VIDEO
HAY CHANT
GRASS CHANT
NORDIC MOSH
CANAL GLITCH
PURGE 1, 2010
PURGE 2, 2010
ARKIPELAG, 2008
A
HYMN TO THE HELSINKI METRO, 2007
IRELAND VS BRAZIL, 2007
WEEPING PILLAR, 2006
DISCO TONIGHT? 2005
WHERE'S THAT PIG? 2005
LICK AND BITE, 2005
LIVING PAINTINGS, 2005
OUKKIDOUKKI, 2005
VOYEUR, 2004
IN THE RAW, 2004
I AM UNKNOWING I
MEMORIAL DAY, 2003
FOCAL POINT, 2003
BORDER, 2003
SUNDAY I-III, 2002
THE CLEANING WOMAN, 2001
KOSMOS, 2001
MOVING I, 1999
MOVING II, 1999
REDBLACKBLUE, 1999
TIME FROM NOW ON, 1996
THE PRINCESS, 1996
single and multiple channel, documentaries, animations, experimental... an archive of a variety of videos, exhibited in galleries, museums or shown at film festivals...
At the moment I'm finished the short documentary "The power to heal" in collaboration with Juan Recaman.
Distribution:
Gun Holmström
AV-arkki (Finland) www.av-arkki.fi
GIV (Canada) www.givvideo.org
single channel, Full HD, dur. 1.17 min, 2011
A glitched chant of hay made by deliberate corruption of the digital code. The origin of the sound is a still from the video.
Music by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen.
single channel, Full HD, dur. 1.26 min, 2011
.A glitched chant of grass made by deliberate corruption of the digital code. The origin of the sound is a still from the video.
Music by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen.
single channel, Full HD, dur. 3.06 min
Music: John Blue
The body of the actress is seducing urban landscape to melt into itself. A databending technique is used as a mean of reflection regarding the surrounding aesthetics and the traces of the architect's software in our environment.
single channel, Full HD, dur. 4.00 min
Music: John Blue
“Canal Glitch” deals with the aesthetics of modern urban planning through the beauty of data errors. During a data hacking process the pride of a new posh seafront residential district in Helsinki, the Uutela Canal became a poem of pixels reminding of Claude Monet’s paintings of water lilies.
DVD, 2009
dur. 2.30 min. Sound
A meditative abstract video, based on footage from the canals in Berlin.
DVD, 2009
dur. 4.00 min. Sound
A meditative abstract video, based on footage from the canals in Berlin.
DVD, 2008
dur. 6:30 min. Sound.
A cluster of islands, consisting of remaining parts of classical sculptures, are floating in an endless waterlike space. Although the theme is the constantly ongoing destruction of culture, the animation is beautiful and meditative.
HYMN TO THE HELSINKI
METRO
DVD, 2007
Duration 1:40
Film, edit & sound Gun Holmström
IRELAND VS BRAZIL
DVD, 2007
Duration 2:00
Film, edit & sound Gun Holmström
A machinima film. The material consists of imagery from a football game machine at the Tampere airport.
WEEPING PILLAR
2005, DVD, loop (each 50 sec) .
The weeping column can be found in Aya Sophia in Istanbul . People stand in line to stick their fingers into a small niche and make a circle. It is said that if your finger emerges moist from the hole there, a wish can be granted.
Screenings:
10th International
Istanbul Biennial, Turkey 2007
Market Gallery, Glasgow International 2006
The Showroom Gallery, London 2006
DISCO TONIGHT?
2005, DVD single channel, dur 1 min, silent, (video postcard)
I've collected SMS-messages sent around as jokes from mobile phones to mobile phones... Consisting of simple ASCII signs, they still manage to tell a story... This video describes the disco feeling on the ferry between Finland and Sweden in the ASCII language.
