourse pour artiste de plus de 35 ans de la Ville de Genève, FMAC Kantonale Kunstsammlung Bern, Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern
2016 FMAC / Fonds d‘art contemporain de la Ville de Genève
Swiss Art Award
Research Grant, Pro Helvetia RESIDENCIES
2015 2017
Award Irène Reymond Fondation Shanghai residency, Pro Helvetia
Grant Bildende Kunst, Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern 2013
2013 “La Bande Vidéo” Québec CA
Award “Anerkennungspreis / Fotopreise 2013” Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern “Vidéographe” Montréal CA
Contribution Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern 2006
2012 “Artdirekt” Berlin D
Grant 2012 Société des Arts, Genève “Gil-society” Akureyri IS
Contribution Fonds d’art contemporain de la Ville de Genève (FMAC) “Skaftfell” Seydisfjördur IS
Contribution Fonds cantonal d’art contemporain, Genève (FCAC)
Contribution Abteilung Kulturelles Stadt Bern PUBLICATIONS
Contribution Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern “Offscreen - Wenn Bilder jenseits ihrer Ränder zurückblicken” Reihe “dynamis” Fink Verlag München,
2011 2019, Sigrid Adorf
Swiss Art Award
“slightly slipping on a banana skin” Programmation 2016-2018 Médiathèque Genève FMAC 2018,
Award “Fondation Gertrude Hirzel” Société des arts Genève
Bénédicte le Pimpec, Isaline Vuille
Contribution Abteilung Kulturelles Stadt Bern
Contribution Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern “CACY [KAKI], n. m., 2013-2017” Art&Fiction 2018, Karine Tissot
Contribution Migros-Kulturprozent “Gabriela Löffel. Die Schweizerin erkundet in ihren Videos die Codes der Macht” Artline 06. 2016
2009 Annette Hoffmann
Contribution Migros-Kulturprozent “Die beunruhigende Abstraktion der Macht” Kunstbulletin 06.2016 Brita Polzer
Contribution Abteilung Kulturelles Stadt Bern “Collection Cahiers d’Artistes 2015” Andrea Cinel Pro Helvetia
Contribution Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern
Pro Helvetia Journal / Liste Art Fair Basel, Daniel Morgenthaler 2015
2007
Award “Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendium” “Gabriela Löffel - Millefeuille” Le Courrier Dezember 2013, Samuel Schellenberg
2006 “Gabriela Löffel - Bühnen für den Krieg” Kunstbulletin November 2013, Brita Polzer
Contribution Migros-Kulturprozent “Setting” Citysharing.ch 2013, Merel van Tilburg
Contribution Abteilung Kulturelles Stadt Bern “Cahier de la classe des beaux-arts” Genève 2011, Karine Tissot
Contribution Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern
“La fiction comme expérience des réalités” Kunstbulletin Mai 2011, Françoise Ninghetto
2005
Contribution Abteilung Kulturelles Stadt Bern “Le soldat n’est jamais le méchant” Le Courrier November 2010, Tilo Steireif
Contribution Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern und Revue Daté November/Dezember 2010
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