Stefan Panhans

HOSTEL

* 1967 in Hattingen, GER, lives and works in Berlin, GER, and Hamburg, GER
studied at the Merz Akademie Stuttgart, GER, and the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, Hamburg, GER

»Am I really yellow? Or perhaps green? Am I really black, are you really white? Or blue? Or pink, or perhaps small-minded?« These and many other questions are posed by the five performers in Stefan Panhansʼ four-episode mini-series to the audience or also to the language assistants Siri and Alexa. In the stage-like scenery of a colorful hostel room, the film adaptation of a performance evolves. The protagonists use their real names and contribute their own experiences and opinions.
»What is German? Who determines which words we use? What does the nationality in the passport say about one’s identity? And don’t we long have a passport from Google or eBay? How is our consumption linked to our emotional life? Is it a fee or a ›fear‹? And what must be included in the application to get the job?« A rapid succession of theatrically performed, inner monologues, passages spoken directly to the camera and thus addressing the audience, and jointly recited slogans and mantras raise urgent questions and draw attention to present-day problems. In a collage of images and sounds, visual symbols and spoken text, HOSTEL mainly addresses racism, prejudices, and clichés, digitization and the relationship between humans and technology, as well as consumption. But gender roles and the role of language are also questioned. Recurring elements in the spoken word battle are remarks on acting, art, and casting. The entire piece is staged in the form of a dream by the performer Lisa-Marie Janke. The plot is repeatedly interrupted. News, VIP gossip, and advertising slogans are verbally interspersed, while cuts jumps from multi-bed rooms to shots of various video games. In addition, music or familiar sounds of different technical devices can be heard. The images and sounds appear to be arbitrarily mixed and only make sense again combined in the common message.
In this manner, Panhans uses a dream staged in an exaggerated way to create a fragmented picture of the present that in a bizarre way reflects our zeitgeist. Between everyday racism and the general feeling of being overtaxed by rapid globalization and digitization, his artistic position helps prompt the required discussions and reflections.

Anne Fährmann

Artist Statement
And I fly, fall fall F A A A A A A L L and it rains black basketballs and blackmetal security modules whose sharp-edged shape reminds of thorn crowns, things you buy to top your walls for property protection, some at least 200 inch curved 4K flatscreens of different manufacturers, including the corresponding, ripped open delivery cartons and all the polystyrene parts as well, partly still complete, partly completely crumbled, as light as snowflakes, they fall, together with the semi-transparent plastic bags into which the individual parts are also wrapped, slowly back and forth and every now and then they also drift a little bit upwards, swinging, through the dark which cocoons me and the whole scenery, as light as feathers, or snowflakes ... Aaaachh KICK ASS BABY!, I AM HIGHLY MOTIVATED AND COMMITTED, YES!! BUT I FEEL LIKE LOOSING MY PATIENCE, I FEEL LIKE ... I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I FEEL LIKE!! By the way Siri, Alexa, you’re working here for free, or what exactly is it like?, jalalalala!

Stefan Panhans