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Steff Gruber (born 3 April 1953 in Zurich, Switzerland) is a film director, photographer, author, entrepreneur and telecommunications and internet pioneer.

Steff Gruber

Life

[edit]

Steff Gruber is the son of the painter Hannes Gruber and Annemarie Gruber-Vogelsanger. He grew up in Oberrieden on Lake Zurich. In childhood his greatest ambition was to be a pilot and inventor. He constructed his first radio receiver at the age of eight; when he was fifteen, during the first crewed space flight to the Moon, he succeeded in listening in on the dialogue between the astronauts and ground control. He started to train as an electronics engineer, but abandoned the course before completing it after deciding that he wanted to become a film director.

Up to the present day Steff Gruber has not settled on a choice of career. Instead he combines different professional identities, as an artist, technician and entrepreneur. As a pilot he made round trips in the Swiss Alps, as well as taxi and private flights within Europe till 2022.

Film

[edit]

Both during and after his time at the Juventus Gymnasium [higher secondary school] in Zurich, from 1972 on Gruber attended film lectures and courses given by Dr Martin Schlappner, Viktor Sidler, Georg Radanowicz and Sebastian C. Schröder at the University of Zurich, ETH Zürich [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich] and F+F, Schule für Gestaltung (Zürich) [F+F Zurich College of Design]. During his two-year course at the College of Design he studied with Doris Stauffer, Serge Stauffer, Hansjörg Mattmüller and Peter Jenny. On the side he worked as a commercial photographer and film maker.

In 1974 Gruber studied Mass Media Philosophy for one year at the University of Georgia, where he made the acquaintance of the painter and film director James Herbert. His friendship with Herbert had a lasting effect on him, and remains an influence on his work to the present day.

In the seventies Steff Gruber was one of the first film makers to work in the docudrama genre. He started work on his first long film, the docudrama Moon in Taurus, in Georgia in 1976. It was completed in 1980. The film is thematically focused on codes in relationships and the question why relationships break up. The original version included interviews with Cindy Wilson[1] (The B-52's) and Silver Thin (Andy Warhol Factory); these were however omitted from the final cut. The unconventional form in which the film realised its aims brought it international acclaim. Based on selection from 15 hours of documentary materials, the film linked fiction and documentation in an original way. The film was nominated for an award at the Mannheimer Filmtage [Mannheim Film Festival].

Returning to Switzerland, for a short time he worked as assistant to the American painter Sam Francis, with whom he cooperated on a film about C.G. Jung. As a cameraman he worked for the artist Isa Hesse-Rabinovitch and the film maker Erich Langjahr.

Gruber's second film, Fetish & Dreams, was also created in the USA. He started work on it in 1982. Filmed in New York City, it constitutes a formal and thematic sequel to the one preceding it. In his second long film Gruber also embarked on new paths in a technical sense. With the help of a method he developed himself, the film was first created electronically on video before being copied subsequently to 35 mm, making it the first video transfer in Swiss cinema. Fetish & Dreams was given its first showing in the Locarno International Film Festival competition, winning the prize 'for directorial originality in dealing with documentary and feature film elements'. The film has been shown at various film festivals worldwide. During the work of filming Gruber was introduced by his cameraman Rainer Klausmann to the German film director Werner Herzog. In 1987 the latter invited him to follow the filming work as his film Cobra Verde was created in Ghana. The result was the film Location Africa, which documents the filming work and last cooperative project of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski.

Between 1991 and 1995 Gruber was working on a new film, in which he aimed to investigate the erotic codes in interpersonal relationships. But after he had already filmed more than 120 hours' worth of materials, he felt his theme had been overtaken by media developments and so abandoned it. Thirteen years later, Secret Moments was completed after all. Created exclusively from the original film materials, this is a reflection on the project and the reasons for its initial failure.

Between 2005 and 2011 Gruber worked on the documentary Passion Despair in Moldova. The film premiered at the Gdansk DocFilm Festival 2011.

