Gaby Peters

Gaby Peters
neueste latest works Arbeiten (2010 (2010/2011) - 2012)
2)

Gaby Peters
Saturday Night
Video; 2012; 4 h 40 minutes
wire, matches, pliers, tealight, 1 bag of corn

Gaby Peters
Sorry not in Service - Machine
Installation, 2011
2.10m x 1.50m x 0,25m
Foto: Hannes Woidich
funded by the Karin Abt-Straubinger Foundation
The plate behind the perspex windows rotates, again and
again the observer reads “Sorry, not in Service”. A selfreferential
paradox develops as the machine is constructed only to
say exactly this which means it is working perfectly well.
The phrase “Sorry, (I‘m) not in Service“ is written for example
on British busses. The observer inevitably starts to
personify the machine. It seems as if the machine has a life of
its own and is able to tell the observer about its momentary
situation. 1
1 find out more: John McCarthy: „Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines.“
Computer Science Department: Stanford University, 1979.

Gaby Peters
The Plate-Spinning
Machines
The Plate-Spinning Machine:
Version Afternoon Tea
Installation, 2010
1,20m x 1,15m x 1,10m
Foto: Tobias Wootton, Glue
Factory, Glasgow
I constructed two different
Plate-Spinning Machines. Here
you can see the version Afternoon
Tea. It is a two-arm
Plate-Spinning Machine which
is able to spin six plates at the
same time. The plates are not
fixed to the wooden dowels and
can fall down any time. Without
this risk the plate-spinning
machines would be useless. If
there‘s no risk, I could spin my
plates myself, couldn‘t I?

Gaby Peters
The Plate-Spinning Machines
The Plate-Spinning Machine:
Version Happy Anniversary
Installation, 2010
0,80m x 1,24m x 92,5m
Fotos: Tobias Wootton, CCA, Glasgow and
Artnews@Bethanien, Berlin
I constructed two different Plate-Spinning Machines. Here you
can see the version Happy Anniversary. It is a one-arm Plate-
Spinning Machine for one plate. Again, the plate is not fixed to
the wooden dowel and can fall down any time.

Gaby Peters
all sculptures from the Mini-Sculptures Series, 2009/2010
front page:
Idea-machine
0.30m x 0.15m x 0.15m
If the one-legged figure is wound up, its movement makes the bee in the box wiggle
Beanslicer
8 x 4 x 4 cm
Beanslicer with handles
GenuG
4 x 4 x 4 cm
If the white button on the TV is pushed the screen starts rotating. Every time it stops it shows the word
“GenuG” which is German and means “enough”.
this page:
newly hatched and looking for more
45 x 30 x 25 cm
The worm tries to snatch the soy-sauce fish, which is dangling over its head, with its eyes.
stubborn flower
45 x 30 x 25 cm
The flower refuses to jump (it is not able to anyway).

Gaby Peters
selected works 2006 - 2009
find more on: www.gabypeters.de

Gaby Peters
untitled (clothes dryers)
mechanical objects, 2007
clothes dryers, windshield-wiper-engines,
rechargeable batteries,
H ca. 1.95m, diameter ca. 2 - 3m
Fotos: Rüdiger Dunker
Four rotary clothes dryers standing
upside down are set in motion by batteryoperated
motors. By means of their opening
movement, the objects move uncontrolled
through the room. They converge,
influence, and interact with each other
and with the observer. Now the exhibition
visitor has to share the room in a particular
way with the artworks and may even
be forced to make room for them.

Gaby Peters
untitled (fly swats)
mechanic installation, 2008
360 fly swats, plastic modules, rubber hose, windshield wiper
engines
each sculpture: ca. 7.00m high x 1.00 m x 1.00 m
Being switched on and of by a motion detector, the modules
begin to turn around fastly in a fake movement of defence
when a spectator approaches.

Gaby Peters
from the Mini-Sculptures Series, 2006/2008
Superlife & Longlife
2008; battery, diode, insulating tape, toggle switch, pistachio; 12 x 10 x 4cm
Foto: Peter Oszvald,©: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle of the Federal Republic of Germany

Gaby Peters
talk.
video; 4.40min, loop, no
sound; 2009; cups, plates
The observer looks at two
cups in a cupboard which
seem to happily talk with
each other.

Gaby Peters
untitled (fishes)
2006; Loop, 2-channel-projection
Two screens are set up in a room. They are approximately 2.80
m high and 2 m wide. The two screens form a corner with
a passage, approximately 1.5 m wide, for the visitor to walk
through. Out of the pink surfaces brightly coloured fishes move
towards the visitor, past him and out of the screen.

Gaby Peters
testmachine
2007, loop
“With testmachine (2007) we
look at an object in a projection,
which looks similar to a question
mark. Like an absurd oracle it
gives out a “Yes” or “No” every
few seconds seemingly without
any discernible system. A plastic
toy serves as the basis of this
video-work, which gives out its
verdict when a button is pressed.
Through the video-technical manipulation,
this operating possibility
is removed. Thus the
object answers completely unquestioned,
continuously with
yes and no. Thus, it provokes
the observer to complete the
situation with questions of his/
her own and to start to communicate
with the picture.“
Michael Pohl

Gaby Peters
Springspangen
video, 16‘17“, Loop, 2007
plants, hairgrips
The floral counterpart to the social studies. Red and brown
flowerlike hair-grips are sitting in a bed of green-leaved
plants. From time to time the hair-grips open and close slowly.

