Filmform (est. 1950) is dedicated to preservation, promotion and worldwide distribution of experimental film and video art. Constantly expanding, the distribution catalogue spans from 1924 to the present, including works by Sweden’s most prominent artists and filmmakers, available to rent for public screenings and exhibitions as well as for educational purposes.
Electricity is a vital, but invisible, component of modern life. The new and controversial phenomenon of electro-hypersensitivity – oversensitivity to electro-magnetic fields from mobile phones, power lines etc. – dramatically illustrates our dependence on electricity. What would happen in our society if more and more people were to develop oversensitivity? What would a society without electricity look like?
We worked on this project for four years. During that period, we interviewed people with electrohypersensitivity along with a scientist and other experts, and over time we developed a scenario. The footage was mainly filmed with a spring-driven 16 mm camera, but we also used a digital video camera, some historical footage and stills. The sound was recorded on an old tape recorder in order to minimize electromagnetic stress during the interviews.
Fugitives from the field has previously been exhibited at Gothenburg’s Museum of Art, ‘BLICK’ at the Modern Museum in Stockholm, at Kunstverein in Munich in Germany and recently at four locations in Gävleborg, Sweden. The film has received the Diesel New Art Award.
Timo Menke was born in Germany, and lives and works in Sweden since 1988. He received a Master of Fine Arts from Konstfack, the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm in 1999. Between 2004 and 2014 he has been teaching as Senior lecturer at the department of art at Konstfack, Stockholm. He is also engaged at the Filmform foundation, the Art Film and Video Archive, in Stockholm, dealing with archiving and distribution of film and video art.
Nils Agdler
Nils Agdler (b.1969) is a Swedish visual artist and filmmaker. He received a MFA from Konstfack in Stockholm, followed by studies in fine arts at Valand Academy in Gothenburg. Agdler is interested in contemporary social and visual phenomena, representation and history, environmental issues, posthumanism and colonialism, primarily working with photography and film. With the artist Timo Menke he has produced short films and installations such as Fugitives from the Fields (2005), Gifted Men (2015) and Brothers to Sisters (2018). Over the past 20 years, he has worked on issues that concern men and masculinities. Most recently, the short films Rebirth (2018) and Retardation (2021), both parts of the ongoing series Male Nature Studies. His work has been shown at museums such as The 5th Moscow Biennale, Ostrale Biennale O21 in Germany, Pori Art Museum in Finland. Recently also at festivals such as Très Court International Film Festival, Sidney World Film Festival and Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen.
