Radio Papesse

Lost Origins by Gabi Schaffner is a journey along the subtle outlines of a fragmented map made up of sounds, signals, songs, chimes and rhythms. From a Buddhist monastery to bird calls to wandering drones, this piece is all about tracking and breaking the kinship between natural and man-made frequencies. The curtain of time, woven from the thin fabric of oblivion, is sewn together by bumblebees and sewing machines alike, and its hem is embroidered with the song of cicadas and the sound of one hand clapping.

Recordings and composition: Gabi Schaffner 2021
Occasional percussive elements: FX Schroed ‘Air
Folk song: Courtesy / by Romina Casile, 2018 (rominacasile.com)

Gabi Schaffner works as an interdisciplinary sound artist and curator.
Her artistic practice is determined by the methods of poetic ethnography in connection with fluxus-like mise-en-scènes, radio-making and sound art performances. Much of her work originates from journeys. Next to her radiophonic productions, Schaffner creates speculative musical genres and inserts them into music history in order to raise awareness for cultural, gender-related and/or geographical conditions.

Schaffner has been realising award-winning productions with Deutschlandfunk Kultur, radia.fm, Hessian Cultural Radio and ABC Australia. Since 2012 she maintains DATSCHA RADIO, a nomadic transmission project that links the medium of radio to current ecological issues.