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still - cecilia lundqvist

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Video arte e animação suecas. Tobias Anderson e Cecília Ludqvist.

State of Fear 6'40" © 2004

Inspired from George W Bush's 2004 State of the Union speech, State of Fear creates a message of its own, dealing with events happening in the contemporary world, a quite different statement than the original text's. Who has really got ambitions of empire in our world?

879 colour 1'23" © 2002

In 2002, a colour version of 879 (see the page for videos 1997-98) was made - 879 colour. Although the images originally are the same, both works end up being very different from eachother. Where the black and white version very clearly has its own life and creates something completely new, the colour version still have very obvious marks of the original work North by Northwest and focuses more on what both works really are - severe reductions of the old Hollywood classic.

879 colour was in 2002 nominated for The International Media Art Award at ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst- und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Everybody Wants to Be Grant 2'53" © 2002

Everybody Wants to Be Grant, is a further development of My Name Is Grant, where I go farther in investigating the pros and cons of celebrityhood, with basis in myself and Cary Grant. The work is formed by a simple imagery, which in diffuse slow-motion sequences interplay with a more complex soundtrack. The title comes from a statement made by a journalist whilst interviewing Grant. "Everybody wants to be Cary Grant", the journalist is supposed to have said, at which Grant replied: "So would I".

Nine Piece Rope 2'24" © 2002

In September 2002 the video Nine Piece Rope was finished. It's Alfred Hitchcock's Rope compressed into two minutes and ten seconds, cut into nine pieces, and put together again in a non-chronological order. The work is trying to move the focus of the viewer from the place the original filmmakers had in mind, to other, more peripheral areas of the image.

My Name Is Grant 1'52" © 1999

My Name Is Grant is a manysided work, which investigates the icon role, that Cary Grant had already during his lifetime, and that puts the spectator in an imaginative centre to be on the same level as the subject of the video.

The work is the first in a series of works, which with basis in Grant inverstigates things like celebrityhood, identity, dual personalities and media hype. The take-off from Grant is partly because Cary Grant really was an alias for Archibald Leach, something that occationally made him confused in the search of his own self.

Originally being a soundwork, with the central point in Grant's monologue, the video is illustrated by aesthetically put sceneries, that do not interfear with the video's soundtrack. All pictures are chosen and created frame by frame, the same procedure as in animation, which gives me total control of the output of the final result.

Active Passive Passage Conversation 2'04" © 2000

September 19th 2000, the animation Active Passive Passage Conversation was shown for the first time. It is a two-minute video that deals with people's inability to communicate with each other in common situations. How we speak beside one another, do not listen to what is really said, and do not say what we really mean. A big problem in everyday life, for too many, not least myself of course. Visually the work is made in a colourful, highly contrasted style, with characters reminding us of past decades. The expression is very typical of me. In this case it also works well in combination with the sound, since the dialogue is created only from cut-out lines of movies from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Decades I constantly return to, as a source of material for my different projects.

eu retorno constantemente, em busca de material para meus diferentes projetos.

879 0'48" © 1998

879 is based upon 879 drawn still images from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, redone into a transparent black and white version. The images, that were chosen from the Swedish translation of the movie, were replaced in cronological order, one frame per illustration, that through this create a completely new expression. The pictures are accompanied by a clicking sound, which actually is one click per frame - altogether 879 clicks.

The video's astounding tempo makes it possible to watch it several times and it is also suitable to be screened as a loop without a clear beginning or end.

879 is created digitally, but is still drawn all by hand, pictures that were made 1997-98. It was first shown at The Chocolate Factory in Malmö, September 1st 1998, and has since that been shown at a very large number of occations all over the world.

In 2002, a colour version of 879 was made - 879 colour.

Smile 6'02" © 2003

Smile is an animated video that reflects a standardized society, were only one single individual has the courage to be different. This makes the rank and file react, restraining the person to keep the order. When this is not working the problem is eliminated in another way. The story is created from sampled material from an English language course, where the content originally is totally different. It's the texts that contribute with the major narrative in the work. Also the images are coming from a totally different context, mainly advertising leaflets. It has been important for me to use existing material from my nearest surroundings, and to break these things down, and to use these fragments to create a new whole. With this I am trying to visualize and amplify something existing under the surface, but yet not completely visible.

Absolutley Normal 7'09" © 2000

Absolutely Normal is an animation in which two visually identical women represent one person. In seven animations they passively watch or actively perform metaphoric actions, that together symbolize and give a concrete form to a fictive separation of the human mind. The animated parts the video contains has their own titles that work as a support for the spectator without being too obvious, thanks to the phonetic text that has been used. The drawn women use the picture space like a stage where they act out what could be described as a sort of animated performances. To emphasize the triviality about these actions, the performances are done by routine and without any enthusiasm what so ever. The video's main purpose is to make these negative human behaviours visible, and in a way give the viewer a chance of self-examination and insight. The main title is to remind us about the normality of this behaviour.

Beware of Playing Children 1'05" © 2000

Beware of Playing Children is an animation involving social criticism, where two children in form of a play together reflect and illustrate the construction of a society which conceal a rare image of sickness. The story is a reaction of how incomprehensible it is when innocence turn out to be the opposite.

C 2'37" © 2001

C is an animation that consists of five different, simply shaped scenarios. The separate scenes, presented by two drawn young girls, all reflect a slow change between something good and something evil.

I want to show a possible outcome between playing children, when access, opportunity and an impuls of wanting to hurt somebody else appears at the same time. This evilness, that usually is well hidden within the feeling of innocence that a small child in general gives us, now and then shows its face and puts us in a complete state of chock and incomprehensibility.

Emblem 2'27" © 2001

Emblem is an animated video that consists of one scenario, containing several short clips. Colourful animations illustrate the rather spartan and monotonous actions between the main characters and a couple of objects. A woman dressed in a bathing costume and white socks perform certain gymnastic movements, observed by a man dressed in a suit. The woman has several bruises, more or less visible on her body. These pictures are accompanied by a soundtrack containing a dialogue between a man and a woman. The monotonous and the repetations are recognised as well in the pictures as in the sound, and give a sense of being trapped in a treadmill. It is also in the soundtrack that the narrative is the strongest, and where an ongoing struggle of power is visualized. The viewer gets a premonition of violent acts within the safe walls of home, but if the damage is self-inflicted or not is obviously a question of interpretation, as no actual violence is being shown. Simply put - you choose to see what you want to see.

The main intention with this video is to visualize an endless struggle of power, that has become a part of the normal day routine, in this case between a man and a woman.

Trim 3'47" © 1997

Trim is the second separate animation of the series where the main character is a stylized black-and-white stereotype figure that represent myself. In this video the outer world expands. She has a whole house filled with personal belongings and there is even a world outside her home. During a promenade the girl finds a stray dog, which she allures to approach her and then by force takes home. There she decides to follow a book of rules when it comes to dogs appearances. The story is a reaction over people’s way of accepting other people's opinions and following these examples without considering whether they are right or wrong.

Total aproximado : 36 minutos.