Romana Schmalisch

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©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»The choreography of commodities«,
27 min., 2023,
single channel video installation,
exhibition view, Frac Sud, 2023

In the video work Choreography of Commodities, Robert Schlicht and Romana Schmalisch use the freight container as a symbolic vehicle to reflect on the hidden dynamics of political and economic (power) structures and processes. Viewing containers as allegories for a capitalist system where market mechanisms override individual responsibilities, the artists highlight their standardized, closed form, offering no information about their contents, origin, or destination. Echoing the metaphor of the “invisible hand” coined by Scottish economist Adam Smith to describe an alleged self-regulation of markets, the film focuses on an automated choreography observed in the port of Marseille. Containers drift ghost-like between control centers, warehouses, ships, and ports, making human intervention seem obsolete. The narrative structure of Choreography of Commodities is structured similarly to the Inferno, the first chapter of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, which portrays Dante’s descent into hell through nine circles of torment. The artists interweave documentary observations with poetic reflections on how capitalist logic inscribes itself in all aspects of human life.

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»The choreography of commodities«,
27 min., 2023,
single channel video installation,
exhibition view, Frac Sud, 2023

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»The choreography of commodities«,
27 min., 2023,
single channel video installation

Ausstellungsansicht / exhibition view Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, 2024
»A Home for Something Unknown«,

© Neuer Berliner Kunstverein / Jens Ziehe

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»The container fetish«,
Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
a cinematographic performance, 47min.,
with the actor Robert Rizo,
Musée d’Histoire de la ville de Marseille, 2023

A choreography of containers, cranes, commodities, capital, human beings and a ghostly figure, traversing the poles of the visible and the invisible, the factual and the metaphorical, logistics and beauty, in order to create a portray of a society in which things seem to have more agency than mere mortals.

At the heart of the performance “The container fetish” stands a conférencier who relates old and new stories of maritime trade, adventures involving containers, goods and the new economy, juggling with a multitude of metaphors and narratives used throughout history in order to try to make sense of intransparent economic and social relations. He will gradually breathe life into the goods, awaken our desires and take us onto a stormy journey, navigating the flows of the financialised system that we all inhabit. In the background we see moving images of a giant harbour, hear an enchanting symphony of machines and are invited to listen to a ghostly voice, maybe from another world.

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»The container fetish - épisode 2«,
Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
a cinematographic performance, 45min.,
with the actor Robert Rizo,
Montévidéo, 2023

© Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch

»Labour Power Plant«,
Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
85 min., 2,39:1, DCP, sound,
French with English subtitles, 2019

A new production centre, set in an undetermined future. What is being produced here? People with their own wills, interests and desires are being equipped with the different physiological, cognitive, psychological and social core competencies to transform them into human resources. Welcome to Labour Power Plant.

© Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch

»Labour Power Plant«,
Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
85 min., 2,39:1, DCP, sound,
French with English subtitles, 2019

Arsenal institut für film und videokunst e.V.
distribution:
http://films.arsenal-berlin.de/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/14741

spectre productions:
http://www.spectre-productions.com/en/catalogue/labour-power-plant

Technical informations :
85 min, Color, Screen ratio: 2.39,
Language: French, Subtitles: English
With the support from : Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, On & For Productions, Bruxelles, CNAP – Image/mouvement, FRAC Grand Large–Hauts-de-France – Dunkerque, Archive Kabinett – Berlin, Synesthésie – Saint-Denis, Kunsthalle Wien, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Main Cast : Trainees: Aisha – Farida Gillot, Martine – Émmanuelle Péron, Rose – Aude Ollier, Louis – Franc Bruneau, Florence – Clara Gensburger, Solange – Delphine Léonard, Albert – Samir Zanoun, Gilles – Jacques Ledran, Thomas – Frédéric Schulz-Richard
Trainers: Cécilia Alvez de Oliveira, Frédéric Djebri, Dominique Deleseleuc, Maryvonne Breuil, Jean-Marc Piquemal, Robert Rizo, Hélène Milan
Managers: Monsieur Chevalier – Xavier Brossard, Mon- sieur Legrand – Arnaud Bichon, Constance Condillac – Cécile Lancia

Written and directed by : Robert Schlicht, Romana Schmalisch
Director of photography : Romain Le Bonniec
1st assistant director : Friederike Bérat
Sound operators : Térence Meunier, Frédéric Dabo
Executive producer : Jeremy Rossi
Editing : Eytan Ipeker, Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
Sound design : Gábor Ripli
Additional sounds : João Polido
Animation : Philippe Cuxac
Post Production studio : Volte Slagen
Producer : Olivier Marboeuf
Co Producers : Michel Balagué, Kristina Konrad, Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
Associate producer : Cédric Walter, Koen Claerhout
Produced by: spectre productions
Co Produced by : VOLTE SLAGEN & Weltfilm

For more information contact:
rschmalisch@yahoo.com

»Labour Power Plant«,
Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch
85 min., 2,39:1, DCP, sound,
French with English subtitles, 2019

exhibition view » Variables d’épanouissement «,
CCCOD, Tours, 2021-2022

TRAILER:

LABOUR POWER PLANT
85 min., 1:2,39, colour, French with English subtitles, 2019

A new production centre, set in an undetermined future. What is being produced here? People with their own wills, interests and desires are being equipped with the different physiological, cognitive, psychological and social core competencies to transform them into human resources. Welcome to Labour Power Plant.

