This Suffocating Now

At a time when elements of fascisation are becoming ever more apparent, ever more pervasive, artist Vika Kirchenbauer takes a personal look at what is in the air in in present-day Germany. This Suffocating Now witnesses the historical present as a condition marked by vectors of violence that have continuously and habitually existed, and puts its focus on the fault lines that have most explicitly exposed the illiberal underbelly of a liberal state and society in recent years: Palestine solidarity as well as queer and trans rights. Drawing from a vast variety of source material, the 16-minute essay film flows in an uneven rhythm through still and moving imagery. Observations from the past three years – such as the increased police presence and recurring police violence, which Kirchenbauer captures from her balcony in Berlin – are viewed within a broader German historical framework. Over mundane images of her home improvement efforts, the artist problematises her own social ascent to becoming a university professor and civil servant. This personal reflection serves as an entry point to addressing the intimate relation between state and contemporary art in the German cultural system as a whole.

Vika Kirchenbauer is an artist, writer and music producer living in Berlin. Comprehensive solo exhibitions of her work have been presented at institutions including the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen in Düsseldorf and the Kunstverein Kevin Space in Vienna. Her videos have also been exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, the Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, among others. Two monographs combining the artistic and theoretical strands of her practice have been published by Mousse Publishing. After Untitled Sequence of Gaps (2020) this is her second participation in Forum Expanded.

Director Vika Kirchenbauer. Screenplay Vika Kirchenbauer. Cinematography Vika Kirchenbauer. Editing Vika Kirchenbauer. Music COOL FOR YOU. Sound Design Vika Kirchenbauer. Producer Vika Kirchenbauer. Executive Producer Vika Kirchenbauer. Production company Vika Kirchenbauer (Berlin, Germany).

Films: 2012: Like Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship. 2014: Please Relax Now. 2015: You Are Boring!, She Whose Blood Is Clotting in My Underwear. 2017: Welcome Address. 2018: The Island of Perpetual Tickling. 2020: Untitled Sequence of Gaps (Forum Expanded 2020). 2021: The Capacity for Adequate Anger. 2024: Compassion and Inconvenience. 2026: This Suffocating Now.