Screenings:
Site1, Sheffield, UK
Örebro Kunsthall, Sweden
Linköping Passagen, Sweden
Skövde Kunsthall, Sweden
WHERE'S THAT PIG?, 2005, DVD single channel, dur 1 min (video postcard)
I've collected SMS-messages sent around as jokes from mobile phones to mobile phones... Consisting of simple ASCII signs, they still manage to tell a story... This video focuses on a figurine in a porn shop window.
Screenings:
Örebro Kunsthall, Sweden
Linköping Passagen, Sweden
Skövde Kunsthall, Sweden
LICK AND BITE
2005, DVD single channel, dur 1 min, silent (video postcard)
I've collected SMS-messages sent around as jokes from mobile phones to mobile phones... Consisting of simple ASCII signs, they still manage to tell a story... The video shows a horse commenting in his own way on the struggle of a couple in the background.
The video is a part of the excuisite corpse project Vi-Denial.
Screenings:
Örebro Kunsthall,
Sweden
Linköping Passagen, Sweden
Skövde Kunsthall, Sweden
LIVING PAINTINGS
2005, DVD five channel, loop (dur. 5 min each), silent
The videos were made for the exhibiton "Sediments", curated by Taru Elfving. Due to restauration, Turku Art Museum (Finland) was forced to move to temporary location for a couple of years. After all kind of difficulties, the museum re-opened again in April 2005. The invited artists were asked to comment on about the role and function of the art museum today. I used images from the permanent collections, all very well known both to the local people as well as in Finnish art history, and combined them with layers consisting of footage from the surroundings of the art museum - the streets, the traffic, the people, the shops.
The videos are semi-abstract
loops. Shown on monitors, they were placed in different locations, such
as shop
windows, around the city.
Screenings:
Hanoi, Vietnam 2006
Turku Art Museum and surroundings, Turku FInland 2005
TURKU GOES OUKKIDOUKKI
2005, DVD single channel, dur 7.20 min, sound
Sound "sim speach" by Gun Holmström and Valter Kokot/Ingrid Ung.
The videos were made for the exhibiton "Sediments", curated by Taru Elfving. Due to restauration, Turku Art Museum (Finland) was forced to move to temporary location for a couple of years. After all kind of difficulties, the museum re-opened again in April 2005. The invited artists were asked to comment on about the role and function of the art museum today.
"Turku goes Oukkidoukki" uses the world and language of a computer game to create a social space for the art museum.
Screenings:
Site1, Sheffield, UK 2005
Turku Art Museum, 2005
VOYEUR
2004, DVD single channel, dur. 5 min, silent
The footage in Voyeur was filmed almost coincidentally. In summertime all kinds of people gather on the lawn around the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki. I sat on the fourth floor and started to film people enjoying the sunlight, simply because the sight was so pleasant. Suddenly, in the corner of my eye, I noticed something odd - a lonely man sitting by himself just looking out of place. I started to follow his movements and mysterious things started to happen. What was he talking to the girls about? What strange object was he holding in his hand? Why did he seem so displaced? Voyeur is a story that told itself to me.
Screenings:
Gallery Optica, Montréal, Canada 2005
Lokstallet, Strömstad, Sweden
Valand School of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden 2004
IN THE RAW
2004, DVD two channel, dur. 10.40. Music by Tuuli Helve.
Several years ago, I attended a lecture where the slides shown had no connection to the issue in question , or even to each other. The whole time I tried very hard to find some correlation because it seemed totally impossible that the images would have had nothing to do with what was being said. In In the Raw I used a similar technique. It is a kind of self-portrait, a video collage containing a wide range of footage and text from my own environment. It is a story about storytelling in different forms, a saga telling of -among other things - the spiritual aspect in everyday life. By combining elements with no apparent connections , I wanted to create a space that would allow for both the viewers' own associations and possibilities for new stories to evolve. I find distraction to be a useful tool for taking thoughts in unexpected directions.
