Katja Loher's Video World

Katja Loher

02contentWorks 2004 – 201003 Artist Statement04 Introduction06 Videoplanets, since 200608 Sculpting in air / Videoplanet, 201013 Why did the bees leave? / Videoplanet, 201017 Series of Miniverses19 Miniverse 5 - Sculpting in space, 201022 Miniverse 4 - Sculpting in time, 200925 Miniverse 3 - Where is the center of the sea?, 200928 Miniverse 2 - Is there no more spring?, 200832 Miniverse 1 - Interplanetary System, 200837 RGB Videoplanets40 Series of Glass sculptures41 RGB Well, 200943 Where was the color green born?, 200945 Why did the bees leave?, 200947 Planêtre/Essence Planet, 200850 Where will the stars live?, 200753 Schachfeld/The Chessfield, 200758 Between the Sun and the Oranges, 200761 7 Video Optica, 200665 Peephole, 200669 Floating Rendezvous, 200573 Objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear, 200576 Irgendwo sein / Where ever you may be, 200480 CV84 DVD PAL, Videos

03artist statementI orchestrate video, literature, choreography and audio into sculptural bodies that transportthe audience through narrative concepts, imaginary worlds and visionary ideas.The multidisciplinary seeks to fuse the exterior objects with the expression of an innerimagination.Posing the possibility of a planetary identity, my work manifests a vision of our globalselves that incorporates both the infinite largeness of the universe as well as the infinitesmallness as interrelated entities.As an artist, I use models to create my own observations and experiments in the universalenvironment. My constructions are ironic invitations to engage a fantastic version ofwhat is real- and of what can potentially be.Viewed from above, the clusters of bodies form in chorographical motion-sequenceswords and questions, which elicit utopias and dystopias that reflect contemplativequestions about contemporary issues between the natural planet and the humanpopulation.A consistent practice in my work, asking questions, allows me to communicate concernsthrough metaphor in artistic syncretism.By creating choreography in the bird’s eye perspective I intend to catapult the viewerfrom his or her place. While offering an outside perspective I reposition the audience asobserver. I suggest that changing one’s perspective attempts to dissolve conditionedthinking patterns, prejudices, and investigates new ways of thinking.

04INTRODUCTIONKATJA LOHER .VIDEO-PLANETS. THE ISSUES OF A PLANETARY IDENTITYSolo Exhibition Anya Tish Gallery, Houston. Photo: Katja Loher, 2009.The works of Katja Loher question the possibility of a planetary identity. She works in differentcultural grounds, like Europe, America and Asia, and tries to spot a common sense out of thediversities. In her video-sculpures, she plays with the contradiction between refining a globalimage of a planet (a recognizable shape like a sculpture) and the ever changing dynamics ofits reality (shapeless like a video). The video-sculptures are more than installations of videoand sculptures. They include also literature (the questions shown on the videos) and dance(the choreography of dancers that compose the questions). The planets sculptures hide,cut with a 3D CAD/CAM production system that make them look seemingly natural, severalround-shape screens showing videos. These latter collect a number of dance performancesthat compose questions mainly about location: “Where is the centre of the sea?”, or “Is thereno more spring?”. They also refer to bio-climatic issues like: “Who can convince the sea tobe reasonable while its temperature rises?”. The message is about locating a new identityin space and time, as if the artist burden was to depict a temporary definition of an alteredglobal image, and reproduce, in a model, an hastily moving planet to understand its changesand directions. One of the keys of interpretation of her work is the synthesis she achievesin melting these means of expression. The holistic approach to a ‘planet’ does not in factcompromise the clarity and impact of the installations or the sculptures. Literature, dance,sculpture and video, sum to a homogeneous piece of work which reveals its heterogeneityafter a first look, just like the observation of a planet in our universe shows. The artist, as aconceptual star finder, seeks for new discoveries, and once the apparently simple object isfound, there begin the infinite findings.

05 INTRODUCTIONWhoever discovers the work of Katja Loher finds himself involved in the same process:going to the curiosity of a rather simple object (a sphere-like sculpture) to the findingsof its hidden sides. So the initial perfection of a planet, shaped by a cyclical movement,is contaminated by interior holes and voids that host insoluble questions. The videos areround shaped, recalling again the circularity of the design concept. So the planetary identityis simple at its approach and becomes more and more complex as you observe. The artisttries ironically to fit the universal laws in a model, in a process of conceptual compressionthat has something in common with the scientific observation. At the same time she playswith scale, putting the infinite bigness of astronomy in the infinite smallness of biology. Thevideo-planets, as atoms, compose the universe of an artist who crosses the conceptualdisciplines and physical continents with a rather surprisingly confidence. Been an inhabitantof a global system, Katja Loher well represents a generation of artists who are managingto work with an immense set of inputs and materials the contemporary life offers, andrepresent it in a reliable artistic syncretism.Vittorio Sanna, Architect and Poetborn in Parma, lives and work in Rome and DubaiPh.D. and Assitant Professor in Architectural Design University La Sapienza of Rome

06video-planets

07video-planetsVideo-sculptures, since 2006Video-planets are a series of Video-sculptures that explore the celestial gaze, dreamlikeuniverses, and forms of social interaction from a variety of angles. The Video-planetscomprise multi-channel video projections on spheres.The projected videos, shown on the surface of the weather balloons, consist of a bird’seyeview of seemingly anonymous crowds of people that begin to perform structuredchoreographies. As if under a microscope we can study them for meaning, we begin tosee that they have formed letters and questions. The Video-planets insert those questionsinto the DNA of the planets. These questions are combined with scenes, where the peoplebecome numbered parts of a enormous machine of synchronized movement.“The videos are put together through a communication system the artist calls Video-alphabet,which represents the synthesis of her ongoing exploration of language as featured in mostof her works. Video-alphabet is a code where human figures, captured in specific poses,represent a series of symbols, which, in post-production, are assembled into letters of thealphabet with which the artist forms words and questions. Such questions are conciseand basic, visually rendered with strong chromatics and understated metaphors, which,notwithstanding an apparent lightness, outline a dramatic statement against man and theworld, he has set up.”Tiziana di Caro, Gallerist Salerno, Italy

08sculpting in air

09 sculpting in airExhibited at MAXXI – National Museum of the Arts of the XXIst Century30. Mai - 25. December 2010Supported by Pro HelvetiaKulturpauschale Basel-StadtSculpting in Air orchestrates communication on the border ofvirtual space and reality.Viewed from above, human bodies form in live choreographyletters that are composed into visual language in postproduction.In these choreographies the individuals accumulate andtransform into abstract patterns that define the face of thecrowd. Zooming into the crowd, the individuals becomeapparent. Zooming out, an artistic pattern is realized, definingthe identity of the crowd.By creating choreography in the bird’s eye perspective KatjaLoher repositions the audience as observers. The Video-planetchangesthe direction of the view of the observer therefore we suspectIt just may as well be huge shimmering eyeball in turn watchingus just as we are watching it.A web camera, positioned next to the balloon, zooms into theaudience. The image of the viewer is not only transmitted as alive stream on the web but also screened onto the backside ofthe Video-Planet, placed on a passage way in the museum.People appear and disappear like a seal peeking through theportals of an aquarium or like visitors seen through a peepholeof a door.The game between the observer and the observed is exposedwhen on the web, the visitors appear watching the personvisiting the web while watching the work.At the moment the audience is observing the dialogue on theVideo-planet, they themselves are to be revealed.If we are searching for our own reality, there arises in us theexpectation of an additional understanding, a reflex of thefuture revealing the eye as it looks back at the past.Sculpting in Air, Installation, Maxxi Museum, Photo: Stephanie Cardi

