artist showcase helga fanderl

The beauty of the ephemeral or the world is not the object of the film, but its material*

For the presentation of my work at exf f. tage des experimentellen films I have selected a total of 65 short films without sound from my oeuvre. In two programmes, with the exception of a reel of five black-and-white films at the beginning, I present Super 8 films in colour, and in the third black-and-white blowups of Super 8 on 16mm. Each programme consists of a composition of individual works that form a temporary 'film' for the duration of the screening, a dense and loose fabric of references, correspondences, and contrasts between motifs, colours, rhythms and textures. All films are cut (or mounted) in camera. They show and preserve the chronology of their making, the camera work and intensity of perceiving and recording, sensation and shape finding while filming in a situation that inspires me. I find my objects and they find me when I am carefree open-eyed with the camera. Often it is the elements and patterns of movement that appeal to me and challenge me. I make visible on the filmstrip what emerges and passes in the moment. My instrument, the relatively small and lightweight S8 camera, is handheld close to my body, my eye on the viewfinder, one index finger on the shutter release. It's about reacting quickly and making all the formal decisions in interaction with what I'm filming, often in a gesture. Super 8 is not a cinema format. Originally designed for amateur use, and actually a "poor" medium, it has its own aesthetic qualities and needs a more intimate setting than big cinema. That's why the films are projected not from the booth, but from the projection room. You hear the projector, so the films are not silent. You see the projection and the person operating the projector. I also like to project 16mm prints from the auditorium.

(Helga Fanderl)

Philippe-Alain Michaud: „So wird im Werk von Helga Fanderl Bild für Bild offenbar, dass die Welt nicht Gegenstand des Films ist, sondern sein Material.“, in: Helga Fanderl filmt und projiziert, Katalog 59. Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, 2013bw