Gabi Schaffner works as an interdisciplinary artist in the field of visionary documentation, poetics and sound art.
Her works in the field of sound art and radio art have been broadcast internationally, including commissions by Deutschlandradio, SWR, Radiophrenia, ABC Australia, and many more. Besides radio, she has realized site-specific projects and exhibitions in India, Australia, Iceland, Spain, Finland, and France. She lives in Berlin.
Current work:
“Duftgesänge”. Dubplate vinyl artist’s edition. With Hans Kellett.
Number of copies: 20. Price: 80 Euro
“Rapid(s) Trains”. Four compositions for the Sleepertown exhibition. Opening: June 2023. Norba, Italy
Performance, “Fazzoletto per un eternità”.
Arnhem, NL: THIS IS NOT A FAIR by THIS IS NOT A COLLECTIVE
7.-9. April 2023
| 2022 | Datscha Radio “Air on Air” at Art Ii Biennial, Finland. With Tina-Marie Friedrich |
| RadioLab artist at Seanaps Festival, Leipzig | |
| 2021 | Atelier stipend Tor 26, Bremen |
| 2020 | Commissioned work for Radiophrenia Glasgow |
| Research Stipend sound art, Berlin Senate | |
| Datscha Radio – Radiophonien des Alls. 48 hours radio art festival, Berlin. With Kate Donovan, Helen Thein, Niki Matita, Tina-Marie Friedrich et al | |
| Stipend and residency KV Global Forest, St. Georgen, Black Forest | |
| 2019 | PhD candidate at Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main |
| Night Gardening. Concept for a 3part series of nocturnal radio art evevents in different Berlin Gardens. Realised with Kate Donovan, Helen Thein, Niki Matita | |
| Datscha Radio Taipei. Treasure Hill Artist Village. Supported by the Goethe Institut Taipei | |
| 2018 | Unearthing the Archive (Datscha Radio). Radio Art exhibition. Within the frame of RAUMOHNERAUM #3. Kunstpunkt Berlin. With Kate Donovan, Helen Thein, et al. |
| 2018 | Un Jardín en el Aire. Datscha Radio Madrid in cooperation with Medialab Prado |
| 2017 | Plots & Prophecies. Radio Gardening in the Anthropocene. A five-day festival of radio art and performance broadcast straight from a Berlin garden. With Kate Donovan, Verena Kuni, et al. |
| 2016 | Radio Revolten diarist. Commissions by deutschlandfunk, radia.fm and other international broadcasting companies |
| 2015 | Co-Productions with ABC Australia within the realm of poetics and radio play |
| 2014 | 100 Days of Datscha Radio, field studies in Giessen – Hessia |
| 2013 – today | Lectureship “Musik und Text” at the School for Music and New Media, Duesseldorf |
| 2012 | Founding of Datscha Radio. With Pit Schultz Lectureship for Audio Art at the Art School of Helsinki |
| 2004-2007 | Organization and curator of “Dada de Nada”, Hamburg. Experimental platform for music, literature and film |
| 2003 | Inhabitant of Lobo, a ghost town project in the highlands of Texas/USA |
| 2001 | Diploma photography/visual communication (summa cum laude) |
| 1997 – | Work as a storyteller |
| 1994 | Studies of photography at the Hochschule fuer Bildende Kuenste. Hamburg |
| 1993 | Master of Arts. German and American Literature and Ethnology |
| 1990 | Studies at Vienna Poetry Academy. Courses with Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman |
| 1985-1993 | Studies in German and American Literature and Ethnology. Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main |
Grants / Awards
| 2021 | Serlachius residency. Mänttä, Finland (Jan-Feb) |
| 2020 | Grant and long-term residency, Global Forest e. V., St. Georgen/Black Forest, Germany |
| 2019 | Award of the Free Project Spaces and Initiatives Berlin for Datscha Radio (collectively with Kate Donovan, Xenia Helms, and Helen Thein) |
| Treasure Hill Artist Residency Taipei, Taiwan. Supported by Goethe Institut Taipei | |
| 2018 | Medialab Production Residency 2018, Madrid |
| 2016 | Honorable Mention Phonurgia Nova Field Recording Award for “Hidden Places” – Narrated landscapes in Iceland and Australia”, DLF 2016 |
| 2015 | Artist in Residence. Fljótstunga, Iceland Residency Bogong Center for Sound Cultures, Australia. |