10 10 sculpting in airVideo-Planet, 2010Sculpting in Air, Installation, Maxxi Museum, Photo: Stephanie Cardi / Ernesto Tedeschi

11 sculpting in airVideo Production:Director: Katja LoherAssistant Director: Marco MontiAudio Design: Asako FujimotoCostume Design: Erica MagreyChoreography: Saori TsukadaDancers: Karesia Batan / Romina Rodriguez-Crosta / Shandoah Goldman⌦CJ HolmCatalina Martinez / Azumi Oe / Zoe!Video stills, Sculpting in air.

12 12 sculpting in airVideo-sculpture, 2010Choreographed dialogueh-planet: «Hello.»e-planet: h-planet: «What is your name?»e-planet: h-planet: «What is your name?»e-planet: h-planet: «Nice to meet you, Error unknown.»e-planet:e-planet: h-planet: «What happens to vanished memories?»e-planet: h-planet: «Is there any secret space?»e-planet: Production Shots, Bird’s eye view, Photo: Marco Monti

13why did the bees leave?

14 14 why did the bees leave?Video-Planet, 2010Art Works for Change’s forthcoming international art installation, The Nature of Cities.United Nations Pavilion at the Shanghai ExpoVideo Production:Director: Katja LoherAssistant Director: Marco MontiAudio Design: Asako FujimotoCostume Design: Erica MagreyChoreography: Saori TsukadaDancers: Karesia Batan / Romina Rodriguez-Crosta / Shandoah Goldman⌦CJ HolmCatalina Martinez / Azumi Oe / Zoe!Why did the bees leave? explores the role of human intrusion into ecological systems. Inthis video, a view from above shows groups of humans. As if under a microscope we canstudy them for meaning, we begin to see that they have formed letters and a question:Why don’t we create more space for butterflies and train helicopters to suck yellow fromthe sunlight?A macro-image of the world slowly zooms in, initially showing a bird’s-eye view of a city. Itcontinues to zoom onto a blossom tree in a park, ultimately landing on a close-up imageof a fruit tree flower where a groups of workers attend the work of bees. They perform insynchronized movement the pollination.The workers must first collect pollen from the flowers by scrubbing it off the anther intoa bowl. They need to let it dry for two days, and then they dip feather dusters in the bowland apply the pollen to the flowers stigmas.The honeybee, a creature perfectly engineered to perform the task, with a body designedto trap pollen and a work ethic that leaves no petal unturned, are seeking in high numbers.Where was the color green born?, Video-sculpture. Photo: Katja Loher, 2009.

15 15 why did the bees leave?Video-Planet, 2010Why did the Bees leave?, Video stills

16 16 why did the bees leave? aVideo-Planet, 2010Why did the Bees leave?, Video stills

17 SEries of MIniverses

18 18 SEries of MIniversesMiniverse is a series of spherical objects built in layers featuring round openings ontheir surface. Through tunnels that conduct the eye towards their centre movementchoreographies of crowds can be seen.Looking through these apertures, the viewer discovers a series of messages displayedthrough video.Loher’s video sculptures explore the complex relationship between humanity and naturethrough a bird’s eye view of choreographed movements of uniformed crowds performingtasks that formerly occurred in nature without human interference. The spheres act ascommunicative vessels in which vortexes and tunnels allow one’s eye to travel and transportnecessary information from one video to the next.Solo Exhibition Galleria Tiziana di Caro, Salerno. Photos: Mimmo di Caro, 2009.

19 19 MINIVERSE 5 / Sculpting in time iiVideo sculpture, 2010Diameter: 35cmVideo screen with SDHC cardMDF / Black Piano FinishIn Collaboration with Hans Focketyn, ArchitectMiniverse 4/5 explore the idea to enlarge the microscopic universe and then shrink themassiveness of space into a manageable model. Looking through the round aperturesof Miniverse 4/5 the viewer discover a kaleidoscopic multiplication of a video in aninfinite space.The video presents a bird’s eye view of crowds of people dressed in minimalistuniforms that perform synchronized movements. In this choreography the individualstransform into seemingly abstract patterns until finally an ornament emerges likein a kaleidoscope. From this eagle-eye view the crowd has its own distinct rhythmwithout registering as a sum of its parts. A relationship between performers becomesapparent.Miniverse 5, Photo: Marco Monti

20 20 MINIVERSE 5 / Sculpting in time iiVideo sculpture, 2010Exhibited at:• Art 41 BaselMiniverse 5, Photo: Marco Monti

21 21 MINIVERSE 5 / Sculpting in time iiVideo sculpture, 2010Miniverse 5 Detail / Video still

22Miniverse 4 / SCULPTING IN TIME iVideo-sculpture, 2009Black acrylic, video screen with SDHC cardDiameter: 35cm3D CAD/CAM productionIn Collaboration with Hans Focketyn, ArchitectChoreography in Collaboration with Saori Tsukada, Dancer, ActorAudio-Design: Asako FujimotoMiniverse 4. Photos: Anthony Shumater, 2009.

23 23 Miniverse 4 / SCULPTING IN TIME iExhibited at:• Galleria Tiziana di Caro, Salerno, Italy• Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, USAMiniverse 4. Photos: Katja Loher, 2009.

24 24Miniverse 4 / SCULPTING IN TIME iVideo stillsMiniverse 4, Video stills: Katja Loher, 2009.

25 25 miniverse 3 / where is the centre of the sea?Video-sculpture, 2009Transparent acrylic, video screen with SDHC cardDiameter: 30cm3D CAD/CAM productionIn Collaboration with Hans Focketyn, ArchitectChoreography in Collaboration with Saori Tsukada, Dancer, ActorAudio-Design: Asako FujimotoWhere is the Centre of the Sea? is the title of a sphere build with layers of transparentacrylic, a shape made of vesicular points voiding inwardly. Moving images are reflected inrising air bubbles, which eventually seem to reach the domed surface. The bubbles, thattouch the surface, build an aperture inside of the Miniverse 3. A video, with people that sendsignals from an underwater world, is reflected in the water bubbles.These people ask:Where is the centre of the sea?Isn’t life a fish that is preparing to become a bird?When was the color blue born?How does the blue of the water sing through pollution?How does the coral get its color back?Who can convince the sea to be reasonable while its temperature rises?Miniverse 3. Photos: : Anthony Shumate, 2009.

