Gabi Schaffner works as a transdisciplinary artist and researcher across the fields of radio art, composition, and performance. Her practice is determined by the methods of poetic ethnography in connection with Fluxus-like mise-en-scènes.
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. From the 1990s on, she has presented readings, concerts, and performances in many collaborative settings: off-spaces, galleries, gardens, festivals, and online platforms throughout Europe and worldwide.
Schaffner has been realizing award-winning radio plays with Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Hessian Cultural Radio, and ABC Australia. Since 2012 she maintains “Datscha Radio”, a nomadic transmission project that focuses on current ecological issues. As a writer and translator, she has published numerous texts, most recently “RevoltenDiaries” in: Radio Revolten – 30 Days of Radio Art, Spector 2019.
She holds a MA in literature and ethnography and a diploma in visual communication. Her epic 22-hour composition “A Wave Novel” was broadcast as part of the festival RadioArtZone in 2022.
Her most recent activities: Composing about scents, hand-made generative music, and writing more poems.
Gabi Schaffner lives in Berlin.
