I first heard Michael von Hintzenstern perform together with his brother Matthias von Hintzenstern, Mario Peter, and Wigbert Schwabe at their Stockhausen concert in my privately run Galerie im Flur in Erfurt on February 13, 1981. Shortly afterward, the gallery was "liquidated" by the Stasi. The concert was like a revelation for me. The musicians, whom Michael v. H. later brought together as the group EFIM, which still exists today, played intuitive music that transported me—as if in a vision—to the plateau of a Mexican mountain. It was empty and yet filled with a milky white air, a place I recognized as the origin, where all creation seemed possible.
From that moment on, I became aware of the potential of intuitive processes, which I later applied in the artists' group I founded, particularly in films and performance art. Each woman played herself into her role—using a mask, a text, a musical instrument, or specific movements—without extensive prior coordination, but with an inner sense of trust and connection. The action developed spontaneously and individually, yet in the end, it appeared as if guided by an invisible law, forming a unified whole. In a dictatorship designed to unsettle, isolate, and push its citizens to despair or even suicide, this group experience of solidarity became something the Stasi could not decipher.
The power of intuitive music does not remain confined to the musicians; it draws in the audience’s energy, weaving it into the performance and reflecting it back. Since 2001, I have participated in EFIM’s spectacular performances with texts, films, or action painting. Over time, their interplay has grown increasingly refined. Almost every year, I write a new text for these often one-time performances. Our collaboration is intuitive—shortly before going on stage, we create a rough plan, which unfolds in the moment.

Gabriele Stötzer, March 7, 2025