Film Loretta Fahrenholz: Che Barbara & Grand Openings, Einführung von Daniel Baumann

The moving image is the key medium of Kunsthalle Zürich’s double solo shows by Loretta Fahrenholz and Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz. Key to the imagery of both exhibitions is the vivacious participation of its contributors, in both form and content. Our program of theory and education seeks to juxtapose those images on screen with the living bodies in the gallery space. Via various situations – such as film-screenings and introductions, performances, conversations with the artists, a reading group, kids workshops and guided walks – we hope to approximate diverse answers to some shared questions of the various works on show: Which ideas and practices of feminism are required by our contemporary societies? Which re-articulations might be necessary? How may artistic media and methodologies contribute to such potential re-definitions? And what are the political positions and activities to result, reclaim, remain?

Loretta Fahrenholz' film Grand Openings. Return of the Blogs (2012, 40 min.) employs partly scripted and partly improvised actions, loose choreographies, musical scores, and acts of self-reflection that all coexist in a chaotic structure: www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1198.

Regarding her second film to be screened that evening, Que Bárbara (2011, 15 Min), Fahrenholz states to David Lieske:

DL: I think it’s interesting that in Implosion and also in Que Bárbara, which is a biopic of the artist and dealer Emily Sundblad, you deal with very loaded and somewhat glamorous content, references and characters, but you create an atmosphere in the end that reminds us more of the awkwardness of b-movie queer cinema, in a manner that is almost glamour-absorbing.
LF: Obviously film is the optimal medium for fabricating glamour, so it’s enticing to trip yourself up. But maybe it’s also just a lame avoidance strategy. In general, I like the concept of self-sabotage. I remember in art school I was strongly influenced by the idea of institutional critique as something that can be directed towards one’s self. One possible way of acting that out was to constantly derange your own strategies on a formal level. Of course a more obvious one was to undermine yourself/your peer group on a level of content.

(Mousse Magazin, Nr 37, 2013)