Connecting Dots, 2020
Installation view: Gasträume 2020, Lindenhof Zurich, 2020.
Connecting Dots is a participatory installation playing with the visual language of point-to-point drawings. The work was shown on Lindenhof, a park and tourist hotspot in the city center of Zurich, as a part of Gasträume 2020, an exhibition in public space, in collaboration with Kein Museum.
The 14 displayed posters show numbered dots and are generated by a computer program, which distributes the numbered dots in random locations.The amount of dots doubles from each poster to the next; while the first one contains just one, the last one bears 8‘192 numbered dots. With traditional point-to-point drawings, the motivation is to receive a picture at the end of the solved task. In the case of Connecting Dots, however, it is not about the resulting image, but about the reaction of the public to the visual language and the aim to solve a simple task correctly. As suggested in the title, visitors and passersby can interact with the posters by connecting the dots, either in the numbered order or any other fashion. With the increasing amount of dots, the task transforms from a simple assignment to one that is not possible to be solved by humans.
The visitors of Lindenhof can interact with the installation and thus leave a collective trace. During the three months of the exhibition, the posters were replaced by a new edition every four weeks.
Documentation: Posters No. 9, 12 & 13 from the first series, 2020.
Looking at each other, 2020
Documentation: Screenshot of the recorded video call, ACT Performance-Festival, 2020.
It is not possible to make direct eye contact in a video call. Most devices have the camera located above the screen and as people usually look at their screen in a call, they appear to be looking down slightly. In the performance series looking at each other the artists investigate set-ups in a video call that come close to the feeling of direct eye contact.
Looking at each other for five minutes is a public performance and was part of the ACT Performance-Festival 2020. Participants are sent a zoom link and instructed to look straight into the camera of their device for five minutes. As everyone is looking at their camera, no-one can see the other participants. On the recorded video call, however, all participants seem to be looking at each other directly.
Looking at each other for an hour was performed by the two artists without a public. It consists of four parts, each with a specific setup investigating different possibilities that come close to the feeling of direct eye contact (illustrated below).
If A and B both look at the camera, they can't see each other, but on the screen they seem to have direct eye contact.
If A looks at the camera and B at the screen, A does not see B, however B gets the feeling of having eye contact with A.
If B looks at the camera and A at the screen, B does not see A, however A gets the feeling of having eye contact with B.
If A and B both look at the screen, they see each other looking slightly down.
Documentation: Screenshot of the video call, both participants look at the camera, 2020.
Documentation: Screenshot of the video call, both participants look at the screen, 2020.
Documentation: Screenshot of the video call, Fiona looks at the camera, Gregor looks at the screen, 2020.
Documentation: Screenshot of the video call, Fiona looks at the screen, Gregor looks at the camera, 2020.
100 Books, 2019
Documentation: VOLUMES, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, 2019. Photo: Claudia Stöckli
The two artists collect 100 novels from book boxes in Zurich which they list and itemize. During the performance the artists alternately take one book at the time from a stack that is arranged between them. From each novel they choose a random sentence and read it aloud. The excerpts from the collected novels result in a new narrative of which a live-transcript is projected behind them. Each sentence has a reference to the according book.
After the performance the novels are placed on a shelf for the audience to take away. Each novel carries a number and a seal. Remaining books are brought back to the public book boxes. The text is printed and provided for the audience to read and take away. 100 Books was performed during VOLUMES at LUMA Westbau.
Documentation: VOLUMES, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, 2019. Photo: Claudia Stöckli
Documentation: Title page, 2019.
Documentation: Text, 2019.
No Bed No Breakfast, 2019
Installation view: Connecting Spaces, 2019.
Fiona Könz and Gregor Vogel rent an airbnb apartment for one week. The room is photographed and subsequently emptied completely with all furniture being stored in a different location.The artists visit the other four parties who live in the same building, taking photographs of one view of their private apartments each (dining room, office, living room, bedroom). In a third step the empty space that used to be the airbnb apartment is documented as well. The four walls of the room then become displays on which the other photographs are projected in an alternating loop. The installation is an interlace of private, shared and public space.
No Bed No Breakfast turns the empty apartment into an art space. During the exhibition time the artists also use the apartment as a living space, their personal belongings are arranged in a corner. No Bed No Breakfast was presented by Sattelkammer as a part of Connected Space.
Installation view: Connecting Spaces, 2019.
Installation view: Connecting Spaces, 2019.
40 Hours Present, 2019
Installation view: Jungkunst, Winterthur, 2019.