Written and directed by ROBERT SCHLICHT and ROMANA SCHMALISCH

with: FRÉDÉRIC SCHULZ-RICHARD | AUDE OLLIER | FRANC BRUNEAU | ÉMMANUELLE PÉRON | JACQUES LEDRAN | CLARA GENSBURGER | FARIDA GILLOT | SAMIR ZANOUN | DELPHINE LÉONARD | ROBERT RIZO | XAVIER BROSSARD | ARNAUD BICHON | CÉCILE LANCIA

Producer: OLIVIER MARBOEUF | Coproducers: MICHEL BALAGUÉ, KRISTINA KONRAD, ROBERT SCHLICHT, ROMANA SCHMALISCH | Director of photography: ROMAIN LE BONNIEC | Montage: EYTAN IPEKER | Sound design: GÁBOR RIPLI | Sound: TÉRENCE MEUNIER, FRÉDÉRIC DABO | Mixing: MIKAËL BARRE | Assistant director: FRIEDERIKE BÉRAT | Production manager: JEREMY ROSSI | Music: GUSTAV

Produced by SPECTRE PRODUCTIONS in collaboration with VOLTE SLAGEN and WELTFILM

Arsenal institut für film und videokunst e.V.
distribution:
http://films.arsenal-berlin.de/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/14741

spectre productions:
http://www.spectre-productions.com/en/catalogue/labour-power-plant

© Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch

»Humanity at Work«,
Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht,
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2018

Haus der Kulturen der Welt:
https://hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2018/humanity_at_work/humanity_at_work_start.php

Photo: Jan Windszus

How do we learn to work? What skills do we have to acquire in order to measure up to the demands of the labor market? In other words, how does human capital come about? With their solo exhibition Humanity at Work, Romana Schmalisch and Robert Schlicht draw a portrait of a society that measures wealth in terms of the labor expended.
Humanity at Work centers on a fictional “labor power plant” in which people are strategically shaped, instructed, and transformed into potential workers. The exhibition offers insights into this production facility for human capital in various presentational forms. Film observations document courses teaching “soft skills” such as creativity strategies, self-presentation and self- management. A diagram explain production processes and the evaluation of the work force. A fictional historical outline describes the success story of the institution from industrialization to today, its reaction to the labor movement, and new trends in corporate governance.
Finally, the short film Top/Down portrays a role-playing game with three managers: As they discuss new management strategies intended to increase productivity by more targeted access to people’s desires and subjectivity, the initially well-defined power relations begin to topple.

© Robert Schlicht/Romana Schmalisch

»Humanity at Work«,
Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht,
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2018

Photo: Jan Windszus

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»TOP/DOWN«,
17min., 2,39:1, DCP, sound,
French with English subtitles, 2017

“Top/Down” shows three managers in a role-game of world-structuring. Their discourse creates a world, or rather, a perspective onto the society that exists elsewhere. They appoint themselves as the engineers of a structure in which human beings are considered as nothing but human resources and their desires, their creativity and their subjectivity only as a means of enhancing their labour power. While taking their grasp on society for granted, the managers are themselves implicated in a game of power relations. In their glass house, they act like in a huis-clos, following their own logic, where the line between reality and illusion begins to blur.

»TOP/DOWN« is part of the
FRAC Collection Grand Large–Hauts-de-France:
https://www.navigart.fr/fracgrandlarge/#/artwork/430000000032240

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»TOP/DOWN«,
17min., 2,39:1, DCP, sound,
French with English subtitles, 2017

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Smile! Emotions at Work«,
exhibition view at Musée d’art de Joliette, 2021-2022

Photo: Paul Litherland

© Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Titre de travail«,
Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht,
FRAC Grand Large–Hauts-
de-France, Dunkerque, 2018

Photo: Aurélien Mole

© Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Titre de travail«,
Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht,
FRAC Grand Large–Hauts-
de-France, Dunkerque, 2018

Photo: Aurélien Mole

A mix of science fiction and documentary, the short feature Top/Down – shot in the Frac’s Belvedere – shows three managers discussing new strategies. Their words conjure up a world – or rather a vision of a world – in which they pull the strings.
With the film as its core, the exhibition presents aspects of the world of work that the visitor can put together to form a perspective on today’s working conditions. It opens with the catchy text of the company’s storytelling, amid arty extras that include movie props for the training sessions, utilitarian furniture and paintings on the walls.
The space looks like a film set stripped of its personnel, with objects filling new functions. The exhibition’s deliberately chilly detachment is tinged with an absurdity that sometimes veers into the grotesque, directing our attention to the workings of the system. Tweaking not only business codes but also the works in the Frac Grand Large collection, the artists address you the viewer as a participant in this fiction and this reality.

© Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Titre de travail«,
Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht,
FRAC Grand Large–Hauts-
de-France, Dunkerque, 2018

Photo: Aurélien Mole

© Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Titre de travail«,
Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht,
FRAC Grand Large–Hauts-
de-France, Dunkerque, 2018

Collection FRAC Grand Large–Hauts-
de-France, Dunkerque

Photo: Aurélien Mole

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

“All the best from Labour Power Plant”

une pièce audiovisuelle de Romana Schmalisch et Robert Schlicht, 2017
La Commune, centre dramatique national, Aubervilliers

avec Arnaud Bichon, Farida Gillot, Cécile Lancia, Jacques Ledran, Aude Ollier,
Emmanuelle Péron, Frédéric Schulz-Richard

The theater play “All the best from Labour Power Plant” deals with fictionalisation as a strategy on the basis of a critical examination of the form of „Théâtre d’entreprise“: theatre companies that address operational problems on behalf of the management.

Photo: Matthieu Gauchet

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Let Live and Make Work«,
Double channel video installation, 17min., synchronized, 2,35:1, sound, French with English subtitles, 2017

Installation view: Work it, feel it!,
Kunsthalle Wien 2017,
Vienna Biennale 2017

Photo: Jorit Aust

This double channel video installation titled "Let Live and Make Work" is one part of a multi- form project around the body, its education, its discipline, and its optimization, especially focussing on efficiency at work.

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour”

lecture screening performance, 2013-2014

“The Choreography of Labour” is a series of lecture performances that will at a later stage develop into a film project. The project revolves around the relationship of labour and art, including topics such as: the representation of production processes and power relations in film, the use of art forms by labour movements, the way artistic methods were also used to enhance efficiency in industrial production, as well as questioning ideas behind educational programmes of employment agencies. By reconstructing the diverse interconnections, both historically as well as from a contemporary perspective, the project “The Choreography of Labour” attempts to simultaneously investigate ways of re-establishing links between the spheres of labour and art.
This reflection also serves as a starting point for recon sidering the role of the body in art/film/production as a testing ground for strategies of efficiency and education. Furthermore, it will look at the potential of the filmic de vice to analyse and isolate movements and gestures and to make them quotable; at the workers’ movements and how they were represented in film; how the body of the worker was represented in film history; and how bodily movements and gestures (also in the form of a moving camera) were used for political protests.

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#1”

lecture screening performance, 50 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2013

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

In the first performance, Romana Schmalisch focused among others on the choreographer Rudolf Laban and the industrialist Frederick Lawrence, who in the 1940s collaboratively realised a training programme for employees in various factories in the UK. The programme was based on Laban’s well-known dance notation, the so-called “Labanotation”, and the Laban/Lawrence exercises related to the movements performed at work, attempting to “compensate for the physical strain, to increase exactitude and speed besides stimulating the sporting instinct of the individual worker in the operation” (Laban).

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#1”

lecture screening performance, 50 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2013

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#1”

lecture screening performance, 50 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2013

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#1”

lecture screening performance, 50 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2013

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#2”

lecture screening performance, 60 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2013

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

What are the parallels and the differences between a dancer and a worker? Is learning a gesture of a choreography the same as learning the movements for painting a wall? How do you learn how to dance? How do you learn how to work? Learning a dance choreography means the translation from one body to another by copying and imitating the images of the movements. But apart from their aesthetic value, what do the movements of a performance/dance mean in themselves?
The human being copies gestures, mimics them; these bodily gestures are learnable. Through exercises the body is being trained, disciplined and automated, thus enabled to be put into service for the state or at a working place. But learnable working movements operate regardless of the contents of the work itself. What does the work in itself mean? With the training of movements and gestures, the body has to quickly adapt to new occupations and to grasp new skills. This becomes increasingly necessary in situations of crisis, e.g. during the economical crisis in the 1930s or in our days where workers have to face the demands of mobility and flexibility. Different programmes by employment offices engage to discipline unemployed people through various occupations. This requires a radical and absolute interiorisation of movement in the body.

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#2”

lecture screening performance, 60 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2013

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#3”

screening lecture, 90 min.,
Possessions, Collège des Bernardins, organized by Khiasma, 2013 (together with Marina Vishmidt)

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

At the Collège des Bernardins, Romana Schmalisch discussed together with the London-based writer Marina Vishmidt about the influence of the economy on the educational system, the approaches and goals of the support programmes, and finally the role of the body in this context.

Marina Vishmidt revisits an earlier essay which considered the relationship between contemporary dance and the de-materialization of labour. With reference to Romana Schmalish’s inquiry into skills training and performance, what changes about this relationship as all employment becomes more and more of a brutal hypothesis in our post-crisis conditions?

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#4”

lecture screening performance, 60 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2014 (with Robert Schlicht)

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

In preparatory workshops, different forms of physical, social, emotional and psychological training were being discussed and practiced collaboratively with trainees, teachers, instructors, as well as dancers from different disciplines, which was transformed into a staged laboratory for the performance La Chorégraphie du travail #4. Various methods of role plays used in preparation courses, exercises for physical endurance and coordination or creative activities to enhance the person’s self-confidence were being examined and turned into a collective work effort of the group which appeared like a choreographed movement of an abstract labour force.
A fictional manager acted as a guide through the programme:
“You must imagine the human being as a labourer. Through the productive expenditure of their brain, muscle, nerve, hand, etc., they realise themselves in their products. The concrete fruit of their labour is insignifi- cant here, however, it is nothing but abstract labour that counts. [...] It is not only that a man is a man, but he can also be transformed into a labourer, and be it by being disassembled and reassembled like a car, to be, after having undergone a final quality check, released to circulation.”

