3 – 12 May 2013 – Curse of Conformity – video art – Schwarzer Block – BEA/Pferd – Bern (CH)
6 July – 24 August 2013 – Illusions of Safety – video installation – Soon Galerie – Bern (CH)

Michael Spahr creates video collages by animating and manipulating photos and calligraphies. He often plays his media art live on stage in collaboration with musicians, actors, DJs and other artists.

Nippon Nightmare has won the One Minute Award for Best Animation Film at the international One Minute Film and Video Festival in Aarau, Switzerland.

Interview with Michael Spahr about his video art on hobbymap.de (in German).

13 May 2013 – SONIC TRACES – RADIO SHOW – Radio Bern RaBe – Bern (CH)
30 May 2013 – NORIENT MUSIKFILM FESTIVAL – Wiener Festwochen – Wien (Austria)
10 June 2013 – SONIC TRACES – RADIO SHOW – Radio Bern RaBe – Bern (CH)
17 August 2013 – SONIC TRACES – PERFORMANCE – Alpentöne Festival – Altdorf (CH)
13-14 September 2013 – SONIC TRACES – PERFORMANCE – My Sounc of Music Festival – Salzburg (Österreich)
9-12 January 2014 – 5. NORIENT MUSIKFILM FESTIVAL – Bern (CH)

Michael Spahr is part of the independent culture network NORIENT. He is the co-director of the NORIENT MUSIKFILM FESTIVAL and the co-producer of the SONIC TRACES RADIO SHOW.

With Thomas Burkhalter (music anthropologist and journalist) and Simon Grab (music producer) he has created the scientific audio-visual performance SONIC TRACES: FROM THE ARAB WORLD, in which he is performing as video turntableist. In May 2012 norient opened with a new edition of the performance called SONIC TRACES: FROM SWITZERLAND:

20 February 2014 – new production with KOLLEKTIV MYDRIASIS – t.b.a.

Michael Spahr produces interactive video back drops for plays. He either plays his video art live on stage or he creates visual installations. He collaborates regularly with the director Ursina Greuel from Matterhorn Produktionen – for instance on the piece Fondue Oper and lately on Die Mannigfalte:

Welcome to PIMPOLIS:

Bümpliz, a wonderful and notorious neighbourhoood in Switzerland’s capital Bern, is an important source of inspiration for Michael Spahr. This year Bümpliz was turned into the video installation PIMPOLIS. PIMPOLIS has been created by animating 200 photos shot in Bern-West (Bümpliz-Bethlehem-Bottigen). Some press and a radio story (in German).

In 2005 Michael Spahr directed the film "Bümpliz – A Day In Urban Switzerland" (Optickle GmbH). The documentary ist still available on DVD (with English subtitles). Order the movie here.

GLOBOCITY is an ongoing art project by Michael Spahr about the globalized urban world. GLOBOCITY consists of videos, pictures, objects and noises. The following video is a short version of the art piece GLOBOCITY – RISE & FALL.

GLOBOCITY – Rise & Fall from Michael Spahr on Vimeo.

So far GLOBOCITY has been shown as a solo exhibition at the Atelier Worb gallery in Switzerland. The video GLOBOCITY – RISE AND FALL was part of a video group exhibition at the festival PROGNOSE VOOR DE TOEKOMST in Deventer in the Netherlands, at the exhibition PROYECTO CIRCO in Havanna, Cuba, and at the exhibition of the collection Ertle-Ketterer at the Festival IMAGES in Vevey, Switzerland as well as at Château Mercier in Sierre, and MECA, Almeria, Spain.

The Blues Horror Brigade is an alien rock’n'roll performance group. They are attacking the planet Earth with weird artistic and non-violent actions. Michael Spahr has produced and directed several documentaries about that group and is responsible for the extraterrestrial live video art. The whole mockumentary web series CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH THE BLUES HORROR BRIGADE can be watched on troesenbeck.com.

On 1-11-11 the Blues Horror Brigade has released its new CD-DVD-Album “Live on Titan”:

All videos can be watched on Youtube. More info about the performance group can be found here: blueshorrorbriga.de.