Gruber's new feature film Fire, Fire, Desire! is a love odyssey in Southeast Asia, which is inspired by Joseph Conrad's short novel Heart of Darkness (1899).

As an author and director Gruber has spent several years working on each of his films – not just because he does practically everything himself, up to and including the design of the film poster, but because he has also been busy on the side with other projects. He has also taught since then at various schools and colleges. From 1994 to 1997, for example, he was a lecturer in Film and Electronic Media at Konstanz University of Applied Sciences.

Photography

[edit]

Gruber has been involved with the subject of photography since 1970. During his time at the F+F Schule für Gestaltung, he worked not only as a filmmaker but also as a press photographer for Keystone Press. In 1977, Gruber examined new photographic techniques to fuse diapositives with instant images. He called this method diatypie. In his art projects SEXTOX.COM and webdesire.com in the 1990s, Gruber used so-called bots, or fully automated processes, to search the internet for sex images, which then became the subject of his art installations in modified form.

Based on his interest in documentaries, Gruber began shooting photo stories in various countries that focused, in particular, on human interest subjects and humanist concerns. He produced many of his photo series over a period of several years, visiting places and people on repeated occasions. One of his long-term reports is the series about the floating villages of Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia.

As a publisher, Steff Gruber founded the independent, non-commercial magazine TOX, an open-format platform for photography and other artistic disciplines. The first edition of the magazine was dedicated to the Swiss artist and filmmaker Jürg Hassler, showcasing photographic work produced primarily during his time as a photographic reporter in Switzerland, France and Italy in the 1960s.

Triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gruber founded the Lumiere.Gallery in April 2020 with the aim of offering photographers a platform through digital photo exhibitions.

Internet

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Steff Gruber was a hacker of the first hour. As an internet pioneer, he was already surfing through cyberspace when it was still based on government, military and university computers. Through his Cultnet association, founded in 1980 for likeminded internet freaks, he was responsible for the birth of the very first Internet service provider (ISP) in Switzerland.[2] The first ‘Public Internet Dialup’, Cultnet.uucp (which later became cultnet.com and cult.net), was originally a service provided free of charge to registered users. The CULTNET e.V. Communication Society for Art & Science, for example, was aimed at establishing a communication medium for film creators in the form of a culture database. But at the time this digital service met with limited success. Thus for ten years Gruber was practically the only beneficiary of his own internet facility. Cultnet differed from subsequent ISPs in its financing and its aims. It was not focused on profit, and at times was dependent on sponsors. 1989 saw the founding of the firm NETLINK AG. However, it proved impossible to procure the necessary venture capital, because none of the potential investors believed in the vision of a comprehensive global internet. In 1991, 180 people were making use of Cultnet as a platform for the exchange of ideas and information. Steff Gruber's firm Pixxel.com meanwhile created ‘internet identities’ by designing domains with memorable names, while at the same time offering related services. For example, in 1995 the first Swiss search engine was launched in the form of web.ch. Gruber has created and sold internet names like MICROMANIA.COM and LOVEIT.COM. And his sale of another domain in the year 2000 made a considerable media impact. When the software giant Microsoft gave the name Xbox to its new gaming console, it was unaware that the internet name XBOX.COM had been taken by Steff Gruber years ago.[3] Gruber has realised many projects through the sale of internet domains.

Steff Gruber's involvement with the internet extends to artistic projects, like the multimedia installation webdesire.com/project02, shown for the first time in 2001 at the Yellow House in Flims in connection with the exhibition Die Schaukel. Eine Ausstellung zu Erotik [The Swing – an Exhibition in Erotics].[4]

High frequency technology

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Steff Gruber was a radio ham in his youth, and still pursues this youthful hobby with great enthusiasm. Under the calling signal HB9FXL[5] he operates a short-wave radio station, which he also uses as a laboratory for trials and experiments. Together with likeminded radio aficionados, he founded the WaveFactory association. This interdisciplinary group is dedicated to the goal of researching into the ionosphere and developing new forms of antennae, serving as an interface between high-tech, art and science. Gruber's expeditions – like that in 2016 to Cambodia, where he also operates a shortwave test transmitter[6] – illustrate his continuing restless search for new experiences and discoveries.

