Celine Berger — Division of Labour

Celine Berger (b, 1972) FR

Céline Berger lives and works in Cologne, Germany. Trained in physics and material sciences, she worked for various international microelectronic companies as a production and project engineer from 1997 to 2008. She graduated from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne in 2012 and has been a resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, in 2012-13. She received the Nam June Paik Newcomer Award in 2012.

Previous exhibitions include: Temporary Gallery, Cologne, DE, 2018 & 2014; Karlin studio, Prague CZ, 2018; Weltkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf, 2016; Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, DE, 2014; Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, NL, 2014; Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL, 2012-2013; Beursschouwburg, Brussels, 2013; Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, DE 2013-2011; UCLA New Wight Biennial 2012, LA US; Generali Deutschland Holding AG, Cologne, DE, 2011.

Art Brussels 2024 (Celine Berger, Edward Clydesdale Thomson, Priscila Fernandes)

Dreaming Upon a White Stone, Division of labour, Salford

And I measure (2023)
Experimental short film, 4K, Stereo or 5.1, 14:40 min

AND I MEASURE deals with human-centered scientific experiments, exploring the concept of measurement when applied to ourselves. Our body parts, cleaned, fixed, connected, become an inexhaustible source of data. But why do we measure? What do we feel when we measure? This experimental short film reflects on this introspective scientific gaze in search of the elusive, of a hidden world behind the very gesture of measurement. Taking root in the metrological strategies of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, the work has been produced in the frame of its artist in residence program „Inhabit“ and supported by a NEUSTART KULTUR Grant.

OVERWORK (2025)
Short film: HD, colors, stereo, 11 min

The found-footage short film OVERWORK offers a personal reinterpretation of a collection of instructional 16mm films from the German Employment Agency.
Using 16 mm format from the 1970s to the 1990s, the Employment Agency of the FRG produced numerous short films aimed at representing various occupations. In great detail, each of these films documents a specific profession: textile machine operator, forest technician, hospital operations technician, audiometry assistant, precision engineer, ceramic model maker, and so on.

The representation of the working world in the original footage appears coherent and straightforward. The voice-over perfectly aligns with the image—what you hear is what is shown on screen. Departing from these unambiguous routines, OVERWORK amplifies repetitive actions and processes to bring to the surface underlying dimensions of work, where boredom and violence are in constant tension to the point of exhaustion.

Communal thread (series, 2024)
sublimation print on felt fabric, flax threads

The five textile works of the "Communal Thread" serie are based on archive photographs of the commune in which I grew up. These images, printed on felt and meticulously sliced into thin strips, underwent a laborious process of reconstitution through repeated knotting. While the photographs captured moments of joy — such as large gatherings, communal dances, and children games — the strips, held together by knots, present a blurred image. Recognizable only from a distance, the scenes progressively disintegrate into fragments as one approaches.

Communal thread (series, 2024)
sublimation print on felt fabric, flax threads

Every morning, every day (2022)
Video Installation : 2 HD Channels, stereo sound, loop, 10:30 mims

The 2-channel video installation follows the morning routine of a group of men with severe autism spectrum disorders. Every day begins with breakfast together, then it's off to work in the workshop. Routine is the be-all and end-all of her life. One meticulous ritual follows the other and yet: every day is different. A poetical observation of the smallest daily gestures of residents and caregivers.
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The work has been created during a residency in the municipal Center for People with Disabilities "Dr. Dormagen-Guffanti" in Cologne, Germany.

Cutting Edges (2021)
Short Film, HD, Stereo, 14:30 min

An exploration of co-working spaces as non-places.
Produced during a residency "Zu Gast bei Urbane Künste Ruhr".

Screenings:
- 67. international short film festival Oberhausen.
- Experiments in Cinema , Albuquerque, USA, 1-22 May 2021 (online)
- Kino Siemensstadt: der Komplex Arbeit, Programm #4, 22-29 May 2021 (online)
- Blicke, Filmfestival des Ruhrgebiets, October 2021
- Working Title Film Festival, Vincenza, Italy, May 2022

Reevaluations (2021)
Artist book, Edition of 7 + 4AP, manually annotated and signed

Workers are evaluated. This is nothing new. Workers were evaluated in the past. Evaluation strategies have just got more sophisticated over the decades, like the management systems they are embedded in.

An evaluation strategy is a tool. Like any other tool, it has the strong tendency to get out of hand. Our tools have a life of their own. They proliferate, branch out into new territories, invade our physical and mental spaces. We create them to serve us, yet they end up enslaving us.

How can we know that a tool has got out of hand?
We need to carefully look at records, gather evidence, analyze data.
And then we need a proper evaluation strategy: a tool, that is, another tool, a new one.

Realized thanks to:
Corona immediate help programm of the region NRW
"Soft Power" Banff residency, November 2020

Rework (2021)

Rework (2021)
Woven print3 Pigment prints on awagami kozo thin natural paper, 42x59,4cm, millimeter paper, woven Unique + 1AP

Realized thanks to: Corona immediate help programm of the region NRW
and "Soft Power" Banff residency, November 2020

No third Man (2019)

Solo show, Offshore wind farm Nordsee Ost, Helgoland, Germany 4. Febr. - 3. March 2019 The show "No third man" realized at the Offshore Wind farm Nord See Ost in 2019 was the first part of my residency „Visit“ granted by the innogy foundation.

Team (Theory/Practice): Sculpture in two parts
Wind farm maintenance workers must wear fall arresting devices when climbing on offshore constructions. They use pipe hooks to secure themselves to the structures. For safety reasons, each mission is carried out by a team of three people. There is a special and very close relationship within such a team. Accidents can quickly have fatal consequences. The two-part sculpture "TEAM (theory / practice)" is dedicated to this specific team structure. The “Theory” part, made from three original aluminum pipe hooks, was placed in the control room on the Helgoland island, the other, made of glass, “Practice”, has been located in the team room of the transformer station on the high seas.

No third Man (2019)

No third Man (2019)

Higly invisible: sleeping pillow
The wind farm is reached by CTV (Crew Transfer Vessel). The journey from Helgoland takes 1h30 and starts around 6:00 in the morning. The workers continue to sleep in the boat and wake up when the first wind turbines appear. In order to honor this moment of sleep , I made “high visibility” sleeping pillows for the workers.

Mission (2012)
Sculpture, glased ceramics, 41x25x6,5 cm (16,1x9,8x2,5 in)

Moebius strip with mission statement "We continually exceed our customers' increasing expectations" Printed on a contorted circle the last words of this mission statement meet the starting point.

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