40 Hours Present was exhibited at Jungkunst 2019, an exhibition taking place over five days with a total opening time of 40 hours. For the whole time span of the exhibition the artists each carry a streaming camera that is directed at themselves. The cameras stream directly to the exhibition space where two screens provide the viewers with the digital presence of the two artists.The audience gets a real time insight into the actions of the artists during the exhibition times, showing their professional as well as their private lives. While incorporating the notion of artists being present during their shows 40 Hours Present also subverts the very same idea by showing the subjects in situations outside the exhibition space, such as walking in public, staying home, using public transport, meeting people, or visiting a museum.
Documentation: Fiona walking with the camera in public space, Jungkunst, 2019. Photo: Claudia Stöckli
Documentation: Gregor walking with the camera in public space, Jungkunst, 2019. Photo: Claudia Stöckli
2'656 People, 2019
Documentation: Leftover, TART, Zurich, 2019. Photo: Valentina De Pasquale
Using a questionnaire containing ten questions, the artists aimed to get an idea about what meaning and significance people around them would give to the term “knowing someone”. The answers were recorded and compiled into a 20-minute sound piece, available to the visitors of the exhibition via a pair of headphones and a screen providing the questions.
For the performance, the artists elaborate their own, personal definition of the term "knowing someone" and write down the names or descriptions of all the people they know on white sheets of paper. When filled with names and descriptions, each paper is pinned to the wall, resulting in a growing list of both their combined social surroundings.
The number of people referred to in the title is the combined amount of people that were listed during the duration of eight hours. After the end of the performance, the filled sheets are displayed in a different room of the gallery, where visitors could look at them and possibly find their names or a description of their person.
Documentation: Leftover, TART, Zurich, 2019. Photo: Valentina De Pasquale
Installation view: Leftover, TART, Zurich, 2019. Photo: Valentina De Pasquale
Installation view: Leftover, TART, Zurich, 2019.
2'798 Places, 2020
Documentation: IN TRANSITION, Bühler Areal, 2020. Photo: Valentina De Pasquale
The two artists use of a questionnaire containing ten question to get an understanding of what people around them consider to be a "place". The answers are recorded and compiled into a 20-minute sound piece which the visitors can listen to via a pair of headphones.
During the performance which takes place at the Bühler Areal during IN TRANSITION, the artists take their own definition of the term as a starting point to write a list of all places they have been to in their lives. The work explores the subjectivity of experience, the spatial limitation of physical space, as well as the changes that places might be subjected to over time. After a performance of seven hours the two artists have created a list containing a total of 2'798 places.
Installation view: IN TRANSITION, Bühler Areal, 2020.
Installation view: IN TRANSITION, Bühler Areal, 2020.
Surrogate, since 2017
Documentation: Video still, 2017.
Surrogate is a performance concept in which the two participants Fiona Könz and Gregor Vogel intend to replace each other in every aspect of their lives. Each takes control of the other's work, social life and artistic practice and tries to imitate their habits and character as accurately as they can. Whereas personal belongings (e.g. wallets, phones, clothes) and information (e.g. directions, passwords, tasks) can easily be physically transferred, the exchange of certain skills, thoughts, intuition or physical characteristics is more difficult and sometimes impossible to accomplish. By the participants' ability to adopt a feature or aspect of their counterpart's life and them sometimes failing to do so, Surrogate implies the question to which extent such a transgression can be achieved. During the performance, the way in which the individual is perceived and approached by the environment has shown to be particularly hard to change. To prepare for the exchange, both participants keep a notebook in the style of a diary where they write down all important information their counterpart needs. This time period and the notebooks are crucial to the performance and are to be understood as an important part of the work.
During the exchange, the performance itself is not specifically declared an artistic piece and thus interferes with people's everyday lives. While the incorrect or improper execution of certain processes or habits make it hard or (in the given timeframe) impossible to accept the activity as daily or even mundane, the absence of a meta-level or description prohibits the work from being perceived as such. The two artists try to adopt as much as possible from the other one's behavior, thinking, and characteristics. The difficulty of achieving a complete transgression leads to a lot of things being executed improperly or incorrectly. Understanding these anomalies as alternatives to the usual rather than alternatives to the right enables the viewer to reflect on the general idea of intuition and habits.
Surrogate (Zurich), 2017
Documentation: Video still, 2017.
In May 2017, Fiona Könz and Gregor Vogel execute the performance for the first time over a weekend in which they mostly reside at home and interact with their social surroundings. The performance is stopped after two days, because the participants encounter boundaries that they are not willing or able to cross.
Amongst a variety of other media, the performance is documented in a 14-minute video, in which we see both artists performing in their respective roles. Alternating, the viewer sees Gregor Vogel (as Fiona Könz) playing the piano in her studio, trying out clothes, smoking, drawing Fiona's tattoos on his arm with a sharpie, or swiping through profiles on Tinder and Fiona Könz (as Gregor Vogel) talking to one of his friends on the phone and telling her thoughts to herself and the camera.