Since 2016 he has also been publishing in the radio amateur journal HBradio, where he regularly contributes articles in the ‘Newcomer’ series.

Companies

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As long ago as 1973 Steff Gruber founded his first company, Steff Gruber Enterprises. As a graphic artist, film maker and technician, he functioned in multiple roles in creating his first authored films, television advertising spots and industrial films, and designing posters and advertisements.

In 1976 Gruber joined René Grossenbacher to found ALIVE Productions GmbH, today a cultural publicity firm under the name of ALIVE Media AG.[7] The company, which he continues to direct at the present day, is the leading distribution firm for cultural publicity in Zurich.[8] Since 2004 the company has also been a partner and shareholder of Lucerne-based Modul AG,[9] the market leader in this field in Central Switzerland.

In 1995 Gruber set up the Erotic Book Store (EBS) in Zurich. This was the first bookshop in Europe to stock everything erotic in print, ranging from sex education books to theoretical manuals, from belles lettres to picture books. It has been going for ten years, meeting with an enthusiastic response from the media.[10][11] In 1998 Gruber, together with the auctioneer Peter Simon, opened the Zurich gallery PAGE, Prints and Graphic Editions, a forum for original graphics.[12]

Today Steff Gruber is managing director of ALIVE Media AG, of the film production company KINO.NET AG[13] and of the internet company media.ch AG, as well as a member of the board of directors of the cultural publicity firm Modul AG and President of WaveFactory.

Photography exhibitions

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  • 2024: State of The World, group exhibition, Gallery 24b, Paris
  • 2024: Chania International Photo Festival, group exhibition, Crete
  • 2024: Reportage Exhibition, The Glasgow Gallery of Photography, group exhibition
  • 2024: Displaced, online exhibition, LUMIERE.GALLERY
  • 2023: Chelsea International Photography Competition, Agora Gallery, New York City, USA
  • 2023: Porträts auf Augenhöhe, HOCH3, Zurich Witikon, Switzerland
  • 2022: photoSchweiz, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2002: Werkschau Bern, group exhibition, Bern, Switzerland
  • 2022: 11th Annual International Photography Competition, group exhibition, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, USA
  • 2022: HOCH3, Zurich Witikon, Switzerland
  • 2022: photoSchweiz, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2022: FOTO WIEN, Café Prückel, Vienna, Austria
  • 2021: photoSchweiz, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2021: PORTRAITS – Hellerau Photography Awards, finalists exhibition at the Technische Sammlungen Dresden, Germany
  • 2020: New Talents, Collective exhibition, PEP – Photographic Exploration Project, Bpart Berlin, Germany
  • 2020: The International Street Photography Exhibition, group exhibition, Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow, Great Britain
  • 2020/21: Cambodian Stills, Online exhibition, LUMIERE.GALLERY
  • 2020: Living on Water, Online exhibition, LUMIERE.GALLERY
  • 2002: SEXTOX #1 Museum Baviera, Zurich (Lamda-Prints), Switzerland
  • 2002: SEXTOX #1 Kunst 2002 Zurich, 8th International Fair for Contemporary Art, Switzerland
  • 1977: Zurich artist in the Züspa Halls (Polaroids), Switzerland
  • 1972: Zurich artist in the Züspa Halls (photographs), Switzerland

