Die bestmögliche Vermutung / Roman
«Ein Buch, wie es die heutige Gesellschaft braucht: aufwühlend und provozierend, mal zärtlich, mal brutal, schmerzhaft ehrlich, aber dann dich eiskalt hinterrücks erwischend.» – Dominic Deville, Satiriker, Punk, Late Night Host
«Dieser Roman ist eine Umwälzung. Weil er so eine Wucht entwickelt, weil er das Innere nach aussen kehrt, einen mitnimmt, abholt und durchschüttelt. Und dies elegant, klug – und durchgehend lustig.» – Renato Kaiser, Satiriker und Komiker
«Ich konnte diese Geschichte für keinen Augenblick weglegen und sie begleitet mich bis heute. DIE BESTMÖGLICHE VERMUTUNG beschreibt die unbehagliche Tonspur einer Ära. Die Sprache ist messerscharf, das Buch hat kein Wort zu viel.» – Helen Iten, Journalistin und Autorin
Er ist introvertiert, fühlt viel, hinterfragt alles und sich selbst. Und er steckt fest. In seinem Kopf, in seinem Denken, in seiner Wohnung. Nur dort fühlt er sich sicher, vor seiner Mutter, vor seinem Nachbarn, vor dem Leben. Dann tritt Elena in seine Welt. Sie ist herausragend clever, voll von Leben, denkt klar und folgt radikal ihrer Bestimmung – der eigenen Erfüllung in der Kunst. Kurz: Sie verkörpert all das, was er an sich zu vermissen glaubt. Zwischen den beiden entsteht etwas, was sich richtig und intensiv und gross anfühlt. Bis es um die Vollendung von Elenas Werk geht. Und das die Realität ihrer beider Leben in Frage stellt.
Die bestmögliche Vermutung gibts überall dort, wos Bücher gibt. Zum Beispiel hier. Bücher mit persönlicher Widmung gibts direkt bei mir.
Nächste Lesungen:
Liestal / (Datum folgt): Kantonsbibliothek Baselland
Luzern / (Datum folgt)*
Zürich / 26. Oktober 2025 / 10:45 Uhr: Zürich liest – Matinee, Kurzlesung
*Hinweis: Dieser Anlass soll ein Safe Space für alle sein. Bitte erscheine nur, wenn du dich gesund fühlst. Falls jemand in deinem direkten Umfeld krank sein sollte, trage doch bitte Maske. Generell ist Maskentragen highly welcome. Der Veranstaltungsort (inkl. WC) ist barrierefrei zugänglich. Wenn du gerne Unterstützung bei irgendwas hättest, oder weitere Informationen brauchst: I’m happy to help.
Vergangene Lesungen:
Zürich / 24. März 2025 / 20 Uhr: Buchvernissage im Sphères* – Moderation Renato Kaiser
Leipzig / 27. März 2025 / 18 Uhr: Lange Leipziger Lesenacht / Moritzbastei – Leipzig liest
Leipzig / 30. März 2025 / 13.30 Uhr: Leipziger Buchmesse / Schweizer Bühne / Halle 5 – Moderation Aissa Tripodi
Zug / 1. Mai 2025 / 19 Uhr: Bibliothek Zug* – Eintritt frei/Kollekte – Moderation Aissa Tripodi
Bern / 7. Mai 2025 / 20 Uhr: ONO – Das Kulturlokal – Lesesessel – Moderation Conny Brügger
Coverdesign Lynn Grevenitz, Kulturkonsulat / Mockup-Gestaltung Aissa Tripodi
Audiointervention seconds before the start of a theatrical production.
Voice Oriana Schrage / Camera Aissa Tripodi
For Both / 2021 / Installation / In Collaboration with Aissa Tripodi
Die Installation For Both (2021) basiert auf der laufenden Langzeitarbeit Both, die den Blick von Aissa Tripodi und Manuel Gübeli auf den jeweils anderen zeigt – und damit die Beziehung zwischen ihnen thematisiert.
Für For Both haben die Beiden nun einzelne Bilder ihrer Serie herausgelöst und sie der Öffentlichkeit ausgesetzt, indem sie diese für eine beschränkte Zeit im öffentlichen Raum installiert haben. Und zwar an einem Ort, den sie rund um die Uhr aus ihrer Wohnung sehen konnten. Damit haben die Zwei ihren privaten Raum vorsichtig in den öffentlichen erweitert und damit diese intime Arbeit erstmals der Wertung Unbekannter überlassen.
Being Sascha / Documentary
Sascha’s name wasn’t always Sascha. But now it is. Sascha doesn’t identify as a man or as a woman, but as trans non-binary. A story about what it means to live in a society that wasn’t expecting you. A glimpse into a life that allows us to question our own categories. And a film about what it means to be oneself.
