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ELIN MAGNUSSON

ACT ON INSTINCT
Date: 2013
Length: 16:15 min.
Format: 16:9
Specifications: Farbe, Ton, Einkanal
Courtesy the artist

Schweden, idyllische Landschaften. Ein Streifzug durch moosbewachsene Wälder. Saftige weite Wiesen, langsame, statische Aufnahmen von Orten, an denen die Zeit noch anderen Regeln folgt. Ein immerwährender Kreislauf. Kälber werden geboren und erforschen zusammen mit ihren Müttern die Weiden. Die Kiefern werfen ihre Zapfen ab, Hirsche schreiten stolz durch ihre Reviere und ganze Orchester von Insekten erwachen im Frühjahr zum Leben, nur um im Winter wieder zu verstummen. Längst nicht mehr benötigte Vogelnester hängen ungenutzt in den Bäumen als Monumente ehemaligen Kinderglücks. Durch diese Welt streift ein Reh. Entgegen dem Instinkt flieht es nicht vor der Kamera. Die drei Rehkitze, die es begleiten wirken wie Ballast. Lieblos schleift das Reh sie hinterher. Ungleich der Artgenossen sucht dieses Reh nicht seinen Platz im ewigen Kreislauf. Es sucht etwas Anderes. Etwas Anderes als die vom Instinkt bestimmten Schlussfolgerungen. Es geht auf unbekannten Pfaden. Es sucht Antworten. Was passiert, wenn der Instinkt plötzlich nicht mehr handlungsbestimmend ist? Welche Rolle spielt der Fortpflanzungstrieb in einer Welt, die andere Freuden gewährt? Findet man zu sich selbst, wenn man sich Konventionen widersetzt? ACT ON INSTINCT ist mehr als die autobiographische Auseinandersetzung einer jungen Frau, die sich bewusst für ein kinderloses Leben entschieden hat. Interviews gewähren uns einen Einblick in die Gedankenwelt des Rehs/der Frau/der Künstlerin. Grenzen scheinen nicht zu existieren. Es gibt viele Dinge, die das Reh liebt. Es gibt viele Erwartungen, die an das Reh gestellt werden. Die Unvereinbarkeit von eigenen Wünschen und denen der Umwelt lassen nur einen Schluss für das Reh zu: »There is no room for any more«.

Markus Pinell

* 1982 in Norrköping SWE, lebt und arbeitet in Stockholm SWE
Studium am Institution of fine arts, Konstfack, Stockholm SWE, an der Östra Grevie folkhögskola, Malmö SWE und der Malmö Högskola SWE

 

Interview:

» 1.Your work has been chosen among over 1200 festival entries to participate in VIDEONALE.15. In which context do you prefer to present your work, festival/cinema context or exhibition? And what kind of difference does the respective mode of presentation mean for you / your work?

Each room and presentation obviously allows for a new expression of the film. It is not possible to separate the room, the audience and the context from the work. Being a part of a screening is to be part of a collective, a group in which each film gives and takes from the other films. It works similarly with a group of people who work together. The group can strengthen and clarify, but also stifle and conceal depending on its composition. To screen my film in a cinema is powerful because it ensures a particular focus. However, the red chairs and high ceiling perhaps come with a particular expectation and connotations of history to make a short art film flourish. If I were to choose one of these rooms for my work, it’s the art room, the exhibition space. It is, in my view, the most open and accepting one. A place for experiments and research: preparing the viewer that anything is possible. Then, naturally it depends on whether one is part of a group or solo exhibition, and which context it is. Although in saying this art spaces have a tendency to attract a strong white middle class in an exclusive and uninviting way- which is something I am strongly opposed to and want to challenge. Regardless of the particular space, the meeting is the main thing for me. To meet the person who sees my film, whether it is through the film or in physical life. To communicate.

» 2. How do you see “The Call of the Wild“ reflected in your work presented at VIDEONALE.15?

In the film, Act on Instinct I search beyond norms and beliefs regarding the family and I question the core of it’s creation. I ask myself where the longing for children comes from, and why it doesn’t come to me. The film is deeply personal, but has its origin in a world belonging to a deer. In the forest, through animals, I find it easier to talk about human situations and phenomena. Allowing animals to speak my words provides a clearer picture and a sharper focus to the subject. The wild and that which is uncontrollable not only makes the picture clearer, but encourages me to get lost and lose myself. In the forest I’m not nature, I don’t make up the rules. I’m a missing link and it makes me humble and curious. There is something beautiful in allowing culture to collide with nature and I want to ask my questions in the gap that appears where the two worlds meet. Rebecca Solnit writes in her book: A field guide to getting lost: It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophesies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it’s where their work comes from, although its arrival signals the beginning of the long disciplined process of making it their own. Scientists too, as J. Robert Oppenheimer once remarked, “live always at the ‘edge of mystery’ — the boundary of the unknown.” But they transform the unknown into the known, haul it in like fishermen; artists get you out into that dark sea.”

To talk about politics, feminism and love in the forest, with  the help of a deer is a way of letting go for me,, to meet the wild and natural at the same time as I question it.

» 3. Can you describe your intention for doing art in one sentence?

No

» 4. In which way is the video medium an excellent possibility to express your intended subjects, especially in contrast to other media you use? Or do you work exclusively with video?

I mostly work with video, but now and then with other media that I come across including performance art and sculpture. I would not call myself a video artist, I’m more an artist that often works with video documented performances. It’s important for me to be in the moment. To put my body in front of the camera. I want to experience the things I’m talking about, walk on the ground and feel the story in my body and lose some of the control. A bit like getting drunk under very controlled conditions.

» 5. If you have the chance to ask the visitors of the VIDEONALE.15 exhibition questions about your own work, what would be your question?

-How do we create other kinds of families considered to be as true and trustful as the ones consisting of a man and a women?
-Is it possible not to love your children?
-What’s the function of art?