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#4”

lecture screening performance, 60 min.,
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 2014 (with Robert Schlicht)

Photo: Ouidade Soussi-Chiadmi

©Romana Schmalisch

“The Choreography of Labour#5”
with the Mobile Cinema,
lecture screening performance, 60 min.,
Crash Pad c/o KW Institute for Contemporary Art,
8. Berlin Biennale, 2014

Romana Schmalisch used the “Mobile Cinema”, a model of a small cinema and a reconstruction of a film prop from Alexander Medvedkin’s film “The New Moscow” (1938) to present “The Choreography of Labour #5”, where she focused in particular on educational films from the 1940s–70s, produced by companies (like General Motors) or governments (UK and USA), combining them with her recent research on different programmes of job centres in and around Paris.

©Romana Schmalisch

Romana Schmalisch "Notes sur les mouvements"

Link: http://www.leslaboratoires.org/en/edition/notes-sur-les-mouvements

During her residency at Les Laboratoires, Romana Schmalisch is editing a free publication, Notes sur les mouvements, that follows the development of the research process and production in different stages, and will present the initial thoughts, collected materials and discussions with various people during a period of two years.

©Romana Schmalisch

Notes sur les mouvements #1
24 pages, French / English,
with contributions by Jean-Marc Piquemal and Tangui Perron.
September 2013.

The first issue analyses the conjunction of dance with Labour Movements of the 1930s (New Dance Group) as well as its use in the industry to enhance efficiency (Laban/Lawrence); it looks at the vague image that we have from various professions, researches the value of the performance of a work and its equivalence in the wage, and considers different forms of abstractions (notations and graphics) and training methods.

download:
http://www.leslaboratoires.org/sites/leslaboratoires.org/files/
notesslmouvements_last_final_print_bd_0.pdf

©Romana Schmalisch

Notes sur les mouvements #2
24 pages, French / English,
with contributions by Anne Querrien, Marina Vishmidt and Romana Schmalisch.
March 2014.

The second issue of the journal reflects on the last two performances La Chorégraphie du travail #2 and #3 with a special focus on educational question. In an interview, sociologist Anne Querrien discusses social norms and the school system. In her text, the London- based writer Marina Vishmidt revisits an earlier essay which considered the relationship between contemporary dance and the de-materialization of labour.

download:
http://www.leslaboratoires.org/sites/leslaboratoires.org/files/nslm2_low.pdf

©Romana Schmalisch

Notes sur les mouvements #3
24 pages, French / English,
with contributions by Farida Gillot, Robert Schlicht and the 2C class from the lycée Jean-Pierre Timbaud.
September 2014.

The third issue deals with what is at stake when one learns a job, the relationships between teachers and students, various methods of education, and the way these systems reflect certain social norms. In her text, Farida Gillot, teacher at the Lycée Jean-Pierre Timbaud, questions her own role and how it is possible to take a “sidestep” in order to create the possibility of other learning conditions. Robert Schlicht traces “The movement of money”, delineating the political economy of fiat money and its implications for issues of wage and labour.

download:
http://www.leslaboratoires.org/sites/leslaboratoires.org/files/nslm3_low.pdf

©Romana Schmalisch

Traveling with the »Mobile Cinema«

“Mobile Cinema” is an apparatus that unites experimental lecturing and moving to different places. To be more concrete: it is a reconstruction of a film prop from Alexander Medvedkin’s film “The New Moscow” (1938): a projection and viewing table where an engineer on his journey to Moscow presents his designs and urban visions for the new city – a bizarre model that is somewhere between urban model, cinema, and plate camera.

Similar to the engineer in the film, the artist travels to various places with the “Mobile Cinema” and presents a programme of excerpts from her films created on and for her travels with the Mobile Cinema.

»Mobile Cinema«,
wood/fabric/projector/DVD player,
138 x 95 x 245 cm, 20088

»Mobile Cinema«

The apparatus derived its form from Alexander Medvedkin’s film The New Moscow (1938).