26 26 Miniverse 3 / where is the centre of the sea?Exhibited at:• Galleria Tiziana di Caro• Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, USAMiniverse 3. Photos: Katja Loher, 2009.

27 27 Miniverse 3 / where is the centre of the sea?Video stills, 2009Miniverse 3. Video stills, Katja Loher, 2009.

2828MINiVERSE 2 / Is there no more spring?Video-sculpture, 2009White acrylic, 6 video screens with SDHC cardsComposition of 12 videosDiameter: 55cm3D CAD/CAM productionIn Collaboration with Hans Focketyn, ArchitectChoreography in Collaboration with Saori Tsukada, Dancer, ActorAudio-Design: Motmot.Miniverse2 displays scenes where workers become part of the machine of a synchronizedmovement: they perform tasks that need to be done 24 hours a day to keep nature balancedand to allow mankind to survive on our planet at its current numbers.The choreography shows a group of workers that have to attend the work of bees, pollinatethe flowers. An other scene shows workers that collect carbon dioxide (CO2) and othergases in the air to reduce emissions of these heat-trapping gases.The interaction of the twelve videos in the sphere is modeled after a musical orchestracomposition. There are moments in the composition where all openings of the sphere showthe same image, while a different video is usually played in each opening.Miniverse 2. Photos: Katja Loher, 2008.

29MINiVERSE 2 / Is there no more springExhibited at:• Christinger Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland• TinaB Festival, Prague, Czech Republic• Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, USA• Siggraph Asia, Yokohama, JapanMiniverse 2. Photos: Anthony Shumate, 2009.

30 MINiVERSE 2 / Is there no more spring?Video stillsMiniverse 2. Video stills, Katja Loher, 2009.

31 MINiVERSE 2 / Is there no more spring?Video stillsMiniverse 2. Video stills, Katja Loher, 2009.

32 MINiVERSE 1 / interplanetary systemVideo-sculpture, 2008Finish wood cardboard, 5 video screens with SDHC cardsComposition of 12 videosDiameter: 45cm3D CAD/CAM productionIn Collaboration with Hans Focketyn, ArchitectChoreography in Collaboration with Saori Tsukada, Dancer, ActorAudio-Design: Asako FujimotoIn Miniverse1 crowds of people can be seen through small holes in a sphere. They formchoreographic formations that can be recognized as texts since they are filmed from abird’s eye view. Therefore, the globe represents a planet that gives the viewer a look atpeople that are sending text signals.The artist presents a bird’s eye view of people in minimalist uniforms performing a structuredchoreography. This unique perspective creates a language that renders the familiar surrealand unknown.Miniverse1, ART39 Basel, Main Fair, Tony Wuethrich Gallery, Photos: Katja Loher, 2008.

33 MINIVERSE 1 / Interplanetary systemExhibited at:• Art Basel, 2008• Christinger Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland• A.I.R. ONE, Substitut Berlin, Germany• Galleria Tiziana di Caro, ItalyMiniverse 1, Video stills, Katja Loher, 2008.

34 34 MINIVERSE 1 / interplanetary systemVideo stills, example of a displayed videoMiniverse1, Video stills, Katja Loher, 2008.

35 35 press“One of Loher’s big concerns is to ask questions.Humans have a myriad of opinions, statinganother one would prove futile: it’s importantto stimulate an internal response in the viewer.People are bombarded with trite, daily messages,but reflection is a mechanism in short supply.”Robert Elmes, Director Galapagos Art Space New YorkHouston Chronicle, Daily Newspaper, Dec. 28.2009“Seeing Katja Loher’s projection of humans onplanets was a striking experience - it helped meto gain a moment of distance from Earth and asense of how astonishing it is to be a creaturecrawling about on a big ball going around andaround. Thank you for the truly lovely eeriness. Iam now properly confused about who, or what,we are.”-Ebon Fisher, Director of Nervepool.net and Af.Associate Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology“Brilliant and beautiful! You continue to blowme away with your art work- your blend oflab/science with art/poetry in these stunning,spatial visual ideas is so unique and impressive,like none other. You have an amazing way toanimate and blow life in to abandoned emptyspaces, full of beauty and color, imagination andintrigue.”Steven Santos, Atterney Law, New YorkYRB JUMP OFF, NY Magazine, June 2008

36 36 pressIl Sole, Italy, September 6th, 2009

37 37 RGB video-planets

38 38 RGB VIDEO-PLANETSProjections onto 3 floating weather balloonsRGB consists of 3 Video-planet: The Red Planet , the Green Planet and the Blue Planet. Thechoreographed questions assigned to the colors red, green and blue are reflected in thecolored liquids.RGB refers to a type of component video signal used in the video electronics industry. Itconsists of three signals - red, green, and blue - carried on three separate cables.

39 VIDEO-PLANETSRed Well:Do fish love cats as much as cats love fish?How can a fish tell a cat when a fish loves a cat?How can we dance with both feet on the ground?Green Well:What does a tree write on the leaves it offers to the wind?How does the wind know when and where not to blow?How many leaves must the tree lose in vain before thewind notices?Blue Well:Will the moon ask the tide to swallow the land one day ?What will the centipede do with its hundred feet once theland has been drowned ?If there is no more mainland what will the moon use toswallow the tide?* Questions: in collaboration with Julia Sørensen, writerVideostills. Katja Loher 2008.

40 40 SERIES OF GLASS SCULPTURES

45 45 why did the bees leave?Video-sculpture, 2009Dimensions: 16cm: 16cm: 30mGlass globe filled with water, on black pedestalVideo screen with SDHC cardWhy did the bees leave?, Video-sculpture. Photo: Katja Loher, 2009.

47PLAnêtre / essence planetI)

48 PLAnêtre / essence planetVideo-installation, 2007/2008Adaptable to spaceKatja Loher & Julia SørensenAudio Design: Asako Fujimoto3 Video-planets in variable sizeAquarium with breathing balloon and Live-CameraPeephole and Live-Camera in Gallery wallInstallation Planêtre / Essence Planet, Substitut, Berlin. Photos:Julia SørensenPlanêtre / Essence Planet suggests a laboratory fromthe view of a scientist: Video-planets in different sizesfloat in space. This Laboratory seems to be about somekind of culture or genetic experiment. A hybridization,whose nature one can discover during the course ofthe theoretical and practical elements: the attempt tocreate a Planêtre. A living planet emerged through thecrossbreed of man and planet.Obviously this laboratory was abandoned abruptly.Things were left to their course, the mysterious scientistdisappeared. Notes and evolutionary schemes thatdemonstrate different states and aspects of this researchare located on the floor and walls.Located in the centre of the installation is the ConductingPlanet. A breathing balloon that is floating on the watersurface of an aquarium; it is connected to an air pumpwith a long hose. From the rhythmic inhaling and exhalingof the air body, the water surface gets raised and lowered.This study of breathing is projected directly on one ofthe planets. By this, the Video-planet transforms from anempty to a full moon in the rhythm of the breathing. Thisexperiment proves the scientist’s theory that the tidesmay be caused by the breathing of the Planêtre.

