Statement

Technical assistants are now very present in our, western, everyday life and therefore have become “Common”. However, this deep intervention in our lives is changing our aesthetical view on ourselves, art, and society. Since the industrial revolution, the aesthetical change has been so enormous that the difference to the change from the first „online“ device isn’t very much evident. There are just newer, smoother surfaces (hard- and software), faster math and a social communication which is very new for our system. Nevertheless, the way of producing images, writing texts, and making music is pretty much the same as before.

If you remove the expected performance of a machine, you get an artificial, kinetic object, a diverse extension of the human mind. I like to build up a kind of a freedom for objects, machines and software, the day-to-day assistants, to find their own aesthetic view to the world. They become artificial performers, autonomous objects within the limits of their resources. A knitting machine is not able to do more than knitting, but if this machine is constantly knitting white noise, this machine becomes a time-based image generator. Same goes for a walking-frame, driven by itself, exploring the world without human “intrusion”. Maybe our daily life changes when those assistants become more autonomous. However, what if they don’t want to assist anymore but like to see the world and experience it by themselves. What purpose does an elevator have, constantly getting up and down without passengers?

All in all, my intention to find freedom for everyday objects and lost techniques, as well as new targets of memories get together in autonomous objects. Those artificial performers are results out of long research about particular machines and a bunch of technical proof of concepts (sketches, models, collages, trial and error experiments), but at the end very discreet.

Vita

Born 1985 in Sindelfingen (D) Fabian Kühfuß live in Stuttgart (D). He finished his academic studies of visual art in the time- and computer based art class by Ulrich Wegenast at the Free Art Academy Baden-Württemberg in 2011.

From 2011 ongoing he works as a freelancer media artist. Since 2012 Kühfuß got some project grant´s by diferent foundations. 2014 „Hillarious dialog with ALICE“ won the Media in Space Category at the 27th Stuttgarter Filmwinter. In 2024 he won the „The Creative Länd Award“ hosted by MFG. In 2025 the Project „Let´s Play“ got funded via „Kulturkessel“ from the BDI.

From 2012 Kühfuß gives lectures for the new Media Class at the FKN. In 2015 he takes over the leadership for the Class from Ulrich Wegenast. 2013 Kühfuß did a Shortfilm Workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe. He did Workshops for the Internatinal Festival of animated Film Stuttgart, [platform] no Budget, LKJ and MFG and at different Schools.

Member of Künstlerbund Baden-Württemberg e.V.  

Exhibitions (selection):

• animation installation, KUKAV, Tuttlingen, 2023
• A MAZE.Festival, Berlin, 2023
• „Human:Level“, Projektraum Kunstverein Wagenhalle, Stuttgart, 2022
• „Ostend-Reisen“, Projektraum Ostend, Stutgart, 2022
• „Travel-4-U“, Außenstelle Süd, Stuttgart, 2022
• „IA, qui es-tu ?“ Le Cube, Paris, 2021
• „Binary Loop Objects“ Kunstraum 34, Stuttgart, 2021
• „The Furture Narrow“ Piksel Festival, Bergen, 2020
• „Mediademic“ 404 Festival, Sao Paolo, 2020
• „Autonomie Zero“ Biennale Nemo, Cité international des Arts Paris, Paris, 2019
• “Nomination for the Kahnweiler Art Award 2019” Museum Pachen, 2019-20
• “Autonomy Zero”- Biennale Nemo, Cité international des Arts Paris, 2019
• „Human Aspect“ – WRO Biennale, Four domes pavillion, Wroclaw, 2019
• „Polare Räume“ – Next Level Festival, NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, 2018
• “ARTBOTS” – Patchlab Festival, Małopolska Garden of Arts, Krakow, 2018
• “CYNETART Award Nominated”, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden, 2018
• “Singularity Now”, Athens Digital Art Festival, Concert Hall, Athens, 2018
• “A Future of Possibilities” – Cairotronica, Palace of Arts – Cairo Opera House Complex, Cairo, 2018
• „International Research Conference Robophilosophy 2018“, Universität Wien – Aarhus university, Viena, 2018
• „31. Stuttgarter Filmwinter – Wellcome to the Fluffy Filterbuble“, Stadtmuseum, Stuttgart, 2018
• „10 Jahr Karin-Abt-Straubinger-Stiftung – Kunst ist schön… die dritte“, U14 Halle 14 Spinnerei, Leipzig, 2017
• „10 Jahr Karin-Abt-Straubinger-Stiftung – Kunst ist schön… die zweite“, Forum Kunst, Rottweil, 2017
• „10 Jahr Karin-Abt-Straubinger-Stiftung – Kunst ist schön und macht freude, Galerie Abtart, Stuttgart, 2017
• „30. EMAF – Push“, Kunsthalle, Osnabrück, 2017
• „33. Kassler Dokfest – Monitoring“, Kulturbahnhof Südflüge, Kassel, 2016
• „Ars Electronica – LabOratorium“, Postcity, Linz, 2016
• „The Concrete Turn“, Galerie in der Fabrik, Nürtingen, 2016
• „STILL, STILL, STILL, jeder wie er will…“, Galerie Merkle, Stuttgart, 2015
• „B-Seite“, Zeitraumexit, Mannheim, 2015
• “10th Athens Video Art Festival”,, Athens, 2014
• „Maschinen für Sonderkulturen“, Eine Analepse Magnetelektrischer Kraftmaschinen, Kill-Galerie, Fellbach, 2014
• „What happend to the Underground – 27. Stuttgarter Filmwinter“, Kulturniederlassung Südwest, Stuttgart, 2014
• „FKX at the UoT“, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2013
• „Trial & Error“, Shedhalle Tübingen, Tübingen, 2013
• „Accrochage – Kleines Format“, Galerie Merkle, Stuttgart, 2013
• „Video als Raum, Objekt und Aktion“, Fluctuating Images, Stuttgart, 2008 and Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, 2008