“In Maria Vedder’s new video pieces the question of the specifics of media debated so hotly in the seventies and eighties has largely evaporated. The works focus on a few image-objects that speak essentially for themselves. In their minimalism the ambiguity of the images becomes tangible. The video Allianzen (alliances) shows whirlwinds on a sand pile before the surging tower of the Allianz concern, which played a major part in the turbulences of the financial crisis. In the five-channel installation Aus dem Nichts, Out of Nothing, the viewer witnesses the generation of a traffic jam. As the title states, the jam emerges out of thin air before disappearing again, all without recognisable cause in accordance with the principles of chaos theory. The charming simplicity in Maria Vedder’s video pieces, which do without technical and thematic effects, maybe wants to tell us that the “neue Unuebersichtlichkeit” (“new confusedness”) of the world, long since diagnosed by Juergen Habermas, demands – among others – from art a new “economy of attention” that no longer stands in competition to the digital information flood. Maria Vedder works on rendering us sensitive to the visible signs of the invisible, e.g. electricity, the financial crisis and chaos theory. For Marshall McLuhan, electricity was simply “a medium without a message” and therefore something invisible to itself, while generating visibility. In the same way, there is a latent connection between theme and technique in Susurrus. To put it another way, this video installation also needs electricity and it is precisely this fact that the installation makes explicit. Susurrus is thus media-specific, but in the depth structure of its techno-social context, not on the visual surface.”
Dieter Daniels, from the catalog “.move forward- new mexican and european media art”, Werkleitz Festival 2012
please refer:
Video-Forum in the “Neuer Berliner Kunstverein”:
https://www.nbk.org/en/video-forum/Maria_Vedder.html
Videography (selection)
No Senses, work in progress, 2000 until today
The Indian Olympics / Die Indische Olympiade, work in progress, 1981 until today
The flying dutchman / Der Fliegende Holländer, work in progress, 1980 until today
Thing Sites / Thingstätten, 2019
Against the wall / Gegen die Wand, 2018
The Rainmakers / Die Regenmacher, 2016
Ghost Dance, 2014
Chinese Whispers, 2013
Pure Hand Work, 2013
Susurrus, 2013, 2012, 2010
La Bestia, 2012
Alliances / Allianzen, 2010
Out of Nothing / Aus dem Nichts, 2010, 2009, 2008
The ice sphinx, 2007
Threshold / Schwelle, 2006, Soundtrack Brian Eno
at close quarters (beieinander), 2006
Surfing, 2004
Joss, 2001
For Hermann, 2000
Metal Talk, 2000
Breathless / Ausser Atem, 2000
Berlin 21.6.1996, 1996
Drifting, 1995
The expanded respiratory center / Das erweiterte Atemzentrum, 1992
Tape it, 1992
The respiratory center / Das Atemzentrum, 1991
The videochoir / Der Videochor, 1991
The electronica soup / Die elektronische Suppe, 1990
And the Galaxis heard / Und die Galaxien hörten, 1990
The Target, 1990
Cologne fairy tale, 1989, with Wulf Herzogenrath
Sparkle and fire / Glanz und Feuer, 1989, Soundtrack: Brian Eno
Shut Up, 1989
Circling, 1988, with Douglas Davis/New York und Hank Bull/Vancouver
PAL oder Never The Same Color”, 1988
Travelling Acquaintance / Reisebekanntschaft, 1988
The Heartbeat of the Anubis / Der Herzschlag des Anubis, 1988, in collaboration with B. Gruber
Wireless Operator to the Sirius, part 2 / Funker zum Sirius Teil 2, 1987
Blues for an unknown Photographen / Blues für einen unbekannten Photographen, 1987
Silent Language, 1986, Soundtrack Brian Eno
Live broadcast of the opening of the Klaus Peter Schnüttger-Webs Museum in the opening of the Museum Ludwig / Direktübertragung der Eröffnung des Klaus Peter Schnüttger-Webs Museums in die Eröffnung des Museums Ludwig, 1986, with Dirk Bach, Brian Eno, Thomas Grünfeld, Georg Herold, Hella von Sinnen et al.
Catfish Tango, 1986, in collaboration with B. Gruber
A look in the video workshop, 1986, in cooperation with Bettina Gruber and Ulrich Tillmann, commissioned production for the ZDF / second German television, production: Blitzvideo
Young art for the telly, 1986, in cooperation with Bettina Gruber, commissioned production for the ZDF / second German television, production: Blitzvideo
Big Brother Blues, 1986, in collaboration with B. Gruber
A day at the country side, 1985
Mama’s little pleasure, 1984, in collaboration with B. Gruber
The geometrical locus of all points (Der Geometrische Ort aller Punkte), 1984
The artistic work place or the secret of artistic creation (Künstlerisches Arbeitsfeld oder Das Geheimnis des künstlerischen Schaffens), 1981
Reinhald von Dassel – Wireless Operator to the Sirius / Reinhald von Dassel – Funker zum Sirius, 1980, in collaboration with B. Gruber
A hollow way in the mountains of the brave adventurer / Ein Hohlweg in den Bergen des mutigen Abenteurers, 1979
Abdullah Frères,1979, in collaboration with B. Gruber
About Culture / Über Kultur, 1978, in collaboration with B. Gruber
Intersections / Schnittpunkte, 1978
World city of Cologne / Weltstadt Köln, 1975, Super 8 film, in collaboration with Bettina Gruber and Wolfgang Woessner