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.
Seated in a chair, dressed in a brown suit, one member from HP (Hillside Projects) listens to 279 vultures feast on a carcass, a macabre yet tender act of eating and being eaten, a recycling of life. This performative act of eating took place on 25 January 2023 at Jatayu Vulture Restaurant, a vulture conservation project in Kawasoti, southern Nepal.
The sounds from the feast: hissing, kicking and flapping have been transcribed as words that phonetically imitate, resemble, or suggest the sound that they describe, also known as onomatopoeia. The transcribed onomatopoetic words are presented as subtitles accompanying the video, creating a playful and slightly absurd narration of being eaten and of eating.
HP (Hillside Projects) is an artistic entity. Its members are Emily Berry Mennerdahl & Jonas Böttern. Situated within a conceptual framework, HP investigates the many ways of telling tales with a querying of who should tell them and why. Embracing the absurd, comedic and tragic, stories of the many cycles of life, failures and notions of translation and listening are explored, alongside the interrelated existential emotions and socio-political narratives that arise. HPs works manifest as lecture performances, relational wanderings, sound, video and installations.
HP is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Its videos are distributed by FilmForm – The Art Film & Video Archive and Vidéographe Montréal. HP regularly undertakes artist residencies including HULT residency programme, IASPIS (SE), Cove Park (UK), photo.circle (NP), Clark House Initiative (IN). Recent exhibitions, performances and screenings have unraveled at Växjö konsthall, Kristianstad konsthall, Röda sten konsthall, Bonniers konsthall (SE), Oyoun Kultur NewDenken (DE), PhotoKTM5 (NP), SEA Foundation (NL), Dazibao (CA). Böttern holds an MFA from Konstfack (SE) and Berry Mennerdahl holds an MFA from Concordia University (CA). HP continues to be active within research contexts at, amongst others, Linnaeus University, Södertörn University, Lunds University (SE), UQUAM (CA).
