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The fictional character INFLUENCA (@realinfluenca), created in 2018 by performance and media artist Barbis Ruder, was initially conceived as a satirical critique of the burgeoning influencer culture and the pressures of self-promotion associated with it. After undergoing an analog-to-digital transformation in 2021, INFLUENCA disappeared without a trace from the physical world and has seemingly been lost in the digital realm ever since.

A journalist begins to trace the path of this retro phenomenon, interviewing contemporaries, the creator herself, and other individuals connected to the formerly purely analog algorithm. Her investigation uncovers growing contradictions and revelations about the precarious working conditions of artists in an era where art and the digital economy are increasingly intertwined.

The supposedly flawless EOS (Emotional Orientation System), developed by the corporate structure Betta Unlimited, was intended to help artists and creatives establish a successful presence in the digital space. In reality, however, it exacerbated pressures to conform to the mechanisms of algorithm-driven platforms and constant visibility. Barbis Ruder has since withdrawn completely from public life as an artist and inventor, while parts of the system have spiraled out of control. Some features appear to be lost in a "cancel-free zone" within the digital realm, while others are manifesting in unexpected and troubling ways.

The connection between the analog and digital worlds seems to have been completely severed. Unexplained phenomena are causing growing concern: Has the social "disease" INFLUENCA—the symbolic byproduct of a life under relentless pressure to self-optimize and monetize—returned in analog form? And if so, in what shape?

  • Barbis Ruder
    Director
    Director, Writer, Music
  • Laura Steinl
    Writer
  • Zeynep Alan
    Writer
  • Asli Kislal
    Writer
  • Barbis Ruder
    Producer
  • Zeynep Alan
    Key Cast
  • Laura Steinl
    Key Cast
  • Peter Kozek
    Key Cast
  • Barbis Ruder
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    KEINE NEUE ARBEIT
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Television, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    42 minutes 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    35,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Austria
  • Country of Filming:
    Austria
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • ORF III
    Distributor
    Country: Austria
    Rights: Free TV
Director Biography - Barbis Ruder

Barbis Ruder, born 1984 in Heidelberg, Germany, lives and works in Vienna. She is a performance and media artist, musician, and cultural manager. After her education in international cultural management at the ISW Business School Freiburg, Germany, and Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, from 2006 to 2009/10, she studied Transmedia Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna with Brigitte Kowanz and graduated in 2015. Thereafter, she built up the Angewandte Performance Lab (APL) together with an interdisciplinary team of artists, where she has been working as a senior artist from 2020-2023. In her promotion 2023 in Artistic Research at the University of Applied Arts Vienna under the guidance of Hans Schabus and together with her research team Phantom Lab, she developed sculptures at the interface of medical and body techniques. She currently teaches in the TransArts - Transdisciplinary Art Department at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.

In both her artistic and research work, the body forms the departure point of her investigations. Drawing on topics such as economy, labour conditions, intimacies, and social conventions, she examines and develops cultural techniques of the body, which find expression in video and sound works, sculptures, as well as spatial installations. Parallel, she continues to work in theatre, writing and directing stage plays, and is part of the glam-pop band What’s Inside a Girl.

Her work has been awarded, among others, the H13 Lower Austria Prize for Performance by Kunstraum Niederoesterreich (2014), the Art Prize of the Archdiocese of Freiburg (2015), and an honourable mention from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (2015). In 2017, she was a scholarship holder of the Baden-Württemberg Arts Foundation, received the START scholarship for media art from the Austrian Federal Chancellery – Arts and Culture Division, and was nominated for the Kardinal König art prize. In 2024 she receives the state's scholarship of the Austrian Federel Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport.

Her performances and sculptural works have been shown at numerous festivals and museums, including Künstlerhaus Wien, Landesgalerie Linz (today’s Francisco Carolinum), Neue Galerie Graz, Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen, at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and Museum der Moderne Salzburg.

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Director Statement

KEINE NEUE ARBEIT is my playful dive into the absurdities of art, technology, and the precarious lives of those navigating between them. Through the satirical lens of a mockumentary, I explore the paradoxes of self-promotion and digital entrapment, where algorithms and authenticity clash. INFLUENCA, a fictional influencer-turned-phenomenon, embodies our struggles with visibility, labor, and identity in a world where art meets the demands of the attention economy. This project is a mischievous yet heartfelt ode to artists, their resilience, and the uncanny spaces where reality blurs into fiction.