During two nights in April, Filmform will present the legacy of Swedish experimental film & video art at Image Forum, Tokyo. The two separate screenings will be introduced by Filmform’s Andreas Bertman and followed by a talk together with the writer Martin Grennberger.
The two programmes have been supported by the Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation. With thanks to Image Forum and The Swedish Embassy in Tokyo.
April 19th, 9PM (local time)
Experimental film
Diagonalsymfonin
Viking Eggeling
1924, 00:08:27
SCHMEERGUNTZ
Gunvor Nelson & Dorothy Wiley
1966, 00:15:00
Enligt lag
Peter Weiss & Hans Nordenström
1957, 00:20:00
Nixon Visions
Hans (Esse Li) Esselius & Kjartan Slettemark
1971, 00:04:00
EMS nr 1
Ralph Lundsten
1966, 00:14:00
April 20th, 9PM (local time)
Video art
Whiteout
Katarina Löfström
2001, 00:03:41
Graders ökning
Christine Ödlund
2003, 00:04:13
Murmurs of Earth
Lars Arrhenius
2007, 00:07:15
Reconstruction
Lina Selander
2000, 00:06:30
2011 12 30
Leontine Arvidsson
2013, 00:02:53
Sound Cut
Peter Geschwind
2002, 00:01:00
Interbeing
Martina Hoogland Ivanow
2018, 00:10:40
Walk on a Stick and Cry
Peter Larsson
2014, 00:03:49
You Don’t Love Me Yet
Johanna Billing
2003, 00:07:43
(Teresa Wennberg’s Nuit Blanche, 1983, 7:23 min will shown in the video art programme on April 20th)
Filmform is one of the oldest organizations in the world devoted to video art and experimental film and was founded in 1950 in Stockholm, Sweden, originally as an independent film co-op. Later it was re-organized into a foundation and is now the most important driving force for artists’ films and videos in Sweden – working with archiving, distribution as well as dissemination of knowledge and information. Filmform is further an important intermediary between independent filmmakers and governmental agencies and is often engaged as an advisor to museums, galleries, universities, and festivals. Constantly expanding, the distribution catalogue spans from 1924 to the present, including works by Sweden’s most prominent artists and filmmakers within the field of moving images.
Filmform has its origin in the post-war generation of artists that experienced the cinema as a new and expanding creative field. In film – personal expression, free from the regulations of convention, could maintain its independence. Artists’ films – as well as videos later on – made it possible to connect to the world and to modern times. Filmform has been the hub of artists’ films and videos since several decades. Artists like Viking Eggeling, Peter Weiss and Gunvor Nelson have been important in this process, and new names are merging continuously. It is a beautiful coincidence that the first film that was planned when the association once formed in 1950 was called Vision. The vision of artists moving images is under constant review.