SoC computer (65 x 30mm), three mounted 8x32 MAX7219 LED dot matrix displays, cable in pink and light-pink, silicone sculpture (25 x 5 cm), plexiglass pane, hard case (60 x 45 cm), power cable in black

The device consists of a hot pink hard case and bone-colored plexiglass covers, there is a silicone sculpture and pink cables with a small single-board computer and bright red LED displays arranged. A programmed code runs over the computer, which is made up of emotional exclamations and often contradictory commands. This is played in an endless loop via the LED displays. Sometimes the words are pixelated, the device is often pushed to it‘s limit, glitsching, emphasizing the performative aspect of the sculpture. The selected shell and the additional ornaments combine this technological fragility with an aesthetic of interactive consumer goods such as children-toys. But here in contrast to the usual separation of software and hardware, the materiality of the machine becomes visible. It acquires a physical presence, recognizable by the contradictory and unpredictable behavior of the code.

Multidisciplinary installation and curated program / light beige carpet in the room (25qm), curtains made of transparent blue mesh (3 x 4 m), stereo music system, microphones, mixer and other electronic devices are on steel constructions, assembled from shopping carts, welded and colored matt beige with a blue gradient (each circa around 50 x 75 cm), three self-constructed computer with surveillance cameras (60 x 90 cm), three monitors, micormulticolored LED, multifunctional elements and technical devices are decorated with details like clay, cable ties, stickers

Collaborations are a central part of Lotte Meret Effinger‘s practice. SEXES is a collective that operates between art and club culture, driven by the desire to transform our relationship with our own bodies and with the beings that surround us. SEXES developed an installation and a curated program for the Pop-Kultur festival 2021 in Berlin. In collaboration with other musicians and artists, the collective explores active embodiment. Self-built computers and all the necessary equipment for concerts and performances are installed on mobile metal objects similar to operating tables; Tubes and ceramic objects transform the the equipment into medical devices. The room is divided by curtains. Several monitors show the upcoming program and transmission images from surveillance cameras in the room. The installation refers to test- and vaccination-centers. All performances, lectures and workshops in the program are about helping yourself and others and opening the horizon of what is possible. Bodies of performers and spectators enter into a dialogue with each other and an intimate situation is explicitly provoked. The interplay between intimacy and demarcation, between the personal and the public, translates into Intensive Care.

Digital Poster Edition with Sound, Poster, vector paths and typography created in illustrator (dimension variabel), Stereo Sound musically arranged and mixed with Hildegard von Bingen's 'Ave Generosa', interwoven with monster moans and a slight overlaid melody from dream house track 'Fable' by Robert Miles. 

The illustration negotiates stigmatizations about menstruation and playfully twists sexist stereotypical advertising and consumer language. Text excerpts refer to the book ‘The Hormone Myth’ by Robyn Stein DeLuca. The Poster is accompanied by a sound-piece, emphasizing the inner turmoil and historical attribution of this topic. The work was created for the digital exhibition Menstruation Project  

• https://www.menstruation-project.org/home/

The art works selected within the framework of the Menstruation Project explore the definition and shape of yet unknown menstrualities, for non-binary, queer and intersectional positions on body, gender and evolution in the (post-)digital, posthuman, and cognitive-capitalist age, for the intrinsic connection between pleasure, resistance, and disgust, for post-pornographic sex and body positivity, and for alliances, friendships, and kinships beyond conventional motherhood.

Livestream Performance, 8 min / corsage: Monstrous fatter, metal, aluminum and various materials (42x87cm), high heels: Into a fucking cyborg, metal, satin and cotton (9x16x9cm), dagger: Shyriavandal, metal (43x3x7cm), velour tracksuit: Mephala couture, dyed, bleached and colored cotton, rhinestones application (160x150cm)

The performance was streamed live from the exhibition space directly to Instagram. The performer Mephala reactivates individual objects from the exhibition space, such as a steel dagger and steel high heels. With these props Mephala performs movements reminiscent of fights in video games. During the performance, a mobile phone camera repeatedly switches between close-up and long-range shots, thereby emphasizing a sequence of movements that oscillates between vulnerability, protection and attack. The performance and sculptures reflects thoughts on pop culture avatars, gender identity issues and their presentation. The interweaving of the various disciplines blurs the boundaries between object and subject, intimacy and public and between digital and analogue space.