Gaby Peters
Action Train
2006, loop
A plastic engine with an automatic
turning mechanism drives through
the square of light in which it is
moving. All limits are tested, every
corner is tried out several times,
without finding a way out.

Gaby Peters
wings
video, 1‘13“, 2006
wind-up chick, acupuncture needles
A wind-up chick with acupuncture needles in
its sides is shown in the video. Suddenly the
chick begins to shake. Many of the needles fall
to the ground one after the other, the chick
slows down and stops. Then it begins to move
again, faster this time. More needles are flung
down, until only a very few remain in the toy.
The same procedure happens again and again,
only faster and more and more frantic until the
chick has rid itself, finally, of all needles.

Gaby Peters
social studies
video, 9‘47“, 2006
wind-up machines, terrarium, aloe vera
A terrarium is populated by a little group of wind-up machines.
They are limited to certain movements by the way they are
made. While they interact amongst each other, different ways
of „behaving“ develop. They contact each other, fall back on
their wheels or just move around. Observing them one can see
similar actions now and again, which seem to form a typical
behaviour.

Gaby Peters: about my work
“When you stir your rice pudding [...] the
spoonful of jam spreads itself round making red
trails [...]. But if you stir backwards, the jam will
not come together again. Indeed, the pudding
does not notice and continues to turn pink just
as before. Do you think this is odd?“
Tom Stoppard, Arcadia
As in this quote, my work is only at a first
glance about movement, mainly however, it
deals with the logical seeming illogicality of a
Tom Stoppard or a Lewis Carrol.
Appearing as an industrially mass-produced
product, the Plate-Spinning Machines lure
the observer into an absurd feeling of normality.
The plates are not fixed to the wooden
dowels, which means that they can fall
down anytime and produce a medium chaos.
However, the main function of the machines
is to harmoniously keep their plates spinning
- as an additional household-appliance which
takes on the unwanted work and thus makes
every day life easier.
Another example is the Sorry, not in Service-
Machine. A machine, which is constructed to
be out of order. Reversing its own message,
the machine proves itself a liar - a self-referential
paradox between message and function
occurs.
By supporting the natural movement of an
object through engines and power-supply, I
often create the illusion of an independent
opposite of the observer. Many of my artworks
are about movement and the impulsion
of inanimate things. As soon as the
motor switch is flicked on, the objects elude
from my / the spectator‘s control. They seem
to develop an individual life of their own and
thus lead the common understanding of machines
and machinery into the absurd.

Gaby Peters
Website
www.gabypeters.de
Contact
Künstlerhaus Dortmund
Sunderweg1
44147 Dortmund
gabypeters@gmx.de
0049-162-2553952
CV
since 2010 member of artists collective: Künstlerhaus Dortmund (www.kh-do.de)
2010 Master of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art
2009-2010 Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art
2009 Exam in Art and English at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, DE
2001-2009 Art at the Kunsthochschule Mainz,
and English at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz
2005 working residency on Cuba (Brigade of the IG-Metall)
2001-2002 assistant teacher in Chester, UK
1980 born in Trier, DE
Awards and Grants
2012 Saari Residence Stipend, Kone Foundation, Finland
2011 Karin Abt-Straubinger Grant
DEW21-Art Prize
2008 Award for Young Artists of Rhineland-Palatinate
Subsidy Award Trier-Saarburg
Bosch-Rexroth-Award, The Art of Drive and Control (2)
2006 Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz-Award for Young Artists of the Kunsthochschule, Mainz
Exhibitions (selected) (S = solo-show, K = catalogue)
2012 still confused but on a higher level, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund (S)
2011 Gaby Peters, Kunstbunker Hintereingang, Nuremberg (S)
DEW21-Ausstellung, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund
6.Biennale Contemporaine, Strassen, LU (K)
Separate Welten, Fachhochschule Dortmund
2010 Kellerkabinett der Wilhelm-Morgner-Stipendiatin 2010, Paulistr. 7a, Soest
Frames from the Edge, Galerie Marion Scharmann, Köln
Definite Article, Artnews@Bethanien, Berlin
MFA-Degree Show, CCA und Glue-Factory Glasgow, UK (K)
2009 Kunststudentinnen&Kunststudenten stellen aus 2008/2009, Kunsthalle Bonn (K)
Videonale-Interventionen, Kunstmuseum Bonn (K)
Full House, Satellit - Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt a. M.
GSA-MFA Auction, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow, UK
2008 Emy-Roeder-Preis 2008 - Junge Rheinland-Pfälzer Künstlerinnen und Künstler,
Kunstverein Ludwigshafen
Klasse Papier/Textil, Künstlerverein Walkmühle, Wiesbaden (K)
Remember that THE MACHINIST is not a guide, Altes Zollamt, Wiesbaden (S,K)
The Art of Drive and Control, Industrie- und Handelskammer, Würzburg (K)
2007 myality, Initialraum, Münster (S)
Sozialstudien, Galerie Greulich, Frankfurt a.M. (S)
Overseas Underground, Kunstverein Walpodenstraße e.V., Mainz
Vom Schmettern, Pengland, Mainz (K)
2006 Zwischenhoch, Exhibition Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz-Award of the Kunsthochschule Mainz