By filming themselves in situations in which they are always (at least physically) alone by themselves, both participants offer an insight into the effects the performance has on each of them. The displayed reactions reach from comfort in the role of the other to dissatisfaction because of the disability to act as the other, to terror and extreme discomfort as a consequence of feeling the loss of one's own identity.
The performance provides insight in how there seems to be a focus on processes rather than products when it comes to the characteristics of identity. To perceive a process like going to bed, preparing a meal or smoking a cigarette as authentically imitated, the how seems to be more crucial to the process than the what. In the interaction with people, the use of digital, text based communication often leads to a discrepancy between expectation and reality when meeting with a person. When interacting via text messages, it is relatively easy for a person to mask his/her identity, but when it comes to a personal meeting, the exchange of roles becomes apparent (even though the performer will always try to impersonate the other).
While peers might be able to accept or even anticipate the occurrence, a complete transgression of identity in a field where its identification is crucial (e.g. passport/access card) is unthinkable. The video was shown at the International Student Biennial in Osijek in 2017.
Documentation: Video still, 2017.
Documentation: Video still, 2017.
Surrogate (Esslingen), 2018
Documentation: Video still, 2018.
In November 2018 Fiona Könz and Gregor Vogel are invited to participate in the group exhibition VEHEMENT at Villa Merkel in Esslingen, Germany. As a part of the work Open Call by the exhibiting artist Jan-Hendrik Pelz which features artists being invited to show their work in the gallery space, they develop a concept for a reprise of Surrogate.
Arriving in Stuttgart they switch roles (exchanged personal belongings, adapted individual characteristics, adjusted their use of language etc.) and proceed to perform in the role of their counterpart for the following three days.
During their stay at Villa Merkel they work across from each other at two desks in the entrance hall of the museum and produce new works which are intended to be integrated into the artistic practice of the other.
Documentation: Video still, 2018.
Documentation: Video still, 2018.
Installation view: Vehement, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, 2018.
Untitled, 2018
For her untitled work, Fiona Könz (performed by Gregor Vogel) uses the floor of the entrance hall to display a visual representation of a situation in which two positions try to adapt their counterparts' coordinates, affecting each other in the process. Adding excerpts from their personal diaries to the masking tape she uses to mark the paths, draws a comparison to the performance which formed the context for this particular work. The lines on the floor recall the practice of dancers and theater performers implying the notion that real life situations can be perceived as staged just as well.
Formula used for the location of each position's coordinate at a time n:
An = (An-1+ Bn-1+ B0) / 3 Bn = (Bn-1+ An-1+ A0) / 3
Each position's coordinates are the average value of its own last coordinates, the other party's last coordinates as well as the other party's coordinates during the start of the experiment.
Installation view: Vehement, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, 2018.
Installation view: Vehement, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, 2018.
Esslinger Wolle, 2018
Gregor Vogel (performed by Fiona Könz) produces the work Esslinger Wolle. This particular wool was produced in Esslingen and led to the wealth of Oskar Merkel, the original owner of Villa Merkel in the 19th century. After the collapse of the German textile industry, the product disappeared almost completely.
Aiming to bring the wool back to its original home, he buys sock wool – the only kind of wool still available – and proceeds to learn how to knit a sock. When confronted with his inability to finish the sock he seeks the help of citizens of Esslingen he meets on the streets, documenting his endeavors in a video.
Documentation: Video stills, 2018.
Surrogate (Zagreb), 2018
Installation view: Error, Academia Moderna, Zagreb, 2018.
In November 2018 Fiona Könz and Gregor Vogel show Surrogate at Academia Moderna in Zagreb. Alongside both videos and descriptive texts, their installation also includes a selection of photocopied pages from the notebooks they employed to prepare and document the performance, thus for the first time giving an intimate insight in the preparation of the piece.
Documentation: Diary, 2018.
Documentation: Diary, 2018.
I draw you drawing me, since 2016
Documentation: Toni Areal, Zurich, 2016. Photo: Claudio Rainolter
I draw you drawing me is a performance concept in which the two participants draw portraits of each other. Since it was shown for the first time in May 2016, it has been reenacted three additional times with slight changes.
For every iteration the kind of interaction and the surroundings in which the performance takes place, are altered to offer a new insight on the topic of looking at someone else. Through the different variations some key elements such as the posture of the performers, the procedure of laying a drawing to the ground after it is finished and the end of the performance being initiated by one of the participants getting up mostly stay the same.
I draw you drawing me (face to face), 2016
Documentation: Toni Areal, Zurich, 2016. Photo: Claudio Rainolter
The two performers sit across from each other on plain black chairs. Arranged between them is a stack of white sheets of paper on a black pedestal. During the performance, the performers take sheets of paper from the stack and draw portraits of each other. When finished, each drawing is laid to the ground, so a slowly growing area gets covered by them. It is not intended that the performers would take breaks or get up from the chairs. The act ends, when one of the two performers gets up.