Welded metal bars, formed and brushed matt with internal thread (each 4 m x 35 cm), silicone sculptures (each circa 18 x 8 cm) chains, glass beads, recycled fashion accessories, clay objects on mobile phone cases, artificial nails, 3D prints

traumprototyp_01 and _02 is a series of sculptures that combine metal, silicon, clay, plastic and jewelry. Silicone casts with everyday objects, 3D prints and nail-salon templates are fused with monstrous phone cases with chains and beads. Similar to a striptease pole, the sculptures are installed in the space from floor to ceiling. 

They resemble instruments of fetishism, relics from a fantasy world, weapons, scrap plastic, or imperial jewelry. They mix pleasure, pain and protection in a precarious balance. The artist uses objects which are functioning as a sort of “prosthesis” to replace parts of the body and have the power to constitute identities. The combination and arrangement emphasize the vulnerability of consumption and the complexity of desire. These hybrid objects evoke the fusion of body, technology and machine, formalizing the porous entanglement between the human and the non-human.

Video and room-installation, 16:9, 2K, Stereo Sound, 14:38 min / 2020

Text: Loosely based on an interview with Prof. David Rudrauf, Director, Laboratory of Multimodal Modeling of Emotion & Feeling, Campus Biotech, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

Installation: metal bench welded and sculpted (4 meters), modified computer (40x60 cm) and modeled silicone and latex cables. (Dimensions variable)

The video installation To Fear, Hope and Desire Again examines changing experiences of physicality. The scenes of the video work are reminiscent of research methods, laboratories from medicine and science, these technological innovations are applied artistically. Poetic and scientific narratives are interwoven in a voiceover to transport the viewer into a mythological otherworld in which the boundaries between people, machines, animals, plants and minerals become blurred and permeable. To Fear, Hope and Desire Again embarks in a search of new forms, dynamics and methods of togetherness in this complex network of relationships.

Latexzeichnung, Metallnägel
45 x 30 cm

Latex, bag, ink, palo santo wood, hair, metal, lighter

Burial of the White Man

Further reading: →Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: Burial of the White Man, Sternberg Press, 2019

Sculpture / Latex, cast and molded (276.5 x 221 x 10.5 cm), metal hooks (each 15 x 8 x 5 cm) , scratches and drawings and seams with transparent thread are added on the skin

Liquid latex is poured over the still wet clay, the clay is shaped based on the skeletons and bone structures of alien and monster figures. This oversized skeletal sculpture is molded in layers, creating a skin. Smaller drawings and scratches can be found on the object, which correspond to the process of tattoos and scars on our skin. Metal hooks were developed for the installation, which are welded and formed and the skin is stretched and hung in the exhibition space.

Edition of 200 on 180 g vinyl, silkcreened cover with a custom made, reflective sticker on the back.

Video, 8 min / SoC Computer, Video, LCD Touch Screen Monitor, Speakers, fiberglass, latex, metal, USB lights, Dimensions approx. 40 x 70 x 10 cm

The sculptures were created in connection with the experimental video game Datafiction. The relics can be located between traditional craftsmanship and new technology in their material and design language, each sculpture plays one of the short stories in a loop from the videogame. The materials metal, leather and latex, are interwoven with digital components like a single board computer and touchscreen monitor. It creates a visual language that brings two supposedly polarizing disciplines into a dialogue and questioning some of the mythical enchantments that underlie the digital imagination.

Relic from Datafiction wurde erstmals innerhalb entwickelt für die Gruppenausstellung Gallery.Delivery: New Convenience | Berlin 2019 from Galerie Roehrs & Boetsch and initiated by Sebastian Schmieg

installation: acrylic floor sheet (5 x 6 m) , three modified computer cases, assembled computers, black cables, three monitors, three listening stations with modified MP3 players, headphones and game controllers (Dimensionen variabel)

The experimental video game was created in collaboration with the designer and programmer Marco Buetikofer. It negotiates how the obsession with technological innovation fails to attend the emotional scars caused by digital technology. It critically and playfully engages with the implications of data production, circulation and consumption, questioning some of the mythical enchantments that underlie the digital imagination. The artist duo asks how we can deal with the emotional wounds left by our adaptation to technology and why we can‘t seem to let go of self-harm. Deliberate disruptions and mistakes are aesthetically built into the imagery and as well into installation to reinforce the impression of technology in its inherent ambivalence. Cables, computers, monitors are shown openly and disrupt the impression of a polished surface. The soundscape is a collage of personal memories, fragments of research material, music and interviews. With the help of the interface, players can assemble the audiovisual elements such as music, images and voices in different ways. In this way, differently configured narratives unfold to offer users individual gaming experiences.