49PLAnêtre / Essence PlanetExhibited atSale Scène 2, Senones, FranceA.I.R. ONE, Substitut Berlin, GermanyThe Video-planet Orchestrated Incidence/Being shows from a bird’s eye view stylizedchoreographies of people in ornaments. The dance recreates lyrical wordplay with ease andforms poetic statements about the four seasons. This turns into an absurd cycle, catchingits own tail, within which each element appears to be in danger at all times. These elementsare dependent on one another, influence each other, the absence of a single element cancause a short circuit of the entire cycle.Orchestrated Incidence/Being is about critical mass, about the power of a common action.This planet says:“There is no fall when the leaves stick to the trees.There is no winter when the wind stops to breathe.There is no spring when the bees leave the flowers.There is no summer when there is no spring.”Installation Planêtre / Essence Planet, Substitut, Berlin. Photos:Julia Sørensen

50where will the stars live?

51where will the stars live?Video-planet, 2007Choreography with 13 DancersAudio Design: Asako Fujimoto10:50 min, LoopWeather balloon in variable size 0.5m – 4m diametersEdition 2/4In Where will the stars live? Katja Loher focuses on expressing a series of questionsformed by words performed by masses of dancers shot in aerial perspective. Employingtechniques used in other works, these images are collages with other textures and colorsthat suggest the vibrancy of life on our fragile blue-green planet, and add nuanced meaningto the text.These innocent yet evocative questions seem to sprout from the surface of the planet,which appears as some kind of living entity pleading for attention, help, or intervention.The Planet asks:“If blue runs out where will the fish swim?If yellow runs out with what will we make bread?If green runs out what will the cows eat?If red runs out with what will our body make blood?If white runs out how will the clouds make snow?If black runs out where will the stars live?“Videoplanet Where will the stars live?

52 where will the stars live?Exhibited at:• Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair, Turkey• Ny City Panorama, Flux Factory, New York, USA• Threshold Art Space, Horsecross, Perth, UK• Galleria Tiziana di Caro, Salerno, ItalyVideo stills, Where will the stars live?

53Schachfeld / The CHessfielD

54Schachfeld / the chessfield1-Channel Video Projection, 200723:30 min, HD, 16:9Director: Katja LoherAssistance Director: Virgina CromieChoreographer: Saori TsukadaScript Writer: Julia SørensenVideo Editing: Katja LoherAudio Design: Asako FujimotoIn Schachfeld/The Chess Field we are observing a game of chess come to life. The chessplayers use a computer to control their robot-like chess figures. The match is tied 2:2 and itis the beginning of the 5th game as the White Bishop #2 attacks the Black Pawn #2.The Black Pawn #2 does not fall, but remains standing in the middle of the board, refusingto leave.The Chess robotic figures have come to life. The pawns develop plans for a strike and aunion of black and white pawns is created to overthrow the government. The White Kinginvites his Queen to dance. The four Rooks in the corner pass the time playing with a ball,which becomes a deadly weapon. The chessboard has become a battlefield.“Katja Loher (born 1979) stages a human game of chess with live figures. In doing so, shepulls the strings, like with marionettes, and thus challenges the participative role of humans.The strategic game of chess transforms into a battle between life and death and suggestsan “end game” in the tradition of Beckett.”Helen Hirsch, Historian and curator, Director Museum Thun, SwitzerlandSchachfeld. Photo: Galya Kovalyova

59between the sun and the orangesVideo-planet, 2007With Saori TsukadaAudio Design: Asako Fujimoto8 min, LoopWeather balloon in variable size 0.5m – 4m diametersEdition 3/4“Do I go rolling without wheels, flying without wings or feathers?” Pablo NerudaSolo Exhibition Galapagos Art Space, New York. Photo: Carlton BrightBetween the Sun and the Oranges is a video composition that is projected onto a floatingweather balloon.The breath of the bird lady appears in the space and we find our self in the air, in the middleof courageous circling pigeon flocks.The eye is taken by a whirl pull of flittering wings and exhilarating freedom. In the round ofthe balloon the birds fly higher and higher towards the end of the sky.On one rooftop we hear the chant of the bird lady who wants to be able to fly like the birds.From another roof we hear the noise of military aircrafts. This sound comes from the pigeonowners who send their pigeons as soldiers in the sky.Pigeon flying is an age-old activity. Italian immigrants brought it to New York in the1860s and for close to 150 years it has been passed from rooftop to rooftop, evolving itselfinto a sort of game played from established territories, the pigeon coop, and directed viathe “generals”, the men or boys who keeps the pigeons. The Brooklyn Pigeon Wars, as theycall it, is an aerial social casino. To play, a coop owner releases his pigeons, letting them flyfreely in a flock over Brooklyn, meeting up with similar flocks released by other owners.At a certain point the flocks turn homeward, arriving lesser or greater in number than theystarted out. A coop owner might lose half his flock in one night, while others gain as many.This is how birds are lost and won.“Katja Loher creates a poetic metaphor about power, dependence and freedom, whichtakes place on New York’s rooftops in front of a breath taking evening sky.”Monika Hardmeier, Art historian and curator“A performance video was projected on a massive globe, to a mix of sung material and fieldrecordings; the images featured a bird person hybrid amid flocks of pigeons, and the video,mapped as it was on a sphere, gave new meaning to the phrase bird’s eye view.”Disquit, New York, Marc Weidenbaum, 13.08.2007

61VIDEO OPTICA

62VIDEO OPTICAVideo-planet, 2006Choreography with 13 PersonesAudio Design: Asako Fujimoto6:40 min, LoopWeather balloon in variable size 0.5m – 4m diametersEdition 4/4In Video Optica, the extraordinary beauty of Katja Loher’s motion choreographies becomeseffective in a particular way.The ball shows, at a rapid pace, glowing green blades of grass. Garden of Eden opens upwith seducing red fruit. Already, the fruit is falling into the next parallel universe, intothe grey house canyons of New York. They transform into the red hats of a crowd of peoplemoving in formation, filmed from above.The colorful dance evokes the childlike amazement of a look into a sparkling kaleidoscope.The people group themselves together to form letters, words and questions. With a poeticlightness, the dance reproduces the lyrical game with the words, and the questions fromPablo Neruda’s The Book of Questions//Libro de las preguntas fall - like the red fruit - in ablithe manner to the grey ground. The questions of life have grown out from the grassygreen.Monika Hardmeier, Art historian and curator„What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?Why don’t they train helicopters to suck honey from the sunlight?What is the distance in round meters between the sun and the oranges?“The book of questions, Pablo NerudaSolo Exhibition, Galapagos Art Space New York. Photo: Katja Loher