Photography Awards

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  • 2025: Silver at the NY Photography Awards
  • 2025: Bronze at the ND Awards
  • 2025: Honorable mention at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie
  • 2025: Shortlisted for the “State of the World” Prix de la Photographie in the Asia category
  • 2025: Bronze at the FotoSlovo Awards
  • 2025: Nomination at the Fine Arts Photography Awards (FAPA)
  • 2025: Gold at the Muse Photography Awards
  • 2024: Platinum at the European Photography Awards
  • 2024: Bronze at the Prix de la Photographie de Paris
  • 2024: Honorable Mention at the MonoVisions Awards
  • 2024: 3rd place and Honorable Mention at the Best Photography Awards (BPA)
  • 2024: Nomination at the Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA)
  • 2024: Platinum and Gold winner at the Muse Awards
  • 2023: Honorable Mention at the Annual Photography Awards
  • 2023: Gold and Silver winner in the Black and White Photography category at the New York Photography Awards
  • 2023: Honorable Mention in the Black & White Photo Contest
  • 2023: Nomination at the World Photo Annual 2023 at the refocus Awards
  • 2023: 3rd place at the ND Awards in the Photo Essay / Story category
  • 2023: Honorable Mention at the International Photo Awards (IPA)
  • 2023: Bronze at the Prix de la Photographie de Paris
  • 2023: Nomination for the People's Vote Award at the reFocus Awards
  • 2023: Honorable Mention at the Monovisions Black & White Photography Awards
  • 2023: Honorable mention at the Esperanza Pertusa International Photography Award
  • 2023: Winner of the online juried solo exhibition for the month of June of the online magazine All About Photo
  • 2023: Gold and silver winner at the Muse Photography Awards
  • 2022: Honorable Mention at the Annual Photography Awards (APA)
  • 2022: Nomination for the People’s Vote Award at the Black & White Photo Contest by reFocus Awards
  • 2022: Bronze at the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA)
  • 2022: Honorable Mention at the Budapest International Foto Awards (bifa) in the category Editorial / Press Photo Essay
  • 2022: Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards (IPA) in the category Editorial / Press Photo Essay / Feature Story
  • 2022: Shortlist at the PX3 "State of the World" photo contest
  • 2022: Bronze at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris in the category Press / Feature Story
  • 2022: Honorable Mentions at the Monovisions Photography Awards in the Photojournalism category
  • 2022: Shortlisted at the Global Photo Awards (GPA) in the People category
  • 2022: Shortlisted at the Helsinki Photo Festival
  • 2022: Nomination at the Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) in the Photojournalism category
  • 2022: Selected to participate in the 4th Annual Chelsea International Photography Competition collective exhibition at the Agora Gallery, New York City
  • 2022: Silver Winner at the Muse Photography Awards in the Black & White - Photojournalism and Editorial Photography - Documentary categories
  • 2022: Honorable Mention at the Annual Photography Awards in the Photojournalism category
  • 2021: Silver Winner at the Tokyo International Foto Awards (Tifa) in the category People - Culture
  • 2021: Gold Winner at the New York Photography Awards in the category Black & White - Religion
  • 2021: Honorable Mention at the Budapest International Foto Awards (Bifa) in the People - Culture category
  • 2021: Honorable Mention at the ND Awards in the Editorial / Documentary category
  • 2021: Honorable Mention at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris in the Portraiture / Culture category
  • 2021: Gold Winner at the Muse Photography Awards in the Black & White – Photojournalism category
  • 2021: Shortlist at the Vienna International Photo Award in the Black & White category
  • 2021: Nominations at the Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) in the Photojournalism category
  • 2021: Nominations at the PHOTO IS LIGHT World Photography Contest
  • 2021: Honorable Mention at the Tokyo International Foto Awards in the Editorial-Photo Essay category
  • 2020: Honorable Mention at the Monochrome Awards in the Photojournalism category
  • 2020: Honorable Mention at the Chromatic Awards in the Photojournalism category
  • 2020: Honorable Mention at the Budapest International Foto Awards (Bifa)
  • 2020: Winner at the Photography Festival Luminous Frames in the Black and White and Landscapes categories
  • 2020: Honorable Mentions at the Monovisions Photography Awards
  • 2020: Five nominations at the Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) in the Photojournalism categories

Filmography

[edit]

1972: Portrait (short film, 16mm, s/w, 12 Min.)

