Time flies! In the autumn of 2009, Njuta Films released a wonderful collection of experimental films on DVD, anthologized by yours truly. The program as such was successfully shown in Sundsvall, Trondheim, Stockholm, Zagreb and perhaps some other places too. The DVD has been selling slowly but surely. Mostly slowly, actually. That’s why I’m posting this, to remind you that this really is a must-have DVD!
Different artists deal with the preapocalyptic currents of our culture in different ways. Some choose to accept the technologically utopian dreams imposed on us by market forces. Others prefer a more primordial, spiritual approach of wisdom and intuitive behaviour. Back to human nature displays the work of five Scandinavian filmmakers drawn to this intuitive approach.
Intermediate 1 (Fetish 23, Sweden, 2009, 12 min)
Mikael Prey (a.k.a. Fetish 23) has been active as a photographer, video artist and VJ since the mid 1980’s. He has produced many music videos for bands and artists and also personal film works. He has been instrumental in creating the renowned Spoken Word Festival in Stockholm, as well as other similar events internationally. Intermediate 1 is a cinematic meditation of quietude, divided between two frames that at times interact, at times drift apart. The immediate power and beauty of nature, as opposed to the urban epiphytic existence, becomes a lighthouse in this film. Not as any kind of dogmatic beacon but rather as shedding a general light on what we already have and what we should, perhaps, be content with. The stark simplicity and austere beauty of Fetish 23’s film enhances the effect of the dual images. We are seemingly divided in our perception of the world. It may not be a bad thing and perhaps even an incentive for love – union. The minimalistic yet multi-dimensional soundtrack is by renowned Swedish musical alchemist Moljebka Pvlse.
Taiwaskivi (Halo Manash, Finland, 2009, 50 min)
This remarkable Finnish duo explore mystical and magical realms with a frenzy that evokes pure elemental forces. In their own words: “In Halo Manash, sound and movement come together as rhythmical language that facilitates communion with elemental beings. Our aim is to revitalise one of the oldest subconscious forms of communication, to open the gates with the aid of music and widen the horizon of perception concerning states of otherness lying in-between the cardinal directions.” Taiwaskivi sets an encouraging tone for a new primordialism in contemporary art. We are human beings and hence we are imbued with an ancestry stemming from nature and how we relate to nature. Arcane, archaic, anachronistic, anarchic... The spiritual realm lies hidden in powerfully commited behaviour that transgresses the “civilised” mannerisms with which we have been force-fed. The tempo of Taiwaskivi challenges our media-fragmented minds. We are used to ultra-rapid editing of a massive amount of information. Halo Manash offer us the exact opposite – an antidote: a slow generation of energy stemming not from information but from primordial wisdom, and from the poetry of human beings as non-corrupt organisms in tune with the elements.
Stress call of the stinging nettle (Christine Ödlund, Sweden, 2009, 8 min)
Christine Ödlund’s range of creative expression covers drawing, painting, video and electro-acoustic music. In her work, we encounter abstractions of magnetic phenomena, visual communication with living plants and a new (future?) cosmos where fungi rule. In the actual penetration of the living organism, a new synthesis is created between the observer and the observed. However, Christine Ödlund is no mystic of nature in the traditional sense. The essence of her art rather consists of a scientific perspective combined with a multifaceted visionary expression. Stress calls of the stinging nettle is an audiovisual trip into the mind of nettles in danger: how they react to danger, and how they communicate their fear to their fellow nettles.
Decennial Celebratory Solidarity Ritual (Nadine Byrne, Sweden, 2009, 17 min)
Nadine Byrne integrates video-work in her already wide range of expressions (textile work, musicmaking, drawing, painting, performance and more). The focus of her moving images is quite often a ritual apprehension and transformation of deep emotional processes. Byrne’s musical/multimedia projects Ectoplasm Girls and The Magic State both use a holistic expression, where projected video and the performances are as important as the music in itself. In this astounding film, Byrne ritually re-enacts the cutting of her mother’s hair at a critical time of an eventually fatal illness. A cathartic and reverential mode of behaviour helped by the “Dream Family”, a new pantheon of goddesses created by her own mind and hand. We may not always be able to change the brutal twists of life but we can certainly change the way we look at and relate to them. The effect of Nadine Byrne’s film, although private in essence, is here shared as a secret seed, a new quintessence.
Where is here? (Gustaf Broms, Sweden, 2009, 42 min)
Gustaf Broms has travelled widely and worked on different continents with several projects. Many of these have been transient/site specific/performance-oriented but have been caught in the act, so to speak, through photography, video and sculpture. References to his projects The Sitting, The Walking and others can be found in the film Where is here?, but it should be regarded as a very unique work on its own. The film’s protagonist, Broms himself in various apparitions, tries to shake free of imposed hindrances, but it is not an easy trip. In a mix of surrealism, heavy criticism of contemporary behaviour, and religious fervour, Broms’ ambitious and accomplished tour de force keeps the viewer on edge and thoughtful, amazed and amused at the same time.
I’m certain that you’re already convinced now that you want one of these DVDs. If that's the case, all you have to do is let the awfully nice people at SUBDVD handle it. Yes, they ship worldwide!
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