| 2014 | Art Prize and Work Scholarship for 100 Day of Datscha Radio, Giessen. Ethnography meets radio on the lawns of a national garden show |
| 2013 | 2nd prize at Berliner Hörspielfestival for the radio play “Der Wahnsinn des Dokumentaristen [The Madness of the Documentarist]”, Berlin |
| 2012 | Award “Hörspiel des Monats”, German Academy of Performing Arts for “Otto Mötö” – Into the Universe of Finnish Motor Music” |
| 2011 | Work Scholarship (Saari/Turku) Kone Foundation, Helsinki |
| radia artist of the year (for #309 show) | |
| 2009 | HIAP Helsinki. Artis in Residence. AIR Frankfurt/HIAP Helsinki. |
| 2005 | Work Scholarship Kunstraum Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim/Hessia |
| 2002 | DAAD Travel Scholarship, Iceland |
| 2001 | Prize and Project Grant by the Karl-Ditze-Foundation, Hamburg for “Phenomena of Inner Topographies”, an encyclopedia of imaginary landscapes |
| 2000 | Work Scholarship and Moldau Literature Grant, Krumau/Tschechien, both: Ministry for Sciences and Arts, Wiesbaden |
Shows and Performances
[S solo; G group; R radio; T team]
| 2022 | {A Wave Novel} Radio art composition for 22 hours. Radioart.zone, Esch-sur-Alzette, LUX [G] |
| 2021 | Tor 40. Exhibition, vinyl, and performance. With Anya Triestram, APL 315 |
| 2020 | Rapid(s)Trains. Four geolocated trainscapes. Composed for “Sleepertown”, Open Gorey, Wexford, Ireland. Curated by Richard Carr. Opening: National Culture Night Ireland, September 18 [G] |
| Mauricio Pucci’s Sneeze Symphonies. Tour. Hilbertraum Berlin. July 11. JUNGE UNRAST. Painting and sculpture. 3 – 12 July [G] ; Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt /Main SEANCE FICTION, 4. Okt. ; KV Global Forest, St. Georgen Schwarzwald, 10. Okt. | |
| Datscha Radio – ein Radiogarten. Sound collage. Ö1 Kunstradio [R] | |
| The Dog that Licked up a Star; The Journey of the Earthworm; Night of the Nightingales (with Kate Donovan). Borealis Festival for Experimental Music, Norway. [G] | |
| 2019 | NEW PANDEMIC MUSIC. Mauricio Pucci’s Sneeze Symphonies. Performance. Ausland Berlin. October 4. [S] |
| Die kleinere Verpuffung [A smaller deflagration]. Artist’s Corner #38. Sound art production for Hessian Cultural Radio (HR2). [R] | |
| Radio Seed Bombs. Intervention (September 13) and audio art loop. With Kate Donovan, Helen Thein, Niki Matita. [T] | |
| Nightshade Island / Institute of Traffic Island Research. Speculative Audiowalk at Moritzplatz Berlin. TRACKS IN A BOX, 6.-26. September. Curated by Yael Sherill and Lianne Mol [G] | |
| Datscha Radio Taipei. Radio station/Participative event. Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei, Taiwan. Six shows, organized in collaboration with Gabriele de Seta and the THAV office. Januaray-March. [S] | |
| 2018 | Datscha Radio Madrid. Radio station/Participative event. Medialab Prado/In-Sonora, Madrid. 23th March. [T] |
| Los Parques (Twittering Presences)|Adopta una Planta. Sound performance/Participative event. Medialab Prado, Madrid. 17th March. [S] | |
| Resounding Bangalore Pilot Sound installation/performance. Titanik Gallery, Finland. Hosted by the Kone Foundation Saari. 13th February [S] | |
| 2017 | Fazoletto per un Eternitá (Handkerchief for an Eternity). Commission deutschlandfunk kultur. Biography and sneeze music composition for the ArsAcousticaGroup project “Tracing Pjotr Zak”. DLF 1. December 2017 [R] |
| Dark Net Spiders Anagram Performance, Elektria, Hamburg [G] | |
| 2016 | Matt Hatter’s Garden. Sound installation. Radiorevolten, Halle [G] I am this Radio. Radio art installation. Galerie Herold, Bremen. Curated by Marion Bösen [G] |
| 2015 | Sometimes I think I can see you. Text performance. Within the frame of Mariano Pensotti’s contribution to “Evakuieren.de, curated by Akira Takayama [G] |
| 2014 | Music4Trains/The Fado Hour. Performance, text, and intervention; freight train station Bremen. With Ansgar Wilken/Cello. Kunstfrühling Bremen [S] |
| Westinghouse! Sound Art composition. For “Alle Toten 2014”, Volksbühne Berlin. [G/R] | |