64VIDEO OPTICAPressExhibition TextVideo Optica is a video composition that is projected onto a gigantic floating ballooninside the green room. Born and bred in the shelter of the studio space this botanical beautyblossomed under New York’s skies before it was transported across the ocean to Europevia DVD. Beamed onto polyethylene skin at Wenkenhof, it now floats here in the middle ofthe room amidst copious opulence, video sculpture and aerial body at the same time. Ripefruit falls from breezy heights down to the ground. When smashing onto the grey New Yorkasphalt it transforms into red-capped people, their uniformity morphing them into groups.Filmed from the 6th floor they look like birds in flight, like amoebas under a microscope, likea kaleidoscopic shape.Individual letters evolve from these patterns formed by human masses. The letters turninto words that make up questions from Pablo Neruda’s The Book of Questions/Libro de laspreguntas. These elementary questions about life, such as the human intrusion into thenatural cycle, or questions about the human consciousness, questions about knowledgeand science, have a lyrical impact. The floating weightless air-sculpture also enchants uswith its lightness, its playfulness, its romantic poetry brought on by the spherical bubbleshape, and the way it evokes childhood memories. Its proximity to popular culture, thefunfair, to modern shapes of the spectacular makes the Video Optica, as balloon, a symbolfor the ephemeral and the volatile. Oscillating between aesthetic effect and meaningfulcontent the Video Optica is a “blow-up“ representing many metaphors: the metaphorof fast paced accelerated growth, the metaphor of nature “in the age of mechanicalreproduction“ (following Walter Benjamin) and the “loss of aura“ that is connected to it,which was supposed to revitalize art in the 90s. The giant balloon is a blow-up, it is artas simulacrum, imitating that which can be manipulated – and it is a “mass ornament“(Siegfried Kracauer).Kiki Seiler-Michalitsi, Art historian and curator, Mai 2006Honey sucking helicopters and airy dreamsWalter Pfeiffer and Katja Loher are performing, two artists from Schaffhausen that madea name for themselves abroad.Katja Loher created a completely different dream world. Born in 1979 in Schaffhausen,she studied media arts in Geneva and Basel, currently works in New York and is expectingto exhibit in Poland and China. In the dark south room, video loops are being projected onto four hovering weather balloons. Seemingly from the dark space, the visitor is looking atthe planets and the strange things happening on them. While on one planet, there seems tobe a war happening through a martial chess game performed by people as characters, theinhabitants of another one change to the windswept world above them; between them theunderwater world with it’s perfidies.Being viewed from the bird’s eye view, the inhabitants of the third one shape letters, whichform sentences from Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, posthumously published in 1974.For example, one can read: “Why don’t they teach helicopters to suck honey from the sun?”On the fourth planet, one becomes the object of observation after all. It is because there isa camera installed into a peephole built into the wall, which projects approaching objects,like a huge nose to the balloon, visible to everybody else but the one peeping. That way, thedirection of the view is suddenly about-facing, and the plants, we suspect, may just as wellbe huge eyeballs, which are watching us, just like we watch them.Peter Pfister, AZ Schaffhausen, November 2006

66 peepholeLive Video-planet, 2006Peephole, camera & loudspeaker in exhibition wallWeather balloon in variable size 0.5m – 4m diametersThe weather balloon in Peephole becomes a huge, unblinking supervisory eye.The visitor discovers a common apartment door peephole on one of the gallery walls andpeers into it. While there is nothing to see in the peephole, once they have placed themselvesclose to the wall, the viewer hears a softly playing soundscape.What the audience does not know at the moment is that anonymously their eye istransmitted onto the giant weather balloon in the gallery. This “other” audience sees thegiant eye periodically searching the peephole, which now seems to be scanning the room.“This work debunks in a witty way the modern mechanisms of control and supervisorysurveillance employed by corporations, governments and increasingly even private people,as well as the aspirations and methods of the covert, voyeuristic viewer.”Karyn Riegel“A work, which in a funny way exposes control and surveillance mechanisms as well asthe desire for hidden sensations and voyeuristic looks”Monika HardmeierVideoplanets, Solo Exhibition Forum Vebikus Schaffhausen. Photo: Katja Loher

67peepholeExhibited at• Forum Vebikus Schaffhausen, Switzerland• Galapagos Art Space, New York, USA• Sale Scène 2, Senones, France• Dublin Fringe 2006, Dublin, Ireland• Iaab Choices, Kunstraum Riehen, Basel, Switzerland• The Artist Network Gallery, Soho, New York, USASolo Exhibition, Forum Vebikus. Photo: Katja Loher

68peepholePressThe special look through a peephole(...) If a viewer realizes through this work, how constricting and, at the same time, cutoutone’s own view can be, the artist Katja Loher confronts the visitor in an even more directway. A kind of peephole at the entrance of the exhibition seems inviting to look through, inorder to see what happens. But there is nothing to see. If the visitor enters the other rooms,he sees a big ball attached at the ceiling, which, like an eye, shows a big distorted image ofthe person, who is just looking through the peephole.And there is a new movement, this time of the visitor itself as he goes back into the firstroom and performs a circular motion that way. The moment, he tried to watch an intimatesituation, he himself is being revealed. It is a strange, scary reversion that broaches theissue of current reality’s control mechanisms, as the artist, who has New York, says.Ann-Katrin Harfensteller, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, August 1st 2006Between the Sun and the OrangesTwo artists with Schaffhauser roots, Walter Pfeiffer and Katja Loher, experienced a verywell visited art opening last Saturday at Forum Vebikus.In the south room, the 1979 born video artist Katja Loher created a walkable universewith the title A view to the planets 2006: Celestical observations / Eine Sicht auf die Planeten2006: Himmlische Beobachtungen. Videos are being projected to weather balloons that arehung at breast height. One can see every day scenes or collaged footage of people, filmedfrom far above, that form funny statements like “Between the sun and the oranges“. Theyare planets with a poetic atmosphere that make one curious and, at the same time, put oneinto the middle of the action. Depending on the angle of one’s view, the motion pictures looklike the shimmering iris of an eyeball – this game between the observer and the observedperson is being carried to the extreme with a camera that is installed into the wall, just likea peephole: the person who looks clandestinely through the peephole is being exposed tothe others. Katja Loher already passed the ordeal in the cauldron of New York’s scene.Alfred Wüger, Schaffhauser Nachrichten, November 11. 2006

69floating rendezvous

70floating rendezvousVideo Installation, 20057:46 min, LoopAudio-Design: Asako Fujimoto3 weather balloons in variable sizes 0.5m – 4m diametersIn katja Lohers Installation Floating Rendezvous, the images are projected on three whiteballoons hang from the ceiling.The characters of Floating Rendezvous are a pair of lovers who live underwater, in aworld where gravity is absent. The technique employed in this work is in a certain senseunique. Part of the project was filmed under water, in the swimming pool of the Basel Hilton.In the final Loher brings together these images with scenes shot on the surface, in the realworld.The couple in Floating Rendezvous sits a a floating table, in floating chairs. In their world,all is flow and change literally. Objects drift out of their grip, and the lovers the lovers themselves are constantly forced to swim up to the surface for a breath of fresh air. Slidingbetween the physical world and the world of the imagination, they ferry endlessly back andforth from one reality to another from dream to life and back again desiring the impossibleand, at the same time, recognizing the impossibility of their desires.Maria Kolosteleva, curator national centre of contemporary Art, St.Petersburg, RussiaSolo Exhibition, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Photo: Katja Loher

