Das Wesen der Verwandlung (L'essence de la transformation)

Monika FUNKE STERN

Born 1943 near Cologne. 1962-72, study of philosophy, sociology and journalism in Bonn and Berlin. 1972, doctorate. 1973-85, lecturer in visual communication at the HdK Berlin. Lecturer at the DFFB. Since 1978, freelance film and video-maker. Since 1987, professor of audio-visual design at the FH in Dusseldorf.
Monika Funke Stern has been making videos, films and installations since 1978. She writes her own scripts, has published numerous academic texts on filmic media in the past and present, and has been responsible for the idea, concept and realisation of diverse exhibitions. Her particular signature is a differentiated, complex mixture of pleasure in formal experimentation and committed content, both for her smaller video productions and for her feature films. She combines the dramatic usage of film language with electronic possibilities such as computer animation, cartoons, bluebox etc. in a creative way. Film and video are not only of equal significance in her work, they also complement and pervade each other; in dramaturgy, aesthetics and in technical processing. Her works often appear in the guise of science fiction, but with a reference to reality, e.g. the experimental feature film: AM NÄCHSTEN MORGEN KEHRTE DER MINISTER NICHT AN SEINEN ARBEITSPLATZ ZURÜCK (1986) or MIT FREMDEN AUGEN (1988). Since Funke Stern began work together with Sascha Kadyrov in 1991, she has made feature films whose themes are located within the sphere of intelligent crime stories or erotic films: BROT UND SPIELE (1990), NIKA – THE SHOW MUST GO ON (1993). BANJA (1993) was made as the pilot film for a series "Ladies Late Night Show" suggested by Funke Stern for the TV station RTL.
(Video-Forum, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein 2001)