Videos, 2023, © Friederike von Rauch & Stefanie Schweiger

Haze, Lace & Doppelkorn, Video 24: 39“, Colour, Sound
Stammtisch, Video 4: 07“, Loop, Colour, Sound
Kupferscheune, Video 1: 72“, Loop, Colour, Sound
Bornholmer Hüttenwirt, Video 25: 29“, Colour, Sound, subtitles

In their first joint work, Stefanie Schweiger and Friederike von Rauch dedicate themselves to the subject of corner bars in cinematic form. They have created videos with an unmoving camera, mostly deserted situations, which take the viewer into the various bars of Berlin through their sound backdrop. Through silent shots, they have opened up new levels of perception of their city.

“Scenes in a corner bar in Berlin, where the afternoon light lazily pervades the semidarkness of the space. The lights of a jukebox flash on and, only a few seconds later, off again. The slot games beep their greetings to no one in particular. A lace curtain flutters softly in the wind. Faraway voices can be heard, snippets of conversation, a finely woven soundscape consisting of people chattering, coughing, and clinking their glasses.
Not much happens in the videos by artists Friederike von Rauch and Stefanie Schweiger. Nor do you see what you might expect in pictures of a bar: people, cigarettes, regulars, the barmaid, a schnaps glass—people with their heads on the bar, with their arm around someone’s shoulder, laughing, sobbing. The crack of dawn. A foot making its way out.”
Angela Köckritz