Steff Gruber
Swiss filmmaker, internet pioneer, and multimedia artist.
Steff Gruber was born on 3 April 1953 in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a film director, photographer, author, entrepreneur, and a pioneer in telecommunications and the internet. Throughout his career, he has refused to settle on a single profession, instead blending the roles of artist, technician, and businessperson.
Gruber grew up in Oberrieden on Lake Zurich, the son of painter Hannes Gruber and Annemarie Gruber-Vogelsanger. As a child, he wanted to be a pilot and an inventor. At age eight, he built his first radio receiver. When he was fifteen, during the first crewed Moon landing, he managed to eavesdrop on conversations between the astronauts and ground control. He began training as an electronics engineer but dropped out to pursue filmmaking. He also worked as a pilot, flying round trips in the Swiss Alps and making taxi and private flights across Europe until 2022.
From 1972 onward, Gruber attended film lectures and courses at the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, and the F+F College of Design in Zurich, studying under Martin Schlappner, Viktor Sidler, Georg Radanowicz, Sebastian C. Schröder, Doris Stauffer, Serge Stauffer, Hansjörg Mattmüller, and Peter Jenny. While studying, he worked as a commercial photographer and filmmaker. In 1974, he spent a year studying Mass Media Philosophy at the University of Georgia, where he met painter and filmmaker James Herbert. Their friendship has remained a lasting influence on his work.
In the 1970s, Gruber was among the first filmmakers to work in the docudrama style. He began his first feature-length film, *Moon in Taurus*, in Georgia in 1976, completing it in 1980. The film explores codes in relationships and why they break up. The original cut included interviews with Cindy Wilson of The B-52's and Silver Thin from the Andy Warhol Factory, but these were removed. The film’s unconventional blend of fiction and documentary, drawn from 15 hours of material, earned international recognition and a nomination at the Mannheim Film Festival.
After returning to Switzerland, Gruber briefly worked as an assistant to painter Sam Francis, collaborating on a film about C.G. Jung. He also worked as a cameraman for artist Isa Hesse-Rabinovitch and filmmaker Erich Langjahr.
His second film, *Fetish & Dreams*, began production in 1982 in New York City. It serves as a formal and thematic sequel to his first.
- Born
- 3 April 1953 in Zurich, Switzerland
- Occupations
- film director, photographer, author, entrepreneur, telecommunications and internet pioneer
- Notable films
- Moon in Taurus (1980), Fetish & Dreams, Location Africa, Secret Moments, Fire, Fire, Desire!
- Internet contributions
- founded Cultnet association (1980), first ISP in Switzerland; created first Swiss search engine web.ch (1995); owned domain XBOX.COM
- Photographic technique
- diatypie (1977)
- Education
- attended film lectures at University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, F+F Zurich College of Design; studied Mass Media Philosophy at University of Georgia (1974)
Lore & Background
Steff Gruber grew up in Oberrieden on Lake Zurich, the son of painter Hannes Gruber and Annemarie Gruber-Vogelsanger. He constructed his first radio receiver at age eight, and at fifteen listened in on the dialogue between astronauts and ground control during the first crewed space flight to the Moon. He began training as an electronics engineer but abandoned it to become a film director. As a pilot, he made round trips in the Swiss Alps and taxi and private flights within Europe until 2022.
In the 1970s Gruber was one of the first filmmakers to work in the docudrama genre. His first long film, Moon in Taurus (completed 1980), focused on codes in relationships and why they break up. His second film, Fetish & Dreams, was the first video transfer in Swiss cinema, created electronically on video before being copied to 35 mm. It won a prize at the Locarno International Film Festival for directorial originality. He later documented the filming of Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde in Ghana, resulting in the film Location Africa.
Gruber was a hacker of the first hour and an internet pioneer. Through his Cultnet association (founded 1980), he was responsible for the first internet service provider in Switzerland. Cultnet.uucp (later cultnet.com and cult.net) was originally free to registered users. He founded NETLINK AG in 1989 but could not procure venture capital. In 1995 he launched the first Swiss search engine, web.ch. He created and sold internet names including MICROMANIA.COM, LOVEIT.COM, and XBOX.COM.
Reader's Guide
Steff Gruber's significance lies in his multifaceted career spanning film, photography, internet technology, and entrepreneurship. As a filmmaker, he pioneered the docudrama genre in the 1970s and developed a method of creating films electronically on video before transferring to 35 mm, a first in Swiss cinema. His films explore themes of erotic codes, relationships, and humanist concerns, often taking years to complete due to his hands-on approach.
As an internet pioneer, Gruber founded the first ISP in Switzerland through his Cultnet association, providing free dial-up access when the internet was still government and military based. He created the first Swiss search engine (web.ch) and owned notable domain names, including XBOX.COM, which he sold. His artistic internet projects include the multimedia installation webdesire.com/project02 and the use of bots to search for sex images for art installations.
In photography, Gruber developed the diatypie technique in 1977 and produced long-term photo series such as the floating villages of Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. He founded the independent magazine TOX and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, launched Lumiere.Gallery to offer photographers a digital exhibition platform. His legacy is that of a polymath who combined technical innovation with artistic expression across multiple media.
Did You Know?
- He founded the first internet service provider in Switzerland through his Cultnet association in 1980.
- Gruber owned the domain XBOX.COM years before Microsoft named its gaming console Xbox.
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