The “Mobile Cinema” went to:

Museum Dieselkraftwerk, Cottbus, in cooperation with the 25th FilmFestival Cottbus; Songwon Art Center, Seoul; Berlin Biennale 8 at Crash Pad c/o KW Institute for
Contemporary Art, Berlin; Archive Kabinett, Berlin; Kunstaele Berlin; etablissement d’en face, Brussels; National Museum N.N. Palmov, Elista (Russia); centre d’art passerelle, Brest; Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin; Outpost, Norwich; Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen; Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; Generator Projects, Dundee; collective gallery, Edinburgh; Annexinema/Trampoline, Nottingham; 7inch, Birmingham; Utopiana, ¡Yerevan; France Fiction, Paris; FormContent, London; Fondation Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Kiev; The Muzychi Expanded History, Muzychi (Ukraine); The Office, Berlin; Les Complices, Zurich; National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow; Istituto Svizzero di Roma; Center for Visual Introspection pplus4, Bucharest; National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Kaliningrad; Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius; Devil Museum, Kaunas; Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

A publication “Mobile Cinema” (2017) was published by Archive Books with text contributions by:
Ruben Arevshatyan, Naum Kleiman, Mark Rushton, Esther Buss, Clemens Krümmel, Robert Schlicht, Romana Schmalisch, Megan Francis Sullivan, Marina Vishmidt

©Romana Schmalisch

»Mobile Cinema«,
Tour I - Poster
National Centre for Contemporary Arts *NCCA* — Kaliningard
Contemporary Art Centre *CAC* — Vilnius
Devil Museum — Kaunas
Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle *CCA* — Warsaw

©Romana Schmalisch

»Mobile Cinema«,
lecture/screening performance, 60 min.,
Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, 2009

©Romana Schmalisch

»Mobile Cinema«,
lecture/screening performance, 70 min.,
Utopiana/ Mekhitar Sebastaci Educational Complex Media Center, Yerevan, 2009

©Romana Schmalisch

»Mobile Cinema«,
lecture/screening performance, 70 min.,
with Robert Schlicht: “Resurrecting Spectres and Vampires”
Utopiana/ Mekhitar Sebastaci Educational Complex Media Center, Yerevan, 2009

©Romana Schmalisch

»Mobile Cinema«,
exhibition view »Talking Picture Blues«,
Kunstsaele Berlin, Berlin, 2013

Photo: Jan Brockhaus

©Romana Schmalisch

»Mobile Cinema«,
exhibition view »Mobiles Kino. Romana Schmalisch«,
Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus, 2015
in co-operation with the 25. FilmFestival Cottbus

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Preliminaries«,
HD, 48 min., 2011

Arsenal institut für film und videokunst e.V.
distribution:
https://films.arsenal-berlin.de/Detail/works/6368

The film "Preliminaries" revolves around the statue “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman” designed by sculptor Vera Mukhina for the Soviet pavilion at the 1937 World Fair in Paris, which after World War II became the emblem of the Mosfilm studio.
Departing from this “sign of history”, the film traces Stalinist film and real politics, reconstructing the notion of a predetermined future, in the light of which the present appears as nothing but preliminary, as symbolically already overcome. This “bright future”, which is now our past, was the aim of Socialist Realism – and could at the same time serve to justify show trials, which themselves staged a prefigured future.

©Romana Schmalisch/Robert Schlicht

»Recitando«,
HD, 33 min., 2010

In Recitando, workers at a Moscow paper factory waiting for something to do, simulate the production process and comment upon their situation in a series of Brechtian chorus scenes. Punctuated by intertitles citing discussions within the Soviet film avant-garde of the 1920s, the film reflects upon the relation of cinematographic image and reality, and of artistic and industrial production.

Romana Schmalisch

Born in Berlin, Germany

Lives in Berlin, Germany

Education

1995/2000 Universität der Künste, Berlin, GER
2000 Hunter College, New York, USA
2001 Surikov-Institut, Moscow, GUS
2002 MFA, Universität der Künste, Berlin, GER
2006/2007 Research fellowship, Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, NL

Grants

2023 working grant, Senate Department for Culture and Community Berlin
2022 Iméra, the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) of Aix-Marseille University
Stiftung Hans Arp & Sophie Taeuber-Arp Fellowship
Akademie der Künste - NEUSTART KULTUR,
Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
2021 Künstlerinnenprogramm, Filmgrant from the Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs, Berlin
FRAC Paca/Goethe-Institut Marseille residency
2017 research grant, Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs, Berlin
2013/2014 Residency, Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Paris
2011 Künstlerinnenprogramm, Filmgrant from the Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs, Berlin
2009 International Residency, Berlin Senate's Department of Science, Research and Culture in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery and Studio Voltaire, London
2007 Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft Art Award, Berlin
Toni und Albrecht Kumm Preis zur Förderung der bildenden Künste
Provinzial Förderprojekt
2005 Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt art IT, Berlin
Künstlerinnenprogramm, Filmgrant from the Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs, Berlin
2004 DAAD stipend, Paris
2003 Projektgrant from the Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs,Berlin for„Dom Sovietov“
2002/2003 Kyoung-an Artist-in-Residency, Seoul

