Axelle Stiefel, The Operator, 2016. Performance
Codex Operator
2018. Performance
A change of speed
a change of style
a change of tongue
gotta be made
step outside
jump into
go within
backwards
that coat
what’s fitting in?
can it be filling
a pocket?
a stone shaped by
a million years
will give thirst
a mountain river
flooded mouth
what’s these fishes
swimmin in a mall
tongue vibrate against spitting mices
a thousand, among damp linen
foggy cottons
synthetic skins
‘longside bag of bones
blankety blanks and sheets of silk
overheard tearing
sliding sound
permeable voices
running ‘round
expelling particles
of woven fabrics
a needle and thread
will serve
a vehicle, for whom may adjust
to transportation
pale screens ruined
by frenetic use
collected juice
made tint
dyeing cloth
revealing blue
the dot is an egg is a mouse
green is
over the edge
of mutating spheres
forced red colour
enter a battle
into sensing fields
a touch of will
a pressure of ink
astonishing borders
vanishing in
fold material
clear spot
emerging figures
roll and wrapped
dragged further
beyond
slippery traces
wishful thinking
of disarray
gun’s sweat
wiped away
swallowed by kerchief
twisted wrist
disclose a fist
Bio
My work is cinematic and performative. When the exhibition is not the medium itself, I use my own voice – amplified – as another channel to address the forces of production at stake in a moment of attention. Language is a primary material. Voice is the point of singularization of meaning. Machines are the vehicles. A matter of tuning.
Axelle Stiefel is a swiss artist from Lausanne, born in 1988. Former resident at Wiels Center for Contemporary Art, Brussels in 2013, she was recently hosted at Forde, Geneva for a solo show. 2016-2017 She was a visiting lecturer at the ENSAPC Paris-Cergy where she led a workshop called « Reading in Things », initiated by Federico Nicolao, with a focus on multiple aspects of the practice of reading and an emphasis on female authors.