Screenings:
Gallery Optica, Montréal, Canada 2005
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004
installation view, Gallery Artmur, Canada
I AM UNKNOWING I-III, part
I
2004, DVD three channel, dur. 1 min each, silent (video postcard)
The three 1-minute video loops where made for the exhibition “Parameters of Fear” at the Muu Gallery in Helsinki 2004. The show examined manifestations of fear both a personal and social level. The original footage I chose from short clips from wars, news and movies available on the internet. While working with the material, images with obvious connections to the Christian theme of suffering started to appear...
Screenings:
Darklight Festival, Dublin, Ireland, 2006
Gallery ArtMúr, Montréal, Canada 2005
Muu Gallery, Helsinki, Finland 2004
MEMORIAL DAY
2003, DVD single channel, dur. 1 min, silent, (video postcard)
The video was made in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, USA during a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts as an observation of the surroundings.
Screenings:
Gallery Articule, Montréal, Canada 2005
Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium 2005
Muu Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, 2004
ACA, Florida, USA 2003
ICA, Philadelphia, USA 2003
FOCAL POINT
2003, DVD single channel, dur. 4.30. Sound.
Concept, film and
editing: Gun Holmström
Acress: Anna Krzystek
Sound editing: Erkka Nissinen
Supported by AVEK / Veli Granö
Language: English
Text from the video:
"And the past can't be changed; we must begin in the present. And that's
what I'm doing. To be honest, I'm doing what any rational person would
do. I just make up an excuse for my desires and fancies and pretend it's
rational."
"Rebellion arose from something completely different than he imagined.
I didn't grumble for his sake, but for my own. It wasn't political."
"Those with the strongest principles understand, probably more profoundly
than anyone else, that there really are no principles anymore."
The text is based on the censored parts from "Unnown Soldier" (1954), a novel by the Finnish author Väinö Linna. The complete version was published in "Sotaromaani" 2000. "Unnown Soldier" tells about when Finland was at war with the Soviet Union 1941-44 and is the most commonly read book in Finland. I've changed the text a bit, to make it fit in the womans mouth, and to give the impression that she could be speaking of her own life, a divorce process perhaps, or something like that.
It's fascinating me that the text was something that couldn't be published for political reasons not so long ago. In the video it's even harder to understand since the sentences I've chosen to put in the video are "floating" without their original context.
Screenings:
nordicliveart.org , Gothenburg, Sweden
ID:I Galleri, Stockholm
Simrishamn 1st International Art Film Festival, Sweden (Focal Point)
Malmö Art Museum, Sweden
VIEW04, Muu Gallery, Helsinki 2004
Solo exhibition, Kunsthalle Lophem, Black Box, Belgium, 2003
Solo exhibition, Turku Art Museum, project space, 2003
BORDER
2003, DVD single channel, loop, silent
Border is made of photographs from the border between Finland and the Soviet Union during the last war. This part is more abstract and meditative - but as in Focal Point, the enemy is there, but can't be seen.
Screenings:
VIEW04, Muu Gallery, Helsinki 2004
Solo exhibition, Turku Art Museum, project space, 2003
part I (Cross)
part I (Death)
part III (Resurrection)
SUNDAY I-III (Cross,
death, resurrection)
2002, DVD three channels, loop, silent. Commissioned by the Showroom Gallery,
London
Screenings:
Finnish Cultural Institute, Oslo, 2004
Georges Abstraction Surface, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2003
The Showroom Gallery, London, 2002
Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium, 2002
Muu Gallery, Helsinki, 2002
The Nordic House, Reykjavik, 2002
THE CLEANING WOMAN
2001, DVD, installation with two monitors or projectors, loop, silent
The starting point for "The Cleaning Woman" was my life in a suburb in Helsinki. The orginal footage is about the elderly woman who was cleaning the stairs in the house where I lived. The documentary part is shown together with a black and white animation about the same person.
Screenings:
Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium, 2002
Leena Kuumola Gallery, Helsinki, 2001
KOSMOS
(eng. Cosmos) , DVD,
2001, dur. 8 min.
Language: Swedish, English subtitles
I've known "Cosmos" since I was a child, we are born in the same little village in the archipelago in the south of Finland. He is still living there together with his mother and father. In the video he is presenting his view of the universe.