Solo Exhibitions/Performance/Screening

2024 “The container fetish - episode 3”, Montévidéo, Marseille,
part of the series "Fishing for Flotsam – a deeper dive" (forth coming)
“Visualising the invisible hand#3”, MUCEM – Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille
2023 “The Choreography of Commodities”, Frac Sud - Cité de l'art contemporain
“Visualising the invisible hand #2”, MUCEM – Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille
“The container fetish - episode 2”, Montévidéo
“The container fetish - episode 1”, Musée d’Histoire de la ville de Marseille
& “Containers unchained”, FRAC Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur,
part of the series "Fishing for Flotsam – a deeper dive"
“Nachdenken über das Gehen/Reflection on walking”, Kino Arsenal/Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek, Berlin
2021 "Visualising the invisible hand#1", Palais de la Bourse, Marseille,
part of Le French Smart Port in Med
“Fishing for Flotsam”, Musée d’Histoire de la ville de Marseille
"Labour Power Plant", Cinéma du Park/Cinéma du Musée, Montréal
and Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec
2020 "Labour Power Plant", FRAC Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur/Goethe-Institut
La Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille
Filmmakers’ Choice, Kino Arsenal/Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek, Berlin
2019 "Labour Power Plant", 69. Berlinale (with Robert Schlicht)
"Labour Power Plant", Kaunas International Filmfestival (KIFF)
"Top/Down", Maisons Folies, Lille (with Robert Schlicht)
2018/2019 “Humanity at Work”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (with Robert Schlicht)
2018 “Titre de travail/Working title”, FRAC Grand Large — Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque (with Robert Schlicht)
“Tugging the apparatus”, Archive Kabinett, Berlin
2017 “Mobile Cinema”, NN Contemporary Art, Northampton
“All the best from Labour Power Plant”, La Commune, centre dramatique national, Aubervilliers/Paris (with Robert Schlicht)
“Performing Labour Power”, Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Vienna (with Robert Rizo)
2015/2016 “Mobile Cinema – Two steps back”, Archive Kabinett, Berlin
2015 “Mobiles Kino. Romana Schmalisch”, Kunstmuseum
Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus, in co-operation with the 25. FilmFestival Cottbus
“The Choreography of Labour#6”, in the frame of „Labor für Kritik und Weitsicht“, Weltkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf
“The Choreography of Labour”, Centre national de la danse (CND), Pantin (with Jean-Marc Piquemal)
2014 “The Choreography of Labour#5” in the Mobile Cinema, Berlin Biennale 8/Program at Crash Pad c/o KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
“The Choreography of Labour#5” in the Mobile Cinema, Archive Kabinett, Berlin
“The Choreography of Labour#4”, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris (with Robert Schlicht)
2013 “The Choreography of Labour#3” - Possessions, Collège des Bernardins, organized by Khiasma (together with Marina Vishmidt)
“The Choreography of Labour#2”, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris (with Jean-Marc Piquemal)
“The Choreography of Labour#1”, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris
“Make Efficiency A Pleasure”, after the butcher, Berlin
2012 “Palace of Culture”, Muzychnyi teatr, in collaboration with the Foundation Center for Contemporary Art (CSM), Kyiv (with Anna Pohribna)
“Dom Kino”, Uqbar Projects, Berlin
“Standpunkt der Aufnahme”, Kino Arsenal/Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek, Berlin (with Robert Schlicht)
2011 “After Show”, National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow
2010 “Tournée”, etablissement d'en face, Brussels
“film/symbol”, part II, centre d'art passerelle - Brest (with Eléonore de Montesquiou)
“film/fabrik”, part I, centre d'art passerelle - Brest (with Eléonore de Montesquiou)
2009 “Mobile Cinema”, France Fiction, Paris
2008 “Il braccio di Lucifero si pone 645 1/3 braccia”, Galerie Karin Günther, Hamburg
“Drehort Zukunft”, Uqbar Projects, Berlin
2007 “Future Cities”, Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg *,
“Radiation. An Alien Revue” (with Robert Schlicht), Performance, STUK Theater, Leuven
2006 “Two Steps Back Till Unrise”, Casco Projects , Utrecht (with Nina Könnemann)
2005 “reading in absence”, dreizehnzwei, Vienna (with Tantiana Lecomte) *
2003 “A Journey to the Space”, Young Eun Museum Contemporary Art, Seoul *