71floating rendezvousExhibited at• The State Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg, Russia• Art Digital 2005, M’ARS Centre of Contemporary Arts Moscow, Russia• Forum Vebikus Schaffhausen, Switzerland• Galapagos Art Space, New York, USAVideo stills, Floating Rendezvous

72floating rendezvousPressKatja Loher, Sylvie Rodriquez: Love.comThe State Hermitage MuseumTwo projects, two loves. The first, Floating Rendezvous by video artist Katja Loher. Onthree balloons, there is a projection of videos with similar narratives. What are they about?Probably about love and, may be, about loneliness. Eerie scenes, blurry contours, hushedsounds. A bar table, an ashtray, wine glasses, a feeling that they are almost about to fall. Welook into it. It turns out that the bar is under water. The first visitor swims in. Sits down, waitsfor someone, tries to smoke. Appears She. A mute, bubbling conversation starts, deprivedof liveliness and movement. It’s funny and a little bit frightening. It seems as if you suddenlyviewed someone’s dream in which everything is ephemeral and undecided.The elements don’t fall into one place; the lovers who arrived for a rendezvous do notunderstand and do not see each other. Perhaps, Floating Rendezvous is a memory of a longdeparted, almost forgotten feeling or, the other way around, a vague premonition of love,which appears somewhere deep inside and does not yet have defined outlines. Perhaps thisis also a project about the impossibility of discovering oneself, of “letting the skeleton out ofthe closet” as the Europeans say. It is difficult to say. Love, according to Loher, is a thing initself.Olga Horoshilova, TIME OUT St.Petersburg, December 2005Swiss video installations on show at the Hermitage MuseumAll you need is loveThe National Center for Contemporary Art has brought a little love from AlpineSwitzerland to wintry St. Petersburg with a video installation project called Love.com. TheRussian organizer of the event, Maria Korosteleva, said that Love.com is probably the firstattempt to show Swiss contemporary video art in St. Petersburg.Swiss artists Katja Loher and Sylvie Rodriguez, taking part in the the project at the StateHermitage Museum’s educational center, display two multimedia installations presentingcontrary experiences of love. Although Loher’s piece is based on a fairly commonplace senseof what love is – something that happens between two people – it is quite extravagantlyrealized. In Floating Rendezvous Loher presents three videos projected on three largesuspended balloons. The video part of the work, featuring a couple trying to live underwater,intensifies the balloon metaphor of love as something “suspended” and in which it is difficultto stay balanced and rational.As well as presenting their own works, Loher and Rodriguez have prepared a video artprogram by other artists. It consists of 10 love-themed pieces produced during the last fiveyears by Swiss artists of different generations.Andrei Vorobei, St.Petersburg Times, December 23. 2005

73OBJECTS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

74OBJECTS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEARVideo Installation, 20051-Channel Video Projection on glass screen in the entryway waterAssistant: Sylvie RodriquezObjects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear examines TV as media and itsability to not only influence our perception but, increasingly and pervasively, to radicallychange it. The installation uses as its source material video footage from tapes nominatedto the rose d’Or Festival from 2003-2005.The compounded images (many different videos combine to create one larger image),demonstrate the effect of digital media on our culture today.In the overload of images, the single picture loses its importance and a new statementarises. A rearview mirror in a moving automobile suggests the interface between memoryand future and between reality and fiction.Scenes playing in the reflection of an eyeglass lens are the interior thoughts of theprotagonist.Objects in the rearview mirror... asks whether information via a modern masscommunication system, penetrates directly into our warm living rooms as truth and realityor, in fact, enters as an inconspicuous weapon designed to facilitate the end of reason anddeliberation.Video Installation, Festival Rose d’Or, KKL Luzern, Switzerland. Photo Sylvie Rodriquez

75OBJECTS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEARExhibited atKKL Luzern, Festival Rose d’Or 2005, The Festival for EntertainmentCollage with Video stills. Sarah Martin

76IRGENDWO SEIN / WHERE EVER YOU MAY BE

77IRGENDWO SEIN / WHERE EVER YOU MAY BE1-Channel Video Projection, 2004DV PAL, 3:4, 4.20min, LoopExhibited:• Kunsthaus Baselland• The Artist Network Gallery, Soho, New York, USATPC CreaTVty AwardTV Production Center Zürich, Switzerland“Never again will I come back, will I say Yes and You and Yes. All those words won’t existanymore and I may tell you, why. After all you know the questions and they all start with“Why?“ There are no questions in my life. I love water, its transparency, the green of thewater and the speechless creatures (and I too shall soon be this speechless!), my hairbelow them, my hair in it, fair water, the indifferent mirror, prohibiting me from seeing youdifferently. The wet treshold between me and me...When the confession was made I was condemned to love; when one day I would be freefrom love I would have to return to the water, to this element where no one builds a nest,lays a roof onto beams, or covers themselves with tarp. To be nowhere, to stay nowhere.Dive, rest, move without any effort – and then one day to think, to come to the surfaceagain, to walk through a clearing.”Undine geht, Ingeborg BachmannVideo artist Katja Loher at the borders between dream and reality. Photo Peter Pfister

78IRGENDWO SEIN / WHERE EVER YOU MAY BECreated with underwater blue screenWith Seraina KraushaarVideo stills Irgendwo sein/Where ever you may be

79IRGENDWO SEIN / WHERE EVER YOU MAY BEPressThe TV Production Center TPC gave away the creaTVty AwardThe tpc creaTVty awards took place for the third time November 10th. The awards forfilm and media art went to Katja Loher and Thomas Gerber.The two young artists received their price, with each being endowed with 10’000 Francs,in front of 600 guests from economy, politics, art and celebrities. 50 diploma works werehanded in from the students of the Swiss academies for design and art (HGK) and the juryawarded Katja Loher’s contribution in the category media art/media design and ThomasGerber’s work in the category film/video with the first place.In Katja Loher’s video projection,the graduate of the HGK Basel skillfully processes the „weightless journey between spaceand time, between dream and reality“, as the jury called it.(...)Besides the awards, the winners also receive the attention of the Swiss art- andadvertising scene. In the following year, the advertisers and artists will attend the awardsfor the 4th time in the Studio 1 of the tpc. Again, making contacts among each other and theupcoming talents will be a part of the program.Simon Eppenberger, Die Vorstadt, Newspaper of Zürich, Switzerland, November 17. 2004TPC CreaTVty Award. Photo Hans FocketynTPC CreaTVty AwardTV Production Center, Zürich, SwitzelandCommission’s ReportKatja Loher, graduate of the academy for design and art Basel, shows the boundariesbetween reality and imagination with her video projection Irgendwo sein/Where ever youmay be in the category media art/media design. With the presentation of the weightlessjourney through space and time, she skillfully blends image and sound elements.The jury especially acknowledges the young artist’s decision to use an emotional andsubjective pictorial language.Real fantastic art. BAZ, Newspaper of Basel, Switzerland. Foto Elena Moni

