Stefan Roloff (born 1953 Berlin) is a painter, video artist and filmmaker, living and working in New York and Berlin. He is a pioneer of digital video and photography.
In 1984, Stefan Roloff was invited to experiment on prototypes of digital video and imaging computers at the New York Institute of Technology, where he pioneered the blending of painting with digital media. On their Images 2 system he created Big Fire, the first digital video done by an artist. Also at NYIT, he developed Moving Painting, a process in which a painting is set in motion by filming each stage that it passes through during its creation. He received international recognition for this concept and collaborated with musicians Suicide, Martin Rev, Andrew Cyrille and Peter Gabriel, with whom he produced FACE, the prototype for his video Sledgehammer, as well as the video ZAAR, for Gabriel's album Passion. In 1989, Roloff received a Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts for his digital work.
He has since produced and directed numerous videos and two documentary films. Each film is accompanied by an art installation, providing a three-dimensional space which the viewers can enter for a direct experience of the subject matter. From 1989 to 1999, he worked on his first documentary film “Seeds”. Traveling through remote areas of West Virginia, he followed the story of a 22- year old woman who committed suicide in 1981 in an isolation cell at the State Prison for Women. The film was combined with an installation, “Pence Springs Resort”, a life-size three-dimensional photographic rendering of the isolation cell which the viewers could physically enter. It was shown at Threadwaxing Space in New York in 1995.
In 1997 he began to work on his second documentary film The Red Orchestra, a portrait of his late father, Helmut Roloff, a resistance fighter against the Nazis. It was nominated for best foreign film 2005 by the US Women Critics Circle. For the first time it told the true story of the “Red Orchestra”, a resistance group that was slandered during the cold war by secret services and historians as a Communist spy network. For this film, Stefan Roloff received a 2002 New York City Media Arts grant from the Jerome Foundation. He also wrote a book in German, “Die Rote Kapelle”, published by Ullstein in 2002. In 2015, through an initiative by Stefan Roloff, Gustin Reichbach and Ellen Meyers, The Red Orchestra was incorporated into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's permanent exhibition. In addition, Roloff's source interviews with members of the Red Orchestra are accessible on the HMM's database.
Recently, Stefan Roloff has produced 60 interviews with former citizens of the GDR which provide an detailed look at life behind the Iron Curtain. He also collaborates with Rock musician Martin Rev on an audiovisual live concept, based on Roloff's visuals and Rev's music. Roloff's video installation "Life in the Death Zone" is permanently installed at Villa Schoningen.
Lindenhotel, permanent video installation, Lindenstrasse 54, Potsdam, Germany (2014)
Chairing the Meeting, Kunsthalle Brennabor, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany (2014)
The Kindness of Strangers, Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK (2014)
Life in the Death Zone, permanent video installation, Villa Schoningen, Potsdam, Germany (2013)
Assimilating into Catastrophe, Kulturpark, Berlin (2012)
4 Video Projections, Ninna-ji, Kyoto, Japan (2011)
Lindenhotel – Bob B. at Rencontres Internationals, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Haus der Kulturen, Berlin (2010 / 2011)
XVII Rohkunstbau, Schloss Marquardt, Germany (2010)
Lindenhotel, Lindenstr. 54, Potsdam, Germany (2010)
Layers, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany (2009)
Stefan Roloff, Pierogi Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany (2008)
Prinz Albrecht Str. 8, Altes Rathaus, Potsdam, Germany (2007)
Eins Plus Eins, SPI Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany (2005)
Altered States, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche|Kunsthalle Osnabruck, Germany (2004)
So Into You, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany (2003)
When 6 Is 9, Deutsch Amerikanisches Institut in Saarbrucken, Tubingen, Nurnberg, Germany (2001/2002)
