Grammar of calculated ambiguity

Gabriela Löffel works primarily with time-based media, focusing on the grey zones of political and financial structures, as well as the infrastructures that sustain them. Her practice involves shifting and translating documented immediacy into the realms of interpretation and staged re-enactment – strategies that characterise her working process. This approach often results in long-term projects that open up critical spaces for questioning and introduce breaks in linear narratives. She is particularly interested in the obliqueness of subject and context. It is within this gap – brought about by her unique method of engaging with her subjects – that her work fosters reflection on how we construct meaning in a world increasingly shaped by the fragmentation of knowledge.

“Grammar of Calculated Ambiguity is a video installation based on an audio recording I made two weeks after the publication of the Pandora Papers 1,” Löffel explains. “It was captured during a conference dedicated to the offshore finance industry. The event was closed to the public and intended exclusively for professionals in the financial services sector – trustees, lawyers, wealth managers – insiders often regarded as the architects of offshore financial structures. The financial industry bears a significant share of responsibility for pressing global emergencies, including climate change and the dramatic rise in inequality. Examining the structures and infrastructures underpinning this industry is at the heart of this project.”