FREEDOM. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR
A YEAR NOW.
«UNDISPUTED FIGURES of our COMMUNITY« , they are ALWAYS SMILING
AND IN GOOD SPIRITS, OFTEN NAKED .
DURING THE X JAZZ FESTIVAL and for the GASWERK’S BIRTHDAY,
WE WERE ABLE TO WITNESS THEIR PERFORMANCES AT THE GARTEN.
IN THIS FANZINE, SOPHIE SCHEIFELE & OLIVIER SCHLUND TELL US THEIR STORY.
The performance at these occasions is called The White Imprint.
It is about freedom
and their condition as young, privileged white Europeans.
«FREEDOM. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR
A YEAR NOW.«
For this piece, we transform the white flag as a sign for peace into statues.
Our bodies were painted: one half was white and nude the other was in military camouflage. We were locked like in a cage, surrounded by this sheet, symbolizing peace. But a rigidified peace, erected like a border. We have read and shouted our freedom propaganda our poem. It’s political, it’s a call to react and interact.
Our next performance is programmed for the exhibition Corona Culture which will take place from November 13th
to December 13th at the
Altemünze in Berlin.
www.corona-culture.org
The performance is called Culture Pill, with Anaïs-Nour Benlachhab and Jon Doig who will bring the sound dimension to this interactive installation.
Where does this interest in freedom come from?
– One year ago, we sent 120 handwritten letters around the world. To citizens in each continent we ask these two questions:
who are you?
Where is your freedom ?
We realised that people were censoring themselves.This notion seems more
and more emptied of its meaning, abstract.
IT SEEMS IMPORTANT TO US TO QUESTION WHAT IT REPRESENTS FOR EVERYONE.
Why did you choose performance to express these questions?
– Our approach is more akin to a performative installation than a classic performance.
The notion of space is just as primordial in our work as that of the body: we arrange our bodies in a staged space. The context, the environment is just as important as the subject itself. This is the meaning of Ex-formation, the name of our duo.
EXFORMATION IS EVERYTHING YOU DON’T REALLY SAY, BUT HAVE IN MIND WHEN, OR BEFORE, YOU SAY ANYTHING.
With these performances, we realised that we were connected to reality, to living relationships, to the human being.
In order to finance their artistic projects, they needed a job that suited their lifestyle. Photography was an obvious medium, because it captures reality, and sublimates it in light.
The project „Luscus Pics“ (one eye in latin) was therefore born: Olivier built an afghan box camera. Thats a wooden box, with a lens and a complete photo laboratory inside.
On weekends they do the markets, such as Boxhagener Platz.
Olivier has a rather graphic background, his work is based on structured forms and figures. They appear
in a very abstract and dreamy way.
ART CREATES A MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND LIVES FROM IT. THE PROCESS OF THE FINISHED WORK BEGINS WITH THE OBSERVATION BY THE BEHOLDER. HERE WE CAN SHARE OUR REALITIES, ON A HIGHER LEVEL OR ON A VERY SUPERFICIAL ONE.
How do you express yourself?
My way of expression is based on my poetry and on some very linked trains of thought which determine the respective degree of abstraction.»
He says he never became an artist he just never stopped drawing in his childhood.
www.vier-und-art.com
Sophie has been doing photography since she was 10 years old. Born in 1994, with the digital generation. The arrival of analog photography in her life changed her artistic interpretation. Analogue experimentation changed her approach to photography, it becomes palpable poetry with its imperfections and errors.
IN MY JOURNEY, I WAS SHOOTING EVERYWHERE, EVERYTHING. FROM REPORTAGE TO ARTISTIC NUDITY.
I HAD THE FEELING OF APPROPRIATING IMAGES
AND BODIES THAT DID
NOT BELONG TO MYSELF.
I THEN PUT MYSELF
IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA.
I STARTED PERFORMING
FOR MY IMAGES.
