PERFORMANCE | GABRIELA LÖFFEL

What does the word ‘performance’ suggest in an artistic context? Without a doubt, it refers to action, to an event that happens, to a relationship, if not between people/performers practicing, then at least between the performer and the spectator. The context can be playful–to entertain, engaging–to involve, provocative–to shock, political–to act.
What does the word ‘performance’ have in common when used in a workplace, professional environment? More than a relationship, it refers to a measurable and evaluable result.

Gabriela Löffel’s Performance plays precisely on this plurality of meanings, or rather ambiguities. The set is a conference room, empty and anonymous, dimly lit; the protagonists on stage, in front of a completely nonexistent audience, are a man and a woman in professional attire, clearly in a work-related context. The woman suggests to the man positions on stage, where to direct his gaze, what tone of voice to use, how to move, gestures, facial expressions…
Löffel used as a base the audio recording of a presentation conference of a homeland security company, a business sector that has seen constant growth, since 2001, in terms of diffusion, political positioning, and, of course, profit.
The recording, and consequently the staging of Löffel’s video, refers to political and economic topics due to the subject and theme of the conversation. At the same time, however, it is an effective analysis of rhetorical tools and the use of language, due to the very nature of the discourse, between a speech coach and a speaker. A frontal camera captures the entire dialogue, the lights are low, and the choice of a conference center room to stage the dialogue has both an aesthetic and symbolic value. The aseptic, detached tone, the absence of a real recipient of the speech, the insistence on improving and optimizing public speaking techniques, further emphasizes the contrast between the setting and the content. The cynically economic and profit-driven aspect of a good as intangible and immeasurable, yet essential and precious, as the feeling of security.

Performance is included in the exhibition VERTIGO, curated by Urs Stahel, set up at MAST, Bologna, until July 14, 2024.

Gabriela Löffel
Performance, 2017-2018
Film still, 25 min
© Gabriela Löffel
Speech Coach: Amy Carroll; Speaker: Rudi van der Merwe; Camera: Erika Irmler and Cristiano Fernandes; Sound engineer: Imad Fahs; Sound mixing: Eleonora Polato.

22/06/24