When staged for the first time in May 2016 at the Zurich University of Arts, the performance lasted eight hours, during which 180 drawings were made.
Installation view: Toni Areal, Zurich, 2016. Photo: Nadine Cocina
Installation view: Toni Areal, Zurich, 2016. Photo: Nadine Cocina
I draw you drawing me (skype), 2016
Documentation: Zurich, 2016. Photo: Talissa Weder
The two performers sit at their desks in front of their computers, connected through a video call. Each of them has a stack of paper next to them, from which they take sheets to draw each other. When finished, each drawing of their counterpart is laid to the ground, so that slowly growing areas of their rooms get covered by them. It is not intended that the performers would take breaks or get up from their chairs. The act ends, when one of the two performers ends the connection.
The performance started at 8PM after an ordinary workday and lasted four and a half hours, during which 171 drawings were made. The idea of looking and not looking at each other, is present in the act of drawing, as well as in the impossibility of making eye contact through the camera and the computer screen.
The performance creates a paradox relation between intimacy (the respective personal locations) and distance (the video call).
Documentation: Zurich, 2016.
I draw you drawing me (mirror), 2017
Documentation: TARMAC Festival, Renens, 2017. Photo: Nadine Cocina
I draw you drawing me was performed for the third time at Tarmac Festival in Renens, Switzerland. The performers sit across from each other on plain black chairs in a pedestrian zone, a stack of white sheets of paper arranged between them. Different from the first two iterations, the direct connection between the two is blocked by two mirrors. Each participant therefore gets a view of their own head and shoulders, completing their counterpart's body. During the performance, they draw portraits from their point of view, leading to various results in choice of motive. When finished, each drawing is laid and taped to the ground. In six hours, during which the performers did not get up or take breaks, 120 drawings were made.
Documentation: TARMAC Festival, Renens, 2017. Photo: Nadine Cocina
I draw you drawing me (showcase), 2018
Documentation: Kunstkasten, Winterthur, 2018. Photo: Nadine Cocina
For the fourth edition of I draw you drawing me the Kunstkasten Winterthur, a showcase made of glass and steel located in public space, is chosen as a stage. The performance within this setting is similar to the first iteration of I draw you drawing me with no obstacle obstructing the view between the two participants. Yet instead of laying the finished sheets to the ground, the artists attach them to the glass walls of the structure using tape. Thus every finished drawing contributes to a growing opacity shielding them from the eyes of the public.
The performance lasted seven hours during which 183 drawings were made. After the performance had ended, the drawings were left hanging as an installation by themselves.
Documentation: Kunstkasten, Winterthur, 2018. Photo: Nadine Cocina
Untitled, 2016
Installation view: Kings and Queens, Bülach, 2016.
The installation consists of a cluster of black chairs on which a total of eight speakers is arranged. The speakers play sound recordings of spoken word poems in a loop of 20 minutes. Through displacement, overlay and contradiction of the different tracks, new layers of narration are achieved. The viewers can enter and move through the installation and place themselves in it, thus gaining a new perspective on the way the different sound sources function as a whole.
All poems study the nature of relations through the use of mathematical and linguistic practice, questioning dualisms such as unity and dichotomy, order and disorder, dependence and independence. For further explanation of their functionality, the texts are represented through graphic charts and diagrams in a booklet.
Installation view: Kings and Queens, Bülach, 2016.
Documentation: Booklet pages, 2016.
Exhibitions/Performances/Awards (Selection)
2022
vertrauen | Helmhaus | Zurich | (group exhibition)
2020
IN TRANSITION| Bühler Areal | Illnau-Effretikon | (group exhibition)
Art des Hauses | Schlosspark Andelfingen | (group exhibition)
Gasträume Zürich | (group exhibition)
Aber danke für die Nachfrage | (online group exhibition)
ACT Festival | (online performance festival)
10 (Zehn) | Neuer Saarbrückner Kunstverein | Saarbrücken (group exhibition)
2019
VOLUMES | Kunsthalle Zurich | Zurich (group exhibition)
Connected Space | Sattelkammer | Bern (group exhibition)
Jungkunst | Winterthur (group exhibition)
Leftover | Tart | Zurich (group exhibition)
2018
Error | Academia Moderna | Zagreb (group exhibition)
Vehement | Villa Merkel | Esslingen (group exhibition)
I draw you drawing me | Kunstkasten | Winterthur (public performance)
2017
Biennale Osijek | Osijek (group exhibition)
2nd Prize at Biennale Osijek (award)
Tarmac Festival | Renens (art festival)
2016
Kings & Queens | Bülach (group exhibition)