Group Exhibitions/Performance/Screening

2024 “A Home for Something Unkown”, Neue Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin
Escale “Action ou Vérité ?”, Cnap/tënk in collaboration with La Cinémathèque du Documentaire
2023 “Die letzten Tage des Wahnsinns”, Künstlerinnenprogramm, Kino Arsenal/Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek, Berlin
“Arts/Travail”, LAAC muséum, in collaboration Triennale Art & Industrie / Dunkerque – Hauts-de-France
“The Big Warehouse”, Maison Française d'Oxford,
part of the series "Fishing for Flotsam – a deeper dive"
2021/2022 “Smile! Emotions at work”, Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec
“Variables d'épanouissement”, CCCOD, Tours
“KINO SIEMENSSTADT - The Complex of Labour”
Program #4/Program #6, Scharaun, Berlin
Around Vidéo, FRAC Grand Large — Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque
2020 cinéma Le Méliès, Carbone Biennal, Saint-Etienne
Streaming-Channel Arsenal 3, week 7&8: “Labour”
“Games, Fights, Encounters”, OnCurating Space, Zurich
“MARs Goldsmiths Session #9”, (with Diamond Ashiagbor, Bahar Noorizadeh, Elena Vogman and Marina Vishmidt), London
2019 “UN AUTRE MONDE///DANS NOTRE MONDE”, Frac Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Marseille
“Antikino (the siren’s echo chamber)”, Betonhalle/silent green/Kino Arsenal, Berlin
“UNLearning Place Molecular Bodies”, in the frame of “The New Alphabet”, HKW, Berlin
2018 “Working Life”, Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) and medienwerk.nrw
in co-operation with Kino im U, Dortmund
“Cadres de travail/Working Environments”, FRAC Grand Large — Hauts-de-France and Studio 43, Dunkerque in co-operation with Goethe-Institut Lille
“Que fais-tu dans la vie ?”, PointCulture, Brussels
2017 “Work it, feel it!”, Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Vienna
and “Rehearsing the Future”(with Sabeth Buchmann, Kai van Eikels, Robert Schlicht)
in the frame of VIENNA BIENNALE, Robots. Work. Our Future
2016 “Vom Wert der Kunst als Wert der Arbeit”, Weltkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf
2015 “From here to afternoon”, D21 Kunstraum, Leipzig
“Talking Picture Blues (voices rising)”, Songwon Art Center/Kim Kim Gallery, Seoul
“Moving_Image”, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris
“A l’ouest tout!”, University Paris 8 in co-operation with École européenne supérieure d’art de Bretagne (EESAB), Paris
2014 “NE TRAVAILLEZ JAMAIS!”, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris
2013 “Talking Picture Blues”, Kunstsaele, Berlin
“From here to afternoon”, Museum of Fine Arts Houston,
Glassell School of Art, Houston
“Le cinéma n’a pas de patrie”, Côté Court festival, Cine 104, Pantin in
in collaboration with Ciné-Archives – fonds audiovisuel du PCF,
mouvement ouvrier et démocratique, Paris
“Théâtres au Cinéma”, Magic Cinéma de Bobigny, Bobigny
2012 “Thinking Like A Stone”, after the butcher, Berlin
Gyumri Biennale, Armenia
“At Work”, roARaTorio, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Spanish Cinematheque and Centre Pompidou, Paris, Madrid and Berlin
“IBG”, Galerie de multiples - GDM, Paris
2010 “Easy Rider”, lokal_30_warszawa_london, London
“Transient Spaces: The Tourist Syndrome, Berlin”, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) und Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Kaunas Photography gallery, Kaunas
“Resource Room”, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
“Tracing Mobility”, Trampoline, Nottingham
“For example Fabrika”, Proekt_Fabrika, Moscow *
2009 “Movie painting”, National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow *
2008 “Digging Deeper II”, Museum Folkwang, Essen
“Zerbrechliche Schönheit”, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf *
2007 “Changing Spaces”, Städtische Galerie Waldkraiburg *
“Videonale 11”, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn *
2006 “Resonances”, Artis, Den Bosch *
“Tales from a Travel Journey”, CAC, Vilnius *
“La Boum II”, Galerie Sies & Höke, Düsseldorf *
“La Boum I”, Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Munich
“On architecture and other stories/2”, agentur, Amsterdam
2005 “Differences – Art as a Film Form”, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich
“Fiav.05”, Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona
“Polished”, Goldrausch, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin *
“Jump Cut-Nights”, SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne
“Real Representation / Representing Realities”, Plattform, Berlin
2004 “Representing History”, Austria Filmmakers Cooperative, Filmcasino, Vienna
2003 “Museale 03”, Museumsfilmfestival, Kulturforum, Berlin
“Tracks/Territories”, Austria Filmmakers Cooperative, Filmcasino, Vienna
* with catalogue

Projects

“Mobile Cinema”, a lecture/screening performance

2018 “Mobile Cinema”, Archive Kabinett, Berlin
2017 “Mobile Cinema”, NN Contemporary Art, Northampton
2015/16 “Mobile Cinema”, Archive Kabinett, Berlin
2015 “Mobile Cinema”, Kunstmuseum
Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus, in co-operation with the 25. FilmFestival Cottbus
“Mobile Cinema”, Songwon Art Center, Seoul
2014 “Mobile Cinema”, KW, Berlin
“Mobile Cinema”, Archive Kabinett, Berlin
2013 “Mobile Cinema”, Kunstsaele, Berlin
2010 “Mobile Cinema”, etablissement d'en face — Brussels
“Mobile Cinema”, Nationalmuseum N.N. Palmov — Elista
“Mobile Cinema”, centre d'art passerelle — Brest
“Mobile Cinema”, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) — Berlin
“Mobile Cinema”, OUTPOST — Norwich
“Mobile Cinema”, Peacock Visual Arts — Aberdeen
“Mobile Cinema”, Transmission Gallery — Glasgow
“Mobile Cinema”, Generator Projects — Dundee
“Mobile Cinema”, collective gallery — Edinburgh
“Mobile Cinema”, Annexinema/Trampoline — Nottingham
“Mobile Cinema”, 7inch — Birmingham
2009 “Mobile Cinema”, Utopiana — Yerevan
“Mobile Cinema”, France Fiction — Paris
“Mobile Cinema”, FormContent — London
“Mobile Cinema”, Foundation Center for Contemporary Art *CCA* — Kiev
“Mobile Cinema”, The Muzychi Expanded History *Village* — Muzychi
“Mobile Cinema”, The Office — Berlin
“Mobile Cinema”, *Les Complices* — Zurich
“Mobile Cinema”, National Centre for Contemporary Arts *NCCA* — Moscow
“Mobile Cinema”, Istituto Svizzero di Roma — Rome
“Mobile Cinema”, Center for Visual Introspection *pplus4* — Bucharest
“Mobile Cinema”, National Centre for Contemporary Arts *NCCA* — Kaliningrad
“Mobile Cinema”, Contemporary Art Centre *CAC* — Vilnius
“Mobile Cinema”, Devil Museum — Kaunas
“Mobile Cinema”, Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle — Warsaw

