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.
“Reading, to Kins” is a performance for the dead. Painful swelling, inflammation and kidney failure. Millions of vultures in India have died this way, unintentionally poisoned with Diclofenac, a painkiller used by farmers to keep cattle working harder and longer, and to increase milk production. Compared to the 1980s, India’s vulture population has decreased by 95%, leaving an ecological void impossible to fill.
The work was performed at the Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum in Bonn, within the Indian vulture collection. There, a member of Hillside Projects reads Arundhati Roy’s “We Are Witnessing a Crime Against Humanity” aloud to taxidermied vultures, including them in a reflection on their demise and the political realities of contemporary India in the spring of 2021. The text was read from beginning to end with no pause.
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).