1973: Tourist Information (short experimental film, 16mm, black/white, 14 min.)

1980: Moon in Taurus (docudrama, 35mm, colour, 97 min.)

1984: Wo Männer zu erscheinen haben (1-inch-video, 4 min.)[14]

1985: Fetish & Dreams (docudrama, 35mm, colour, 82 min.)

1987: Location Africa (documentary film, 16mm, colour, 65 min.)

2006: Secret Moments (documentary film, DigiBeta, colour & black/white, 82 min.)

2011: Passion Despair (documentary film, DigiBeta, colour & black/white, 95 min.)

2017: Fire Fire Desire (feature film, DCP, colour & black/white, 125 min.)

Film Awards

[edit]
  • 1980: Quality Prize of the Federal Department of the Interior for Moon in Taurus
  • 1985: Quality Prize of the Federal Department of the Interior for Fetish & Dreams
  • 1985: 'Special mention' at the Locarno International Film Festival for Fetish & Dreams

Publications of Steff Gruber

[edit]
  • Alt und Jung in Asien, publication series, text: Urs Schoettli, Stiftung Vontobel 2021
  • Gruber, Steff, ed., TOX. Jürg Hassler, Zurich 2013. ISBN 978-3-9523784-0-3
  • Gruber, Steff, Location Africa: Gespräche mit Werner Herzog von Steff Gruber, in: Edition Stemmle, ed., Werner Herzog Cobra Verde - Filmbuch, Schaffhausen 1987: 113–137. ISBN 3-7231-0375-8
  • Gruber, Steff, Who ist Steff Gruber HE9GRQ (Mai 1967)?, in: HBradio. Swiss Radio Amateurs, 6/2015: 51–55. ISSN 1662-369X
  • Gruber, Steff, Newcomer I, in: HBradio. Swiss Radio Amateurs, 2/2016: 51–55. ISSN 1662-369X
  • Gruber, Steff, Newcomer II, in: HBradio. Swiss Radio Amateurs, 3/2016: 49–51. ISSN 1662-369X
  • Gruber, Steff, Newcomer III: Propagation – eine Einführung, in: HB radio. Swiss Radio Amateurs, 6/2016: 43–49. ISSN 1662-369X

Bibliography

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References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Steff Gruber

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Steff Gruber is a Swiss photographer, filmmaker, author, and entrepreneur known for his documentary films and pioneering contributions to telecommunications and internet technologies. Born in 1953 and raised in a family of artists near Lake Zurich, Gruber began his career as a press photographer for Keystone Press before transitioning to independent filmmaking in 1978. He gained international recognition for his documentary Location Africa, which chronicles the tumultuous production of a Werner Herzog feature film. His work spans visual storytelling through photography and film alongside entrepreneurial innovation in early digital and communication technologies, reflecting a versatile career that bridges artistic expression and technological advancement. Gruber's photography often draws from his extensive travels and documentary approach, while his filmmaking emphasizes behind-the-scenes insights into creative processes. He has also authored publications related to his experiences in media and technology. His contributions have positioned him as a multidisciplinary figure in Swiss cultural and tech spheres.

Early life and education

Family background and childhood

Steff Gruber was born on 3 April 1953 in Zurich, Switzerland. He is the son of the painter Hannes Gruber and Annemarie Gruber-Vogelsanger. He grew up in Oberrieden on Lake Zurich in a family of artists. From an early age, his father, who worked as a graphic designer responsible for catalogues at Switzerland's largest fashion mail-order company, took him to photo studios where he played with 120 film spools from Hasselblad cameras while surrounded by models. This early exposure led him to associate photography with both technology and eroticism. His parents encouraged him to pursue his interests without letting financial concerns dictate his choices, advice they also passed on to their own children. Growing up in a privileged Swiss environment with minimal financial worries fostered his creative development, and the family's connections to the art world included photographer René Groebli, a friend of his parents who was present during his youth and gifted him one of his works.

