This Suffocating Now
At a time when elements of fascisation are becoming ever more apparent, ever more pervasive, artist Vika Kirchenbauer takes a personal look at what is in the air in present-day Germany. This Suffocating Now witnesses the historical present as a condition marked by vectors of violence that have continuously and habitually existed, and puts its focus on the fault lines that have most explicitly exposed the illiberal underbelly of a liberal state and society in recent years: Palestine solidarity as well as queer and trans rights. Drawing from a vast variety of source material, the 16-minute essay film flows in an uneven rhythm through still and moving imagery. Observations from the past three years – such as the increased police presence and recurring police violence, which Kirchenbauer captures from her balcony in Berlin – are viewed within a broader German historical framework. Over mundane images of her home improvement efforts, the artist problematises her own social ascent to becoming a university professor and civil servant. This personal reflection serves as an entry point to addressing the intimate relation between state and contemporary art in the German cultural system as a whole.
details
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Runtime
16 min -
Country
Germany -
Year of Presentation
2026 -
Year of Production
2026 -
Director
Vika Kirchenbauer -
Cast
-
Production Company
Vika Kirchenbauer -
Berlinale Section
Forum Expanded -
Berlinale Category
Short Film
pictures from the movie
Biography Vika Kirchenbauer
Vika Kirchenbauer is an artist, writer and music producer based in Berlin. In her work she explores opacity in relation to representation of the ʻotheredʼ and discusses the role of emotions in contemporary art, labour and politics.
With particular focus on affective subject formation she examines the troublesome nature of “looking” and “being looked at” in larger contexts including labour within post-fordism and the experience economy, modern drone warfare and its insistence on unilateral staring, the power relationships of psychiatry, performer/spectator relations, participatory culture, contemporary art display and institutional representation of otherness as well as the everyday life experience of ambiguously gendered individuals.
Her work has been presented in a wide range of contexts including Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Bonn Museum of Modern Art, ICA Artists’ Film Biennial, Kunsthal Charlottenborg Copenhagen, Donaufestival Krems, transmediale festival for art and digital culture, Hebbel Am Ufer Berlin, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Images Festival Toronto, Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, European Media Art Festival and Oberhausen International Short Film Festival.
She has given lectures at institutions such as New York University, Goldsmiths University of London, Otis College of Art and Design Los Angeles, the Ruskin School of Art Oxford, the University of Copenhagen, the Berlin University of the Arts, the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and the Academy of Arts Kassel.
Filmography Vika Kirchenbauer
2009 We: 1st Person Plural (Documentary short) | 2014 Please Relax Now (Documentary short) | 2016 She Whose Blood Is Clotting in My Underwear (Short) | 2017 Welcome Address | 2018 The Island of Perpetual Tickling