When 6 Is 9, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany (1999)
Pence Springs Resort, Thread Waxing Space, NYC, USA (1995)
Our Daily Planet, Casa de Cultura Basauri, Bilbao, Spain (1992)
Stefan Roloff. 1982-1992,The Seed Hall, Tokyo, Japan (1992)
Niveles, Palau Solleric, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (1991)
Methamorphosis, Casa de Cultura Laura Alvim, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (1990)
Still Life and Methamorphosis,Evan Janis Fine Art, NYC, USA (1990)
Photomorphosis, Montgomery College, Maryland, USA (1990)
Moving Painting, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (1989)
Paper Murals, Fashion Moda, NYC, USA (1983)
Gedankengut in Ol und Gummi, Schlos Gartow, Gartow, Germany (1982)
2004: Play - Peter Gabriel
1992: all about US - Peter Gabriel
1990: Black Box - Suicide
2015 Double Trouble - When 6 is 9 Productions
2011 Das Schweigen - When 6 is 9 Productions
2010 Lindenhotel - When 6 is 9 Productions
2009 Let There be Light - When 6 is 9 Productions, Rohkunstbau
2007 Memory Breakdown - When 6 is 9 Productions, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
2004 Die Rote Kapelle (The Red Orchestra) - ZDF, When 6 is 9 Productions, Hybrid Films, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
1999 Cabezera Raquel - Herve Hachuel
1999 Seeds - Audra Allen, Stefan Roloff, Soundtrack: Peter Gordon
1997 Mirage - When 6 is 9 Productions, WW Productions, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
1997 Liquid - When 6 is 9 Productions, WW Productions, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
1995 The Year of the Stone - Audra Allen, Stefan Roloff
1993 Meditation in the Roaring Twenties - Eva Muller, When 6 is 9 Productions
1992 What's Going on? - Stageways Productions, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
1992 The Visit -REBO High Definition Studio, Stefan Roloff, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
1989 Dominic Christ - Video, Suicide LP "A Way of Life", When 6 is 9 Productions
1989 Surrender - Video, Suicide LP "A Way of Life", When 6 is 9 Productions
1989 ZAAR - Video, Peter Gabriel LP "Passion"
1989 Fireball - Stefan Roloff, Eric Spiegel, Soundtrack: Jim O’Rourke
1989 Still Life- When 6 is 9 Productions, Eric Spiegel, Soundtrack: Martin Rev
1987 Lunch - When 6 is 9 Productions, Eric Spiegel
1987 Leben und Tod von Ludwig van Beethoven - When 6 is 9 Productions, Soundtrack: Joe Robiller
1987 The Room Mate, When 6 is 9 Productions, Soundtrack: Walter Steding
1985 Big Fire - NYIT, Stefan Roloff, Soundtrack: Andrew Cyrille
1984 The Face - NYIT, Peter Gabriel, Stefan Roloff
1980 Fopo Fever - Stefan Roloff, Soundtrack: Anja Kiessling, Leo Lehr, Kurt Herkenberg
1978 Die Dicke - Stefan Roloff, Soundtrack: Joe Robiller, Anja Kiessling, Leo Lehr
Linden Hotel, Potsdam Museum and Fordergemeinschaft Lindenstrasse 54 (2010)
XVII Rohkunstbau', Berlin (2010), ISBN 978-3-89930-306-3
Stefan Roloff, Videos 1978–2008, Galerie Deschler, Berlin (2008), ISBN 3-00-026885-5
Stefan Roloff: Veranderte Zustande/Altered States, Rasch Verlag, Bramsche (2004), ISBN 3-89946-019-7
Rote Kapelle. Die Widerstandsgruppe im Dritten Reich und die Geschichte Helmut Roloffs., Econ Ullstein List Verlag, Munchen (2002), ISBN 3-550-07543-X
When 6 Is 9, Galerie Deschler, Berlin (2001)
Volume Three, Pierogi Press, New York (1999)
Transsexual Expres, Bilboarte, Bilbao (1998)
Pence Springs Resort, Thread Waxing Space, New York (1995)
Nuestro Planeta Cotidiano, Casa de Cultura Basauri, Bilbao (1992)
Stefan Roloff, Works, 1982-92 The Seed Hall, Tokyo(1992)
Atlas, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Canada (1990)
The Photography of Invention, National Museum of American Art, Washington DC (1989)
Dritte Videonale, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn (1988)
The Second Emerging Expression Biennial, Bronx Museum, New York (1988)
Stefan Roloff, Ausstellungen Schinckestrase, Berlin (1987)
Digital Visions, Everson Museum, New York (1987)
Zweite Videonale, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn (1986)
Stefan Roloff, Art Palace, New York (1984)
Internationales Plastik Symposium, Stadtisches Museum Lindau, Lindau (1983)
Dimensionen des Plastischen, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin (1981)
Gedankengut in Ol und Gummi, Schlos Gartow, Gartow (1981)
