Online Exhibition #6 Daniela Wolfer

Daniela Wolfer’s artistic work is deeply influenced by her life and career as a DJ. During her studies in abstract painting at the art academy in Stuttgart, she began working as a DJ in 1994 in order to directly engage with the rapidly evolving club culture. Instead of following a purely academic artistic path, she immersed herself in nightlife and the Hip Hop scene, developing a visual language shaped by youth culture of the 1990s and the social realities of her generation. In her performances as “DJ Dirty Daniela” and “EVEN D.”, Wolfer’s musical repertoire ranges from Hip Hop, Urban Music, Deep House, and Tech House to Electronic Music. Her openness to different styles is also reflected in the online show, which presents fifteen CD cover paintings—each accompanied by its own soundtrack. Daniela uses sampling as a working method in both fields: By composing new artworks with still existing fragments, the spectator may discover references to iconic album covers from music history, such as those of Funkadelic or Drake, as well as to the artist’s musical companions, such as DJ Friction and DJ Thomilla. Her pictorial collages include stereotypical elements of Hip Hop culture, everyday and now largely forgotten working tools of a DJ such as cables, speakers, vinyl records, and tape recorders, as well as light effects of the night and surrealistic features. This artistic approach is also reflected in the soundtracks of the respective covers, which are sampled and re-arranged, presenting well-known songs, live recordings of Daniela’s gigs, mix CDs by DJ Schowi (Massive Töne), DJ Emilio and the artist herself, as well as newly produced music by DJ Blomtwist, DJ Friction (Freundeskreis), DJ Thomilla (Turntablerockers), and Technobeton. . Following a principle of crossover and visual composition, Daniela Wolfer’s work resists clear categorization. The exhibition title “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow” references the 1970 Funkadelic album and reflects her approach of working across genres, media, and cultural boundaries.