Nina Staehli

Nina Staehli (born 30 August 1961 in Zug) is a Swiss artist and filmmaker based in Mendrisio (Switzerland). She went to theatre and acting school 'il cenacolo' of Fausto Costantini in Rome (1983-85), attended the University of the Arts in Zurich (1988-92), and the "Instiuto d. Arte G. Ballardini" institute of art in Faenza (1997-98). Staehli creates a complex and independent oeuvre between film, sculptures, performances, theatre and literature. At first glance, Nina Staehli's short films appear unsettling, sometimes even heavy-hearted. And, on a narrative level, there doesn't seem to be much going on: the films break with all conventions of suspense and plot as the artist shuns any and all knowledge of film norms and rules. What's more, Staehli does not bestow upon her "Big Head" protagonists any form of verbal articulation. And yet, it is precisely this reduced state that inspires the imagination of the audience in her short films. Because for those who engage in the slow river, the forlornness and melancholy of the figures with their big heads and clumsy movements will turn into poetry, and the pace of time will gradually slacken and soften. Out of the minimalistic plot and visual material, each viewer constructs his or her own film that is only enhanced by the soundtrack made for the film and forms an artistic quality of its own. And, given that the "Big Head" characters make do without any language, the soundtrack becomes the individual characters' idiosyncratic means of expression.