| 100 Days of Datscharadio. Research, intervention, and exhibition. State Garden Show, Giessen [T/R] | |
| 2013 | Karaoken Satumaa [Dreamland of Karaoke]. Video, reading, and performance. Bookfair Special, Frankfurt am Main[T/R] |
| 2012 | Music for Bathrooms and Toilets. Sound art installation. Lueften Festival, commissioned by Mousonturm Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main.[G] |
| Datscha Radio 8 Days of Summer Garden Radio. With Pit Schultz, in cooperation with reboot.fm. Berlin [T] | |
| 2011 | Road to Airport. Planket 2011: The Invisible. Curated by Hannah Goldstein. Stockholm/Berlin [G] |
| 2009 | Death of a Mäyräkoira. HIAP, Cable Factory, Helsinki.[S] |
| 2008 | Die Innenseite der Außenseiter II, allgirls berlin international (with Mathias Deutsch), Berlin [S] |
| 2007 | Itse Tehty Elämä/Self-made Life. Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. Galerie Station (with Erkki Pirtola). Curated by Annette Gloser. Frankfurt/Main [S] |
| Sedna’s Tale. Reenacted storytelling, video, and drawings. Palais für aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt. [G] | |
| 2006 | Die Innenseite der Außenseiter I. Elektrohaus, Hamburg. [S] |
| 2005 | Déjà-Vues und Audiografien. Kunstraum Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim [S] |
| 2004 | Phänomene der inneren Topografie/Wer sich beeilt, friert. Kunstnacht Friedrichshafen; Curated by Ulrike Shephart, Friedrichshafen [S] |
| 2002 | Anagrams of War. Galerie Trottoir, Hamburg[S] |
Publications
| 2020 | |
| 2019 | Radio Revolten Diary. In: Radio Revolten – 30 Days of Radio Art. Knut Aufermann, Helen Hahmann, Sarah Washington, Ralf Wendt (Ed.); Marcus-Andreas Mohr (Photography) Spector Books 2019 |
| 2018 | Plots & Prophecies – Parzellenprognosen. Broadcasting the garden in the anthropocene. Ed./au. Documentation. Datscha Radio 2017. |
| 2016 | Radiorevolten Diary. Halle. Ed. Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington, Anna Friz. |
| 2015 | Der dritte Raum /The Third Space. In: Spiegel; Nathalie Grenzhaeuser, Mathias Völcker. |
| 2013-17 | Otto Mötö. Into the Universe of Finnish Motor Music. From the Archives of Martti Mauri. Biography, LP. (In preparation) |
| 2012 | Datscha Radio. 8 Days of Summer Garden Radio.Berlin. |
| 2011 | Die seltsamen Visionen der Frau Nichtleicht [The Strange Visions of Ms. Difficult]. In: Horror Vacui. Ed. Romeo Grünfelder.
Trespassing. In: Nathalie Grenzhaueser, Trespassing. Verlag für Kunst, 2011 Trash & Beauty. Exhibition Catalogue. 32 pages. Photography and CD. Gießen. |
| 2012 | Music for Bathrooms and Toilets. CD. Lueften Festival, commissioned by Mousonturm Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main |
| 2009 | Square, Circle and Amoebae – Possible models of field recording and the auratic fake. In: Not Berlin and not Shanghai. Ed. M. Schieren, K. Einfeldt. Transcript Verlag |
| 2008 | Topologien des Imaginären: Unter der Nullglocke [Under the Zerodome]. With Nathalie Grenzhaeuser. In: insert. Zehn Kooperationen zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft. Ed. Amalia Barboza. Frankfurt/Main: Gutleut Verlag, Frankfurt, 2008 |
| 2007 | Disorder(s) (photography). In: Kultur und Gespenster, Wirklich wahr Bd. IV. textem verlag. Hamburg |
| Finnische Ferien. In: Kultur und Gespenster, Bd. III, textem verlag. Hamburg | |
| Insert. Zehn Kooperationen zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft, die damit die Debatte über die “zwei Kulturen” herausfordert. Gutleut Verlag, Frankfurt/M | |
| 2005 | A bird a ghost a machine. Essay. In: Gruenrekorder Audio Art Compilation #2 (CD), Frankfurt /M |
| Narzissen, 4 Recitals. textem verlag. Hamburg | |
| Finnish Snow-Walks & Dances (LP). Gruenrekorder, Frankfurt/Main | |
| 2004 | Schiefe Türme/La Defence. In: Die Große Arche. Exhibition catalogue Nathalie Granzhaueser. Forum 1922. Frankfurt/Main |
| 2001 | Phänomene der inneren Topografie. [An encyclopedia of imaginary topographies] Edition galgenmaedchen. Blauflug Verlag, Hamburg |