80 Katja loher1979 born in ZürichLives and work is New York and Basel2004 Diploma dept. of Art and Media Art, Art Academy Basel, FHBB HGK2001 – 2004 FHBB HGK, Fine Art Academy Basel2000 – 2001 ESBA, Fine Art Academy GenevaSolo Exhibitions (Selection 2005 – 2010)2010• VOLTA BASEL 2010 | VOLTA LIGHTBOX | presented by Vernon Gallery, Prague• TINA B | Festival of contemporary Art In Prague | Czech RepublicSpecial Project in Public space Park Hotel, Prague | Fondazione Claudio Buziol, VeniceCurator: Monika Burian2009• Galleria Tiziana Di Caro | Salerno | Italy• Anya Tish Gallery | Houston | Texas | USA• Videotellurium Motion II | Galapagos Art Space | Dumbo | New York | USA2008• Videotellurium Motion II | Christinger Contemporary | Zürich | Switzerland• A.I.R. ONE | Substitut | Berlin | Germany | Curator: Urs Künzi2007• Planêtre | Scène2 | Senones | France | Curator: Cécile Huet• Between the sun and... | Tony Wuethrich Gallery | Cabinet | Basel | Switzerland• Les Jeux sont faits | Kunsthalle Palazzo | Liestal | SwitzerlandCurator Helen Hirsch | with Sirous Namazi, J.Wood & P.Harrison• Pool installation | Galapagos Art Space | New York | USA2006• View to the Planets 2006 | Forum Vebikus | Schaffhausen | SwitzerlandCurator: André Bless• Dublin Fringe 2006 | Dublin | Ireland• Where Ever you may be, The Artist Network Gallery, Soho, New York, USACurator: Raul Zamudio2005• Love.com, The State Hermitage Museum | St.Petersburg | RussiaCurator: Maria Korosteleva• ART/36 Basel | Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Basel | Switzerland• Switzerland Festival Rose D’Or | KKL Luzern | SwitzerlandGroup Exhibitions (Selection 2005 – 2010)2010• Architecture Biennale, Venice, Arsenal• MAXXI Museum Rom | Italy | Curator: Elena Rossi• United Nations Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo | Curator: Rand• PostDimension – A journey in the Contemporary Art | Torrione Passari | Molfetta | BariCurator: Giacomo Zaza2009• Siggraph Asia 2009 | Yokohama | Japan | Curator: Yuko Oda & Mariko Tanaka• Light switch Anya Tish Gallery | Houston | Texas | USA• TINA B | Festival of contemporary Art In Prague | Czech RepublicVernon Fine Art International | Curator: Monika Burian• Euoiserie | Modern Art Gallery Taichung, Taiwan• Found Museum | Beijing | China• Biennale Chongqing | China | Curator: Wang Lin• Dialogue of the Generations | Kunsthalle Palazzo Liestal | Switzerland | with Lori Hersberger• Wondering Where the ducks Went | Galleria Tiziana di Caro | Salerno | ItalyCurator: Simona Brunetti2008• SUMMERTIME 08 - The Big Group Show | Galleri Christoffer Egelund | Denmark• Primacy | Threshold Art Space | Perth | UK | Curator: Iliyana Nedkova• Art Is my Playground | Tershane | Istanbul | Group Exhibition in Public Space2007• NY City Panorama | Flux Factory | New York | USA | Curator: Jean Barberis & Chen Tamir• Biennal Parallel | Tershane Gallery | Istanbul | Turkey | Curator: Devrim Kadirbeyoglu• 798/Dashanzi Art Festival | Beijing | China | Curator: Marc Hungerbühler• NO1 Artbase | 798 Area | Beijing | China | Curator: Marc Hungerbühler2006• Forum & Elzbieta Koscielak Gallery | Lesnica Castle | Zamek | Poland | Curator: Raul Zamudio• Iaab Choices | Art Space Riehen | Basel | Switzerland | Curator: Chris Regn & Lena Eriksson• Greenhouse | Alexander Clavel Foundation Cultural Development PrizeVilla Wenkenhof | Riehen | Switzerland | Curator: Kiki Seiler-Michalitsi2005• Art Digital 2005 | M’ARS Centre of Contemporary Arts Moscow | Russia | Curator: Antonio Geusa• Ernte 2005 | Museum zu Allerheiligen | Schaffhausen | Switzerland• Regionale 6 | Kunstverein Freiburg | Germany