Education and early artistic training

Steff Gruber attended Gymnasium Juventus, a higher secondary school in Zurich. Growing up in a family of artists provided a foundational influence on his pursuit of formal artistic studies. Both during and after his time at Gymnasium Juventus, from 1972 onward, Gruber attended film lectures and courses at the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, and the F+F School for Design through 1979. These included sessions led by notable figures such as Martin Schlappner, Viktor Sidler, Georg Radanowicz, Walter Marti, and Sebastian C. Schröder, offering him early exposure to film theory, production techniques, and related artistic practices. During his two-year course of study at the F+F School for Design, Gruber worked with instructors including Doris Stauffer, Serge Stauffer, Hansjörg Mattmüller, and Peter Jenny, who shaped his understanding of design principles, photography, and experimental film. In 1974, he spent a year studying mass media philosophy at the University of Georgia in the United States, where he met painter, filmmaker, and photographer James Herbert; this encounter and friendship exerted a lasting influence on his artistic development.

Photography career

Press photography work

Steff Gruber began his professional career as a press photographer for Keystone Press Agency. This role marked his entry into journalistic photography during the early 1970s, a period when he became intensively involved with both photography and film. His press work at Keystone Press provided foundational experience in capturing news and events through documentary-style imagery. Gruber's early contributions as a press photographer gained recognition for their depth and narrative quality, laying the groundwork for his later explorations in visual storytelling. This journalistic phase overlapped with his initial experiments in photographic techniques and his work as a camera assistant for cinematographers Hans-Peter Roth and Alex Jent, bridging commercial press assignments with emerging artistic interests.

Artistic photography projects

Steff Gruber's artistic photography projects consist of long-term documentary series that focus on human interest stories and communities in Cambodia, characterized by an observational style that emphasizes authentic daily life and social contexts. Building on his early press photography experience, these projects explore themes of resilience, spirituality, and marginalization in Southeast Asia. In 2019, Gruber photographed the Theravada Buddhist Monastery series at a Wat near Kampot in southern Cambodia, documenting monastic life over several days. The images capture the routines of monks, including a selection highlighting morning school lessons for children. Gruber has stated that Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion since the 13th century (except during the Khmer Rouge period), with over 95 percent of the population identifying as Buddhist. This series earned an Honorable Mention at the MonoVisions Photography Awards in 2020. It has also been featured in group exhibitions, such as at Agora Gallery in New York in 2023, where images from the series were included in the Chelsea International Photography Competition Exhibition. Gruber's ongoing Railway Community project, initiated in 2019, documents the lives of over 300 families residing in self-built shacks along the railway tracks in Phnom Penh’s “Kilometer 6” commune. Residents extend their living spaces onto the tracks during the day, operating mini-kiosks and laying out goods, while quickly clearing belongings, cooking utensils, chairs, sunshades, and children whenever a train approaches, resuming activities immediately afterward. The work addresses poverty among the city's poorest residents, precarious living conditions, informal economies, repeated eviction threats due to planned infrastructure development, disputed land ownership, inadequate resettlement options, and the community's decade-long activism for land rights and fair compensation. The series was presented in a solo online exhibition at All About Photo in June 2023, curated by Sandrine Hermand-Grisel, where it received the June 2023 Solo Exhibition award. It won the Black & White Photography – Photojournalism category at the 2024 MUSE Photography Awards in the Professional submission group. Additional recognitions include Honorable Mention at the International Photo Awards and features in other photography awards programs.