"People like to think that the atom is very small, that the sun is very big, that the stars are very far away and that the universe is vast. But in fact the small doesn't exist without the big, and the big doesn't exist without the small, everything is connected. I don't really know if there is any difference between what's big and small. Maybe there are no proportions at all."
"I wouldn't say that it's impossible to travel in time and space psychically, but because you are earthbound you become a sort of a shaman trying to see the Spirit - trying to "compose the Universe". That's not science any more, it's poetry."
Screenings:
The Vth International Contemporary Art Exhibition, National Museum in
Szczecin, Poland, 2003
Galleri Overgaden, Kobenhavn, Danmark, 2003
Robert Beckham Memorial Cinema, New York, 2003
Tate Modern, London, 2002
Gallery 54, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2001
Turku Art Academy Gallery, Turku, Finland, 2001
Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK, 2002
The Nordic House, Reykjavik, 2002
Aroma Project Space, Berlin, Germany, 2002
Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2002
Finlandssvensk filmmönstring, Helsinki, 2002
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland, 2002
Transit Space, London, 2001
Teatro Fondamenta Nuova, Venice, Italy, 2001
Annecy, France, 2001
The Pitville Pump Room, Cheltenham, UK, 2001
Kettupäivät (film festival), Helsinki, 2001
VERA, (film festival), Mariehamn, Finland, 2001
Video Garden, Helsinki, 2000
Jangva Gallery, Helsinki, 2000
Solo exhibition, Leena Kuumola gallery, Helsinki, 2001
MOVING I
2000, videoanimation, DVD, loop,
silent
Breathing... The video shows an empty room getting stuffed with furniture, until the process is reversed and the room is empty again.
Screenings:
Turku Art Academy Gallery, Turku, Finland, 2003
VIEW02, Helsinki, 2002
Group show, Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium, 2002
Gallery 54, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2001
MOVING II
2000, videoanimation, DVD, loop,
silent
Houses (from different areas in Helsinki) covering the face of a young girl.
Screenings:
Turku Art Academy Gallery, Turku, Finland, 2003
VIEW02, Helsinki, 2002
Group show, Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium, 2002
Gallery 54, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2001
REDBLACKBLUE
1999, DVD, installation with three small monitors and loudspeakers, loop.
Language: Swedish
In "Red, Black and Blue" I wanted to use a politically coloured palette for looking at the root values in my society. For the project I have interviewed three men, each representing different kinds of ideological thinking. Each interview is "coloured" in red, blue and black according to the social concerns of these men.
The red and blue men are experienced "thinkers", and the black one is a young boy who calles himself an anarchist, but he is a bit uncertain about himself and his views.
Screenings:
NordicLiveArt, Gothenburg, Sweden
installation view,
Kari Kenetti Gallery, Helsinki 1996
TIME FROM NOW ON
(Numeral poem),1996, three channel
installation, DVD, loop (each 40 min) and light box. Sound.
Collection of Helsinki City Art Museum.
Video recordings of digital indicator board projected on the wall. Night photos and sounds from a bank, a grocery store, and an employment office.
The process of "Time from now on" turned political, when I was prohibited filming the digital indicator boards. The reason was that the film would show a too narrow view of the activities in the employment office, and thus negatively affect its image. However, I was allowed to film in another city.
Screenings:
Kari Kenetti Gallery, Helsinki, 1999
THE PRINCESS
1996, video 12"30, silent
Collection of Helsinki City Art Museum.
I recorded my own image as a silhouette on top of a famous "open-hearted" TV interview of Princess Diana. I am the anti-Diana, the flip side of the ideal womanhood. One cannot exist without the other. While Diana is pouring her heart out to the general public, the shadowgraph is gorging herself with food. The comparison refers to the humane imperfection which finally made Diana even more perfect as an icon of womanhood and martyr of love.
Screenings:
Quartair Gallery, Den Haag, Holland, 1998
Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki,1998
Kluuvi Gallery, Helsinki, 1996