The installation was implemented as part of the Balance Club / Culture Festival at Galerie KUB, Leipzig

Druck auf Textilmatten (600 x 700 cm), Stahlrohre, Skulpturen aus Polyurethanschaum, Pilze (Shiitake, Löwenmähne, Rosa Auster), motorisierte Laser, Wassertanks, Tropfgeräte, Videoprojektoren, Telefonladegeräte, Kunststofffolien, separate Kammern für Pflanzen, Lichtsystem, Soundanlage, Nebelmaschine
Dimensionen variabel

For the installation Convolution, the SEXES collective interwoven technological devices, motorized lasers, various light sources, tubular metal constructions, artificial stone sculptures, and natural plants and fungi as a kind of environment. The fog machine, the lighting system and the sound system could be controlled with the help of an interactive operating system. Convolution thus functioned as a multifunctional space for various performances, lectures, panels, workshops and screenings during the Balance Club / Culture Festival 2019. The installation took up the festival theme corpo_realities, which dealt with body politics, identities and empowerment in relation to club culture. SEXES related the installation to the bodies of the visitors as a changing, growing and circulating system: they could physically be there, stand, lie, sit and even use the chargers for their electronic devices.

Performance 15 min /

Sculptures: Jealousy Weapon I + II, incised steel, panes of glass (45 x 68 x 15 cm)

Costume: rotz und wasser, pants made of latex and knotted with hemp rope

Kim's cry face, cotton shirt with hand-drawn motifs and burn holes

bandage, cotton bandages colored with textile paints, coffee powder and clay

The performance alternates between storytelling and a dance scene. Dressed in patches and with mud make-up the protagonist activates two sculptures, that were created in collaboration with artist Sharon Van Overmeiren. References to symbols from ancient magic spells appear on the costume and sculptures. The performance thematically reflecs possibilities in dealing with emotions such as jealousy and fear. The processing of feelings and the overcoming of trauma is negotiated regarding to the potential of fantasy and imagination. The performance was accompanied by sound pieces of contemporary club music and some own sound recordings.

The performance was created for the group exhibitionVessel in Motion, Kunstverein Leipzig

12" vinyl, dense black dyed cardboard, silk-screen printed white

Installation: Metal fences, outdoor lighting, stones, latex skins on metal fences and fishing hooks, glass and metal sculptures

Video game: sculptural computer housing made of PVC, layers of silicone and latex, modified controller made of plaster and silicone, monitor on engraved stone, sculptures made of a deconstructed plush teddy as a seat

The installation leaves the official exhibition space and is placed in the garden area of ​​the Jan van Eyck Academie. Sculptures out of latex, glass, metal and silicone are arranged in the garden and metal fences and spotlights lead the visitor into a dystopian scenery. In the garden house is a video game, an artificial surveillance system, central elements of the exhibition are placed in this mythological world. Through the video game the visitors can enter this simulated reality, an idealized, utopian version of the exhibition.

With an accompanying text by Hans Christian Dany

Platonic Paradise konstituiert sich an den Schnittstellen von Noise-Musik, Poesie und Performancekunst. In der wechselnden räumlichen Funktion als Rückzugsort, dissonante Wellnessoase oder Hangout reflektiert das Projekt den Zusammenhang zwischen dem systemischen Zwang zur alltäglichen Selbstoptimierung und den Verwertungslogiken der Self-Care-Industrie. Davon ausgehend befragen die Künstler*innen das Verhältnis dieser Phänomene zu sozialen Beziehungen, wie Freundschaften, Affären und Partnerschaften sowie zu Emotionen und Affekten. Welche Potentiale besitzen Zuneigung, Intimität und Vertrauen? Welche Rolle spielt die digitale oder physische Beschaffenheit der Räumen, in denen Gefühle und Beziehungen ausgehandelt werden? Wie wirken die (technologischen, medialen) Bedingungen der Kommunikation darauf zurück?

Edition Poster, digital print, 42 x 59,4 cm

We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate from outside forces but this is something I like to question. I am interested in the dilemmas which we are all confronted with, like the low self-esteem we all share under the pressure of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatization. I have become convinced that economic change is having a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities, therefor its for everybody a challenge to deal with dependence and fears. There is a buried sense of fear, ranging from performance anxiety to a broader social fear of the threatening other.

Our society constantly proclaims that anyone can make it if they just try hard enough, and this is very exhausting for everybody. You start to feel humiliated, guilty and ashamed being confronted with constant money issues and dependent on projects where you exploit yourself. A neoliberal meritocracy makes us believe that success depends on individual effort and talents, meaning responsibility lies entirely with the individual. It’s crazy how strong  in the creative industry we believe in the fairytale of unrestricted choice, self-government and self-management.