Collections

Collection FRAC Grand Large — Hauts-de-France
(Collection FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, Dunkerque)
Videomuseum — La Collection départementale d'art contemporain et cinéma, Seine-Saint-Denis
Collection Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
Collection Provinzial, Düsseldorf
Collection Young Eun Museum Contemporary Art, Seoul
Private Art Collections

Bibliography

2023 “Labour Power Plant”, monograph around the topic of labour is forthcoming from Archive Books end of the year
2019 “Labour Power Plant”, ARTMargins, MIT Press Journals, Vol.8 No.1, Artist Project, pp. 56–72
2018 “Die Zurichtung des Menschen zum Humankapital”, text Tom Mustroph, neues deutschland (21.12.2018)
2018 Auf Ressource reduziert: „Humanity at Work“, Interview with Bert Rebhandl, tip Berlin
2018 “Speaking the Enemy’s Language (Or Not)” in Esse magazine - LABOUR - 94, autumn 2018, text: Eloïse Guénard
2018 “Das Kino der Avantgarde als Spiegel von Gesellschaftstheorien”, Kunstforum, Band 252, 2018, Titel: Moderne, reloaded. Interview with Sabine Maria Schmidt, pp. 176–181
2017 “Mobile Cinema”, published by Archive Books, english, 160 pages
2017 "Labour Power Plant" in L'Art Même, n° 72 - 2e trimestre 2017 - L'art au travail, text: Mathilde Villeneuve, pp.15-17
2017 “Mass Observation 2.0. Situating the Everyday”, 16 booklets in the frame of Labor für Kunst und Forschung am Institut für Kunst und Kunsttheorie der Universität zu Köln, with Ale Bachlechner, Sabine Bitter/Helmut Weber, Andreas Bunte, Svetlana Chernyshova, Ebba Durstewitz, Ben Highmore, Tellervo Kalleinen/Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, Norman Klein, Jakob Kolding, Geert Lovink, Stefan Panhans, Peter Piller, Julia Scher, Romana Schmalisch and students from the Universität zu Köln, Johanna Steindorf, StrzeleckiBooks Verlag
2015 “The Talking Picture Blues Book”, designed & edited by Clemens Kruemmel, published by Kim Kim Press, S-Korea, pp. 55
2015 „Mass Ornaments", english/serbian, TkH 22, Walking Theory/journal
2014 „Notes sur les mouvements #3", french/english, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 24 pages
„Der Standpunkt der Aufnahme - Point of View. Positionen politischer Film- und Videoarbeit", Archive Books & Arsenal - Institut für Film und Videokunst, Berlin, pp. 440–445
Initiales n° 04 – Initiales M.V., french, les presses du réel, pp. 106–109
Le Journal des Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, CAHIER C,
Interview with Mathilde Villeneuve, pp. 1-3
and artistic project « La Chorégraphie du travail »
Romana Schmalisch, pp. 7-10, 2013/2014
„Ne travaillez jamais", french/engl., Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, pages 129–130
Volailles n° 03, french, pp. 110–123
2013 „Notes sur les mouvements #1" and
„Notes sur les mouvements #2", french/engl., Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, 24 pages
2010 “Film/Fabrik”, French/Russian/English, catalogue, centre d'art passerelle
2010 “For example, Fabrika”, Russian/English, Gazetta, Proekt_Fabrika, text by Eléonore de Montesquiou and Romana Schmalisch
2008 Barbara Buchmaier, “Was gestern Welt von morgen war”, in: Texte zur Kunst, nr. 71, pp. 224–226 | “Zerbrechliche Schönheit”, Hatje Cantz Verlag
2007 “Reconstructing Futures”, German/English catalogue,  Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, texts by Robert Schlicht and Sabine Maria Schmidt | “Karl-Hofer-Preis 2007”, text: Esther Buss |  “Changing Spaces”, German/English catalogue, Modo Verlag,  pp. 28–31, text: Elke Keiper and Axel Wieder |  “Radiation”, brochure, Kino Arsenal/Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek
2006  “Tales From the Travel Journal Vol.1”, English catalogue, CAC,  pp. 30–31/72–73, with a text by Catherine Hemelryk |  “Videonale 11”, German/English catalogue, Walther König Verlag,  pp. 86-87, with a text by Thomas Jantschik |  “Resonances”, poster, with a text by Astrid Wege
2005  “reading in absence”, catalogue, with texts by  Melanie Ohnemus and Marc Riess |  “Der Berg”, catalogue, Goldrausch, with a text by Tabea Metzel

Contact

rschmalisch@yahoo.com

Email: rschmalisch@yahoo.com