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.
In his latest film Rum, Söderquist revisits footage from the shooting of Letters From Silence, placing them in dialog with recently shot footage. Deploying split-screen for the first time, Söderquist’s camera slowly and meticulously travels through sparse interior spaces and passages, evoking both a sense of enclosure and departure. The internal tensions, motions, correspondences and temporal dynamics between the two screens unfolding is set to Baroque composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Mystery Sonatas, and with its final passacaglia for solo violin – while the camera travels along a corridor –is an apt and ingenious testimony of Söderquist’s continuing explorations of the cinematographic in relation to sound and space.
Born in 1939. Studied painting at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Works as a curator and film maker. Lives in Stockholm. Chairman of Filmform’s board 1999-2012. Söderquist has curated several comprehensive exhibitions at Moderna Museet in Stockholm: “The Pleasure Dome”, American Experimental Film 1939-1979 (1980 in collaboration with Jonas Mekas), Nordic Film (1983), West German Experimental Film (1985 in collaboration with Birgit Hein) and Swedish Avantgarde Film 1924-1990 (tour in the US in collaboration with Jonas Mekas and Anthology Film Archives in New York).
Söderquist has also exhibited his own films and video works at the Center of Contemporary Art in Kristianstad (2014) and a solo exhibition of his work was presented at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Stockholm 2013). His films have been screened at Avant (Karlstad 2006), Moderna Museet (Stockholm 2012) and Turbidus Film (Stockholm 2014).
To find out more about Söderquist: OEI #69-70: On Film (2015), Magasinet Walden (2012 i valfiskens buk), Passager (catalogue, two volumes, 2013)