81Katja loherAwards & Grants2009 Artist in Residence | Beijing | iaab (International Exchange & Studio Program Basel)2008 Work contribution | ValiART by Valiant2008 Fachausschuss Audiovision and Multimedia of Canton Basel2008 Artist in Residence | Berlin | Germany | Canton Schaffhausen Award2007 Artist in Residence | New York | Galapagos Art Space | 0-1 Artist Visa2006 Alexander Clavel Foundation Cultural Development Prize | Riehen | CH2006 Artist in Residence | New York City | iaab2004 TPC CreaTVty Award (Main TV Production Center Zürich, Switzerland)2004 Artcredit Basel-Town Award | Department Free Art Project | Basel 20042004 Swiss Touring | Digital Brainstorming: The Video OrchestraArt Fair• SCOPE BASEL 2010 | presented by Vernon Gallery, Prague.• Art Verona On Stage | Galleria Tiziana di Caro | Verona | Italy | 2009Curator: Andrea Bruciati | Solo Exhibition• MIART | Milano Contemporary Art Fair | 2009 | Galleria Tiziana Di Caro | Italy• Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair | 2007 | Tershane Gallery | Istanbul | Turkey• Art 39 Basel | 2008 | Tony Wuethrich Gallery | Basel• Diva Digital & Video Art Fair | 2006 | the:artist:network | New York | USACollections• GC. AC - Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea of Monfalcone.• Horsecross Collection | Permanent Collection of Digital Art | Perth, UK• Burkard & Partner AG | Basel, Switzerland• 9.6 Conceptual Worlds | Basel, Switzerland• Private Collectors in Italy, Switzerland and USSelected Bibliography• Siggraph Asia 2009 | DIGITAL EXPERIENCES | Catalogue Siggraph Asia 2009• Biennale Chongqing 2009 | YOUR DISCOURSE | Chinese & German Contemp. Installation|Catalogue• TINA B, Festival of contemporary Art In Prague 2009 | Catalogue• Tomograph | Texts on contemporary art and architecture, 2009 | Interviews with artistsAuthor: Peter Stohler | Edited by Winfried Stürzl, Vivien MoskaliukPublished by Arnoldsche• Art Is My Playground | Tershane Gallery, 2008 | Catalogue• NY City Panorama| Flux Factory, New York, 2007 | Catalogue• 798/Dashanzi Art Festival | Beijing, 2007 | Catalogue• Biennale Parallel | Tershane Gallery | Istanbul, 2007 | Catalogue• Art Digital 2005 Moscow | Digitalized Love 2005 | Catalogue• Forum & Elzbieta Koscielak Gallery | Lesnica Castle | Zamek, Poland, 2005 | CatalogueSelected Conferences, Workshops, Talks• Siggraph Asia 2009, lecture• NYU New York, visiting artist, 2009• Harvestworks, NYC, lecture, 2009• Pratt Institute, visiting artist, 2008• Video Workshop Senones, France, 2007• Video Workshop Senones, France, 2006• The State Hermitage Museum, Education Center St.Petersburg, Russia, lecture, 2005• Metaworx, Basel, Lecture, 2004Selected Press2010• Vision, Magazine Beijing, International Art, Design and Architecture, April Issue, Interview2009• Houston Chronicle, Daily Newspaper Houston, Exhibition review• Il Sole, National Newspaper, Italy, Exhibition review• BIT, Brooklyn Independent Television, Neighborhood Beat, Interview, Artist Portait2008• YRB JUMP OFF, NY Magazine, June issue, special featured as one of the top five artists• Imagine, Magazine, Manila Bulletin, October Issue, Interview• Schaffhauser Nachtrichten, Daily Newspaper Schaffhausen Switzerland, Interview2007• Regioartline, Art Magazine Switzerland, June Issue, Exhibition review• Kunst Bulletin, Exhibition Announcement• BAZ, Basler Zeitung, daily Newspaper Basel, Switzerland, Exhibition review• Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, Daily Newspaper Basel, Switzerland, Exhibition review2006• Arbeiter Zeitung, Weekly Newspaper Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Exhibition review• DRS1 Radio, National Broadcast Switzerland. Interview• Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, Daily Newspaper Basel, Switzerland, Exhibition review• Schaffhauser Nachrichten, Daily Newspaper, Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Exhibition review2005• BERNER KULTURAGENDA , City of Bern Culture Magazine , Nr.07 /April, Artist Portrait• TIME OUT St.Petersburg, Art Magazine St. Petersburg, Exhibition review• St. Petersburg Times, National Newspaper Russia, Exhibition review• AFISHA, Art Magazine Moscow, Exhibition review• Moscow Times, national Newspaper Russia, Exhibition Review• Badische Zeitung, Daily Newspaper Baden, Germany, Exhibition Review• Mash TV Basel, TV Basel, Switzerland, Interview, Portrait• Radio SWF, National Broadcast Germany, Interview

82 KATJA LOHERwww.katjaloher.comvideoplanet@katjaloher.comContact NY:70 North 6 Street / Brooklyn, NY, 11211+13472580071Contact Switzerland:Wilhelm His-Strasse 9 / 4056 Basel+41786565715Photo: Melody Gygax

83special thanksAll my friends and family for their wonderful support!!Collaborators:Marco Monti, AssistentLuke Emery, AssistentVirginia Cromie, Assistant ProducerSaori Tsukada, ChoreographyMotmot, Audio DesignAsako Fujimoto, Audio DesignJohn Moran, Audio DesignErica Mimira, StylingErica Magrey, Costume Design:Tim Readon, CameraCharlton Bright, CameraJulia Sørensen, ScriptwriterMisha Bittleston, Actor, PerformerNorico Matsuzaki / Nozomi Yasuda, Costume Design, PerformerJosé Navarro, Computer CodingHans Focketyn, Concept, 3D ModellsRobert Schultze, Technical DrawingsPortfolio:9.6 Conceptual Worlds, Andreas KreienbühlMelody GygaxSarah MartinText:Andreas SellJuliane WanckelRobert ElmesMichael SorgKaryn RiegelMonika HardmeierEmily SchleinerMary ZollerMelody GygaxTranslations:Emal GhamsharickElle Burchill,Johanna ThompsonDoro TachlerCurators:Elena RossiMonika BurianElena RossiSimona BrunettiIliyana NedkovaAndrea BruciatiLisa Yeonjung KwonHelen HirschDevrim KadirbeyogluMaria KorostelevaRaul ZamudioCécile HuetKiki Seiler-MichalitsiJuliane WankelMarc und Alexandra HungerbuehlerPeter StohlerAndré BlessUrs KünziGalleries / Institutions:Vernon Fine Art International, Monika BurianAnya Tish Gallery. HoustonChristinger Contemporary, ZürichGalleria Tiziana di Caro, SalernoTony Wuethrich Gallery, BaselPartner Project Gallery, MoscowKunsthalle Palazzo, LiestalForum Vebikus, SchaffhausenGalapagos Art Space, New YorkTechnical Support:Walter ImberRené PulferAcademy of Art and Media Art, Art Academy Basel, FHBB HGKGrants / Scholarships / Artist ResidencyPro HelvetiaKunstkredit Basel-Stadt, Free ProjektFuturum StiftungKulturstiftung WinterthurJubiläumsstiftung der Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank, LiestalModern LightIaab Artist in Residence, 6 month New York City, 3 month BeijingKanton Schaffhausen Artist in Residence, 6 month BerlinFachausschuss Audiovision und Multimedia der Kantone Basel-Stadt und Basel-LandschaftErnst Göhner StiftungVALIART by ValiantCast Schachfeld:David Slone / Beth E. Smith / Amir Levi / Misha Bittleston / Chen Jiang / Gene Schildkraut / Lauren LoGiudice/ Sarah Puls / Anna Callner / Isabelle Kohler / Tim Dean / EsseyeKlempner / Bill Cromie / Tina Krause / Henry Zebrowski / Rocio Barcia / Greg Dubin /Nozomi Yasuda / Jose Garcia / Frank J Miles / Sonia Chandra / Erin Holmes / Desiree Burch / Farah Benton /Sanae Maeda / Cat Erickson / Claudia Lopez / Christine Vartoughian /Dawn Wan / Rieko Yamanaka / Amanda Jean Nowack / Wicky Erickson / Daniel Hastings / Juliane Wanckel /Robert ElmesCast Videoplanets:Anastasia Weit / Misha Bittleston / Norico Matsuzaki / Nozomi Yasuda / Einy Aamc / Alexandra Monzan /Larry Obregon / Sarah Puls/ Ivana Mikavica / Ryan Daniels / Emily Schleiner / Beth E Smith / Charles/ LilyHetzler / Kate Lingley / Sarah Cameron / Patrice Miller / Joanne Hsieh / Ruby Sartorins / Amir Levi / PaticeMiller / Christine Vartoughia / Jeramy Zimmerman / Nozomi Yasuda / Antonio / Mercedes / Akiko / FarahBenton / Sanae Maeda / Isabelle Kohler / Bill Cromie / Claudia Lopez / Sonia ChandraDancers: Karesia Batan / Romina Rodriguez-Crosta / Shandoah Goldman/ CJ Holm / Catalina Martinez /Azumi Oe / Zoe / With Sara Pauly / Jenny Seastone Stern

84DVDDV PALVideos Part1

85DVDDV PALVideos Part2