Film career

Entry into filmmaking

Steff Gruber's interest in filmmaking emerged early in life. At age 10, he was strongly impressed by Walt Disney's Mary Poppins and its "magical arts." A more decisive moment came at age 15 when he viewed Roman Polanski's short film The Fat and the Lean at a church youth group screening; the film's wordless reliance on visual storytelling to convey complex themes of oppression convinced him of his career path. He later recalled walking out of the screening and declaring to a friend that he now knew he wanted to become a filmmaker. After leaving grammar school, Gruber enrolled at the F+F (Farb+Form) school for design in Zurich, where he began creating short films around 1972. His most significant early work was the short Portrait, which depicted a woman seated on a red cloth in the middle of Zurich's main station while capturing genuine reactions from passers-by using a hidden camera. The film won an award, and its success encouraged him to commit fully to filmmaking. Concurrently, from 1972 to 1979, he attended film lectures and courses at the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, and F+F Zurich College of Design. Following his time at F+F, Gruber worked as a camera assistant on commercials, acquiring technical proficiency in lighting, lenses, filters, and the use of state-of-the-art equipment. When an economic recession reduced opportunities in advertising, he founded a small advertising agency with minimal capital to generate income and finance his independent artistic films, which he noted cost more than they earned. In 1974, he traveled to the United States, enrolling in a mass media philosophy course at the University of Georgia, where he became an assistant to filmmaker and professor James Herbert, lived in Herbert's home, and assisted on experimental film projects that influenced his own approach to image-making. Since 1978, Gruber has worked as an independent filmmaker.

Notable films and directorial style

Steff Gruber is recognized as a pioneer in the docudrama genre, blending documentary techniques with narrative fiction to explore personal obsessions and perceived truths. He describes his filmmaking as creating "personal films," prioritizing material that haunts him and demands expression over conventional scripting or commissioned topics, with reality serving as a prompter and editing constructing a new reality. His approach often involves operating the camera himself, breaking traditional rules such as directing subjects to look into the lens or valuing authentic background action over polished composition, resulting in hybrid works that mix real events, biographies, and staged elements to approach what he perceives as truth rather than ideology. Gruber's notable films frequently address themes of sexuality, erotic fantasies, taboos, aging, and complex intercultural relationships, often drawing from literature such as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness or personal encounters. His early feature Moon in Taurus (1980) exemplifies this "classic personal film" style through its docudrama form. Fetish & Dreams (1985) continues the exploration of sexual taboos and fantasies in a similar hybrid mode. Location Africa (1987), a pure documentary, stands out as one of his most internationally recognized works, chronicling the difficult production of Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde in Ghana and capturing the final collaboration between Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Invited by Herzog, Gruber documented the challenges of the shoot, offering a rare behind-the-scenes insight into their intense partnership. Later films maintain his signature blend of genres. Secret Moments (1991–2006) is a docudrama that examines intimate relationships and personal truths. Passion Despair (2011), a documentary, confronts social taboos through a portrait of a non-offending pedophile, challenging public assumptions despite professional warnings. Fire Fire Desire (2019), a docudrama shot guerrilla-style in Cambodia and Thailand, incorporates found footage, real expat and local biographies, and staged elements in a narrative inspired by Heart of Darkness, pursuing themes of sex tourism, synchronicity, and forbidden quests. These works highlight Gruber's commitment to obsessive, self-driven projects that transcend strict genre boundaries to probe human complexities.

Entrepreneurship and other pursuits

Telecommunications and internet innovation

Steff Gruber has engaged in entrepreneurial activities that extend into telecommunications and early internet exploration. He founded WaveFactory, a company through which he investigates the propagation of radio waves and authors articles on high frequency technology. These efforts reflect his interest in technical aspects of telecommunications infrastructure. Gruber's internet-related pursuits include artistic projects such as sextox.com and webdesire.com, where he employed fully automated scripts—known as bots—to scour the web for sex images, which he then modified and incorporated into art installations. This approach represents an innovative application of early internet tools for data collection and creative repurposing, bridging technological experimentation with his broader artistic practice. In addition to these ventures, Gruber heads ALIVE Media AG, a cultural advertising company, and KINO.NET AG, a film production entity, both of which operate within media sectors that increasingly intersect with digital and online platforms. Steff Gruber has engaged in authorship primarily through interviews, technical articles, and editorial work, complementing his extensive career in visual arts. He authored the extensive interview "Location Africa. Gespräche mit Werner Herzog" featuring conversations with filmmaker Werner Herzog, published in the 1987 book Werner Herzog. Cobra Verde Filmbuch by Verlag 'Photographie' AG. In the field of radio technology, Gruber has contributed regular articles to the professional journal HBradio (Swiss Radio Amateurs), focusing on topics such as wave propagation and weak signal techniques. Notable among these is his article "Virtuelle Weltreisen. Remote gesteuerte Funkstationen," which appeared in the 1/2025 issue. Gruber has also served as editor for several issues of TOX Magazin, including Issue #1 dedicated to artist Jürg Hassler in 2012, Issue #2 featuring his own diatype Polaroids in 2020, and Issue #3 showcasing his street photography spanning 1970–2020. He is currently preparing a photo book titled Voyage of Dreams, featuring his photographs from the United States taken in 1974–1976, with a foreword by German art historian Ulrich Schneider and planned for bilingual English-German publication by a German publisher. In a 2024 interview, he described his ongoing work on photo books and magazines alongside his continued writing for specialist publications on radio wave propagation.