Being Sascha so far won the Basel Film Prize for Best Shortfilm, Best Medium Lenght Film of the Senior Jury at LA CABINA Medium-Length Film Festival in Valencia, Best Cinematography at LGBTQ+ Los Angeles Film Festival, Best Swiss Short at La Fête du Slip in Lausanne and is currently screened at Festivals all over the world. (Full list of Festivals)
Sulaco Film In Co-Production with ZDF/3sat | Written and Directed by Manuel Gübeli In Collaboration with Aissa Tripodi | Editing Katharina Bhend | Director of Photography Peter Zwierko | Sound Timo Schaub | Music Tobias Stuber, Giuliano Sulzberger | Sound Design Thomas Rechberger | Mix Manuel Gerber | Color Grading Hannes Rüttimann | Producer Peter Zwierko | Commissioning Editor Katya Mader | Stage Manager Ea Eller| With the financial support of Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst BS/BL, Teleproduktions-Fonds, Canton Zug/Innerschweizer Filmfachgruppe (IFFG), Canton Solothurn, Migros Kulturprozent | A Film with Sascha Rijkeboer
Poster Artwork Ein Duo.
Stream the Film on Vimeo on Demand (DE, AT, CH only) or watch it at a Festival near you.
Instagram | Interview with Manuel | Podcast with Manuel | Official Website | Interview and Audience Reactions from L.A.
Eigenleben / Documentary / 16′ / 2015
Synopsis: Everything seems in perfect order. Robotic cranes precisely move containers, cargo trains pass trough a scenery resembling a miniature world. Between, arrays of houses, bright and tidy, clean and saturated. We are in Switzerland one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. We meet two young adults. They seem as clean and bright as the world surrounding them. They care about appearance, they seem to function well. Of their dark sides we only learn by narration. Disorientation. Inner void. Anxiety of loosing themselves.
How do you define your existence in a society that provides endless opportunities?
Project description: Assigned as a documentary Eigenleben is questioning the borders between documentary and fiction filmmaking. The film combines highly staged tableaus, in which the two protagonists perform everyday tasks, with the unemotional of-voices talking about inner struggles. Induced both by an undefined connection between spoken content and visible performers , and recurring sequences of artificially moving trains, the film additionally clears way for doubts on the format and the content told. These doubts are reinforced at the end when the female protagonist addresses the viewer with a challenging look into the camera.
See About for screenings
Sexperiment / Documentary / 12′ / 2014
Synopsis: Five strangers meet for one night in a room. Their given topic is sex. They know: Anything can happen, nothing has to. They know: Everyone in the room has applied for this experiment and brings his or her own expectations, perceptions and anxieties. They know: All is being filmed.
A film about courage, self-determination, personal limits, and the fascination of the unknown. And of course about sex.
See About for screenings
Being There / Video Series / 26 Episodes / 2015 – 2018
Being There is a video series showing the artist standing still in an unfolding scene. All the action seen is not induced and solely influenced by his presence and the act of filming. The camera is always handled by a bystanding person who is given just the inevitable instructions to film the episode. The relation of the filming person to the protagonists inevitable becomes part of the behaviour of the latter.
Rear Window / Video / 6′ / 2017
Consisting of what appears to be a single sequence shot, Rear Window is combining the video image of a steady camera with a partly narrative pop song and ambient noise. The perception of the viewer is both influenced by his affective memory recalled by the imagery and the story fragments of the song. This work subsequently also has become the official music video of the featured song Maggie by musician Tobias Carshey.
Occupied / Video / 2′ / 2016
Occupied is a video loop which has been created for Portmanteau Rotary Plate, an on-going project by Geneva based artist-group Jeudi. The video loop shows a stagnant rotary plate turning on an identically constructed second rotary plate.
Vacuum Flower / Performance / 2018
Vacuum Flower is a performance only taking place when someone buys the work. It consists of me purchasing a pot plant in a supermarket familiar to the collector and getting the plant vacuumed in plastic at the meat department of the same store. The finally committed flowers are not to be understood an art object but a visual trace of the purchased performance the collector did not attend. The work is for sale for a total of five times.
Warten / Performance / 8h / 2012 –
Warten is eight hours mere waiting. It is performed by two people at various locations where the act of waiting can be deprived of its function. Warten has been implemented on a regular basis for the last six years.
.com.com.ru.com.ru.jp / Instantphotos / 2016
Six identical instant photos (instax) are presented in a row. They all depict the exact same picture looking like an amateur porn image found online.
By using an imagery of a sex picture that is often appropriated, reproduced and extensively shared by websites, and by making its reproduction visible on instant film – known for capturing a moment in only one unique photo – the work aims to question our trust in technology.
Inside A Bakeshop / Text
Carte Blanche on the first page in the KUNSTpause – Ausstellung für junge Kunst publication.
Symphonic Pedalos / Orchestra Concert / 2014
A symphonic orchestra. Every musician on a pedalo. They perform on a lake, live, four times in a week. No one knows who the musicians are, where they came from nor if they will appear again. The performance is captured on video by astonished passersby and then shared online, where the videos are reshared by users who didn’t experience the concert but now become performers in the quest for the reason of the floating musicians.
In collaboration with Theater Casino Zug, Theater- und Musikgesellschaft Zug, Festival Strings Lucerne.
Wir / Video / 4′ / 2014
Displaying a single sequence shot of a traffic light, complemented by an audio montage of partially corresponding ambient noise and a dominating off-voice text, WIR offers a vague insight into a relationship drama.
Add To Chain / 2016 / Edition (mehr …)
Der Prolog / Audio / 2015
Script and Directing Manuel Gübeli / Voiceacting Silvia Planzer