The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman summarised the paradox of our era as: “Never have we been so free. Never have we felt so powerless.”

Authentic Exoticism EP - Don't DJ, SEXES (SEXES02)

Single-sheet gatefold packing featuring an extensively written contemplation of phenomena of hybridization. First Edition of 500 prints released in 2016 / Repress 2018 Edition of 300 / Mastering by Gavin Weiss / Cut by Rashad Becker

AUTHENTIC EXOTICISM ist eine Schallplatte, die im Eigenverlag SEXES publiziert wurde. Die Veröffentlichung wurde von einem Symposium und einer Installation begleitet, bei denen folgende Fragen verhandelt wurden: Gibt es ein positives Potential des Exotismus? Und was ist die Bedeutung von kultureller Hybridisierung in einer globalen Gesellschaft? Die Veranstaltung HYBRIDIZATION hat sich der Geschichte des Exotismus im allgemeinen und der jüngsten Debatte, wie sie am Rande der Elektronischen Tanzmusik geführt wird im besonderen gewidmet.

Publication, 188 pages, edition of 700, Special edition of the “Munitionsfabrik” newspaper of HfG Karlsruhe, Texts are written in English and/or German, Available on request (15€ incl. VAT + shipping)

Body of Work is a publication of the feminist collective FAK / www.fakworks.de / Lotte Meret Effinger was member of the group and one of the project managers and co-editors, as well responsible for the graphic design for this publication

The magazine is devoted to the linkages between body and work: The importance of external appearance on the job market has increased, the body should represent both adaptability and an expression of individuality. Surrounded by others speaking the body language of success and assuring hope that we can make it just as far as long as we work hard enough on ourselves. This makes one dream of social advancement, but while the surface shimmers and glows, there is often a lack of appreciation for administration and political work on the infrastructure of our bodies.

In the cultural and creative sector we produce artworks, texts, furniture and clothing, we make our private households look as representable as our homepages while we’re simultaneously clicking on the ‚attending‘ button for the next exhibition opening. But is all of this work or hobby and where does wage labor begin? Where is the line between passion and self-exploitation? Body of Work discusses the work on and with the body and asks for the possibilities of emancipation. With the publication FAK begins to search for the potential of our body as a means of opposition and subversion and examines how ideals of resistance are often reused as empty slogans and undermined by capitalism. Is emancipation even possible in this cycle and what is the price we have to pay for it? Is ironic affirmation the only remaining solution?

Within this issue, a dynamic arises between assertion and appearance, between theory and practice, between a stance of subversive refusal and radical advocacy, between a collective body of FAK and the work of each individual. Instead of solving contradictions FAK wants to celebrate its Body of Work in all of its ambivalence.

Video and Installation / Video, 07:53 min, 16:9, 2K, Stereo Sound / Metal rods (4m), monitor, cables coated with latex and sewn, colored and modeled with airbrush and smaller applications

The video work Surface Glaze deals with the dissolution of human bodies and their occupation by prostheses and parasites. For this purpose an aesthetic is used which links to consumer - and advertising industry: Extreme close and slow-motion shots unite fungal, blemishes and scale skin, hair, mouths and eyes to an indefinable new monstrous body. By exploiting the technology of consumer industry values as uniqueness and Individuality become immanent. The commercial imagery is appropriated and reinterpreted that makes Surface Glaze so seductive as it is disturbing

Publication, 40 Pages, edition of 20, Risograph on digital print, munken paper, First Edition 2012 / Repress 2015 

Black ink drawings sketch the precarious living conditions within the creative education. The boundaries between despair and enthusiasm are fluid within the short stories and lead the protagonists to surreal situations. Smilies, based on creepy clowns, change to grotesque grimaces that force various characters to commit violent acts. One's own and the emotional exploitation of others within the creative industry are addressed in a humoistic way.

The first drawings are initiated by a seminar on humor by Sam de Broot, the booklet was completed over the years 2012 and presented as a smaller edition in a group exhibition of the media art class of anna jemolowa at the Hochschule für Gestaltung.

Die inszenierten Bilder sind durch Zeitlupen verfremdet, verstärkt wird dieser Eindruck durch mystische Klänge einer abstrahierten Soundkulisse von Tropfen, knackendem Holz und Quietschen. Die uneinheitlichen Längen von Videobild und Tonspur ergeben im Loop visuelle und akustische Verschiebungen, die zu stetig neuen-Bild-Ton-Konstellationen führen und dem Betrachter vielfache Assoziationsräume eröffnen.