SALONE DEL MOBILE Un'isola verde nel quartiere Isola
(...) Da segnalare, alla Galerie Vernon, la video artista svizzera Katja Loher con il suo "Why do bees leave?" (Perché le api fuggono?). E' un mondo magico il suo che parla di un mondo sovraffollato dove la società collassa, ma anche di un mondo leggero dove gli uccelli volano alti nel cielo e dove le api cercano di sopravvivere. I filmati vengon proiettati su grandi palloni appesi al soffitto (nella foto) che invitano ad entrare dentro le scene presentate con coreografie molto curate. Katja Loher è una giovane donna energica dal grande sorriso. Le sue opere fanno ormai parte di grandi collezioni museali e private. Vale la pena andare alla Green Island per vederle. E per conoscerla.
Nicoletta Pennati: SALONE DEL MOBILE Un'isola verde nel quartiere Isola, in Donna Moderna, April 2011, Milan.

Play at Salone 2011
(…)Plastic planets and mutating species within Swiss video artist Katja Loher´s "Why Did the Bees Leave?" installation provide a behind the scenes look at the lives of bees and Milanese. In an empty, open interior of a vacated house on the tour of Green Island 2011 (Fuori Salone Isola), presented by Galerie Vernon, Prague, the mutated living room installation involves fairy-tale-like synchronized dance performance art and three-dimensional forms projected within their own worlds - hidden in tiny round glass sculptures like crystal balls with tiny movies playing inside, lined up on a shelf or spread onto the surface of fragile, large, inflatable weather balloons floating high in the space.
Loher's dancers pantomime the virtual life of bees, an unknown societal structure co-existing with ours, highlighting the theme of the human condition as seen from a larger perspective.
Jade Dressler and Paul Clemence: Play at Salone 2011, in Metropolis P/O/V, April 18, 2011.

And now: Solo!
A fair that follows the tradition of Zurich, not Basel. "Kunst", Zurich's International Fair for Contemporary Art, appears surprisingly cheerful at times.
(...) The exhibition of the ZKB Art Award between the two main halls has developed into the fair's de facto backbone. The principle of single-holder booths found here is catching on among the exhibitors. Roughly ten galleries have decided to specifically dedicate a booth to a single position. The Andres Thalmann Gallery from Zurich, for example, booked an entire compartment for the Zurich native Katja Loher. It pays to take a peek through her "looking glass": Her colorful videos, which show choreographed dancers forming words that evolve into existential questions, can be seen when looking closely at the bottom of drinking glasses. Hard to miss, on the other hand, are huge weather balloons displaying videos, which may even occasionally transform them into gigantic eyeballs.
Daniel Morgenthaler: And now: Solo!, ZÜRITIPP, Tagesanzeiger, Arts, Nov.15th, 2010.
hich may even occasionally transform them into gigantic eyeballs.
Planet X
On my last visit to "Fresh paint" art fair, I almost missed Katja Loher's video work. It was hanging onto a narrow piece of a side wall which not at all gave it the respect it deserves. However, once I noticed it, I couldn't take my eyes off two colorful plastic bubbles through which popped out couple of tiny framed videos. The clips showed images of different figures trapped in a mysterious world built by the artist. The special camera angle gave a unique and refreshing aspect to the occurrence.
It was just a taste. As I visited Loher's website, where she displays what she calls "Miniverses" or "Videoplanet", I discovered an artist full of imagination and inspiration whom translates fantasies, fears, aspirations and criticism on the world and the seemingly objective cold reality, into amazing works of art.
Similar to the revolutionary process that has happened to exhibition space rooms in the last decades, the transition from "conventional" to "alternative" can easily be seen at Loher's videos, as she takes them out of the "black box" and displays them on rounded three-dimensional objects.
The effect created is powerful and disturbing at once; it makes the viewer face an uncomfortable and a bit claustrophobic situation created by the fact that the figures move in a limited space in different constellations and repetitive kaleidoscopic layout.
Loher combines music, dance and visual art in her extraordinary videos. She uses the qualities of each field to create a complete and coherent piece of art. The variance choreography she composes, operates perfectly with the rounded sculptures, while everything is surrounded by electronic sounds that creates a meditative atmosphere and makes the viewer step into the world Loher seeks to create.
Loher's multitasking works reinforces my point of view on contemporary art - a combination of different media, abandonment of familiar boundaries and striving towards the creation of a different reality, whether better or worse than at present, are the tools through which critical and innovative art can be expressed
Lea Vene & Maya Kashevitz: Axiology Aunts, WordPress.com, April 26th, 2011, Tel Aviv.

Jade Dressler and Paul Clemence:Play at Salone 2011, in Metropolis P/O/V, April 18, 2011
Nicoletta Pennati: SALONE DEL MOBILE Un'isola verde nel quartiere Isola, in Donna Moderna, April 2011, Milan
Lea Vene & Maya Kashevitz: Axiology Aunts, WordPress.com, April 26th, 2011, Tel Aviv.
Daniel Morgenthaler: And now: Solo!, ZÜRITIPP, Tagesanzeiger, Arts 15/11/2010
Christian Fluri: The Chase Is On, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. June 2010
Gianna Fabbrizi: Dispenser TV, Interview with the Artist, April 13 2011
Giulia Simi: Videosculptures/Videoplanets, Art and Science in Katja Loher's Practice. In: Digimag #57, September 2010, Milan.
Roberta Bosco, El MAXXI sitúa a Roma en el arte contemporáneo. In: El Pais, Madrid, 24.07.2010.
Antonello Tolve: MAXXI, Una scelta secca: Dietro e dentro lo sguardo di Katja Loher. In: TeKnemedia, ARTKEY Magazine, Torino, 03.06.2010.
Kelly Crow: Rome Turns to the Art of Today. In: The Wall Street Journal Europe, New York, 21.05.2010.
Yida He: Katja Loher's Videoplanets. In: VISION, International Art, Design and Architecture, April Issue, Beijing, April 2010.
BIT, Brooklyn Independent Television, Neighborhood Beat, featured artist.
Robert Elmes: Art Primer, YRB JUMP OFF, June issue, New York, 2008.
Yonina Chan: Verses, Universes, Inverses. In: Imagine, Manila Bulletin, October Issue, 2008.
Robin Blanck: Aufbruch am Ende von Raum und Zeit. In: Schaffhauser Nachrichten, 05.07.2008.
Alison Anderson: High art suspended over Concert Hall, In: Perthshire Advertiser, Perth, 16.05.2008.
Peter Stohler: Katja Loher: Schachfeld. In: Les Jeux sont faits, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal,
May 2007
Dietrich Roeschmann: Katja Loher: The world as a game. In: Regioartline, Art Magazine 15.06.2007, Basel.
Denise Langenegger: Interwiew, DRS1 Radio, National Broadcast Switzerland, New York, 2006.
Press (continued)
Alfred Wüger, Between the Sun and the Oranges, Schaffhauser Nachrichten, November 2006.
Peter Pfister: Honey sucking helicopters and airy dreams, AZ Schaffhausen, November 2006.
Ann-Katrin Harfensteller: The special look through a peephole Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, August 2006.
Muriel Schlup: Hertz neben Herz. In: Berner Kulturagenda, Nr. 07, Bern, April, 2005.
Bea Hauser: Each Video is a Form of Invention. In: AZ Schaffhausen, 10.03.2005.
Olga Horoshilova: Katja Loher, Sylvie Rodriquez: Love.com The State Hermitage Museum. In: Time out St.Petersburg, December 2005.
Andrei Vorobei: Swiss video installations on show at the Hermitage Museum. In: St.Petersburg Times, 23.12.2005.