Using the Super8 camera as my artistic instrument I discovered that traditional montage was difficult. Because of the tiny individual photogram, exact invisible cutting and editing is almost impossible. So I started in-camera editing. Pushing and releasing the button, one shot after another, I preserve the chronology of making the film in the camera and in my imagination, yet deliberately use the discontinuity of the medium.
I always film in correspondence with the subject matter, concentrated, in one gesture, responding to what I experience in a time and place, surprising what happens and feeling surprised. Each film reflects the process of its construction and finds a rhythm of its own.
When I film I look at things with greater care, or they look at me, I can see them as if they were new and their signification not yet defined. This frees my perception and inspiration to catch the ephemeral. My short films are silent. What matters is the pace of the images, visualising both inherent and felt rhythms, making ‘music for the eyes’.
For every screening I create a special programme (or part of a programme), similar to how one selects poems for a book, images for an exhibition or pieces of music and songs for a concert.
Meanwhile a large body of work has grown that I can draw on for potentially endless variations. The interplay of different short films evokes all kind of correspondences and contrasts.
I like the freedom and openness to create new connections between my films. Thus the work remains open to changes in reading and interpretation.
Super8 is a fragile format. There is always a nomadic and performative aspect to my projections.
The projector is usually set up in the room, its sound accompanying the silent films. Mostly I project them myself in the middle of the audience. In this way, the projection itself becomes transparent and the screening a unique experience.
Due to the loss of print stock for Super8 reversal originals I also show 16mm blow-ups of my films.

Helga Fanderl

Super8

IM JARDIN DU LUXEMBOURG
In the Jardin du Luxembourg

WASSERSKULPTUR
Water Sculpture

THEOS PFIRSICHE
Theo’s Peaches

IM DUNST
In the Haze

ZOOBILDER
Zoo Images

BRUNNEN
Fountain

MÄDCHEN
Girls

APFELERNTE
Apple Harvest

GESPIEGELT
Mirrored

BLÜTENBAUM
Flowering Tree

IMKERSCHULE 
School of Beekeepers

PLEINAIR-FOTOS
Plein-Air Photos

MIMOSEN IM WIND
Mimosas in the Wind

16MM BLOW UPS

THE COLOR RUN*

MONA LISA*

LÖWENKOPFBRUNNEN*
Fountain with a Lion’s Head

GASOMETER II*

SCHLITTENFAHREN*
Sledging

IM SCHNEE*
In the Snow

LEOPARD

LAUB
Leaves

ROST
Rust

CONTAINER
Containers

GLÄSER
Glasses

GELBE BLÄTTER
Yellow Leaves

STROM
Stream