Recognition and legacy

Awards, exhibitions, and influence

Steff Gruber's photography has received widespread recognition through numerous international awards, particularly since 2020, with honors concentrated in photojournalism, documentary, black and white, and portrait categories. His series have earned accolades from competitions including the Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3), ND Awards, New York Photography Awards, Muse Photography Awards, and Tokyo International Foto Awards. For his series "The Narikuravar People of Tamil Nadu," he received a silver medal from the New York Photography Awards in the People: Portrait category, along with a bronze from ND Awards in Editorial Documentary in 2025. The series "Railway Community" earned platinum awards from European Photography Awards in Black & White Photojournalism and Editorial Documentary categories in 2024, as well as multiple honorable mentions and nominations in other contests. Earlier recognitions include awards for series such as "Smor San," "Meat," and "Living on Water" across similar categories from 2020 to 2023. His photographs have been featured in numerous exhibitions, spanning local Swiss shows in the 1970s to international presentations in recent years. Recent group exhibitions include the Px3 and State of the World exhibition at Galerie 24b in Paris in 2024 and the Reportage Exhibition at the Glasgow Gallery of Photography in 2024. In 2023, he participated in the Chelsea International Photography Competition at Agora Gallery in New York City and had a solo online exhibition of his "Railway Community" series hosted by All About Photo. Other notable shows include the PORTRAITS finalists exhibition at Technische Sammlungen Dresden in 2021 and recurring participation in photoSchweiz in Zurich. Earlier in his career, he exhibited in Zurich group shows during the 1970s and video installations in the early 2000s. Gruber's influence extends to his pioneering contributions as one of the first filmmakers to explore docudrama formats, with his award-winning films screened at various international festivals. In photography, he has promoted the field by founding the Lumiere.Gallery in 2020 as a platform for digital photo exhibitions.

Current status and contributions

Steff Gruber remains an active photographer and cultural entrepreneur, continuing to exhibit his work internationally and innovate in the presentation of photography. His most recent exhibitions include participation in the Px3 and State of the World group show at Galerie 24b in Paris from November 5–9, 2024, as well as the Reportage Exhibition at The Glasgow Gallery of Photography from May 3–30, 2024. These engagements demonstrate his sustained involvement in the global photography community, building on his long career in visual storytelling. In April 2020, amid restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, Gruber founded LUMIERE.GALLERY, a purely online platform dedicated to digital photo exhibitions. Originally created to showcase his own planned exhibition when physical events were not feasible, the gallery expanded to support both established and emerging photographers in reaching broader audiences. Since January 2021, it has operated as a subsidiary of the Swiss media company media.ch AG, reflecting Gruber's ongoing entrepreneurial efforts to adapt artistic presentation to digital environments. Through these activities, Gruber contributes to contemporary photography by bridging traditional artistic practice with digital accessibility, fostering visibility for diverse photographers while maintaining his own creative output. His work continues to earn recognition, including features in lists of modern photographers and awards participation in 2024, affirming his enduring influence in the field.
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