Be A Man

Video Art

(Nothing But) Nonsense

A Quest for squirrel Companionship

Made in collaboration with german video artist Christina Dresel “Be a man” is a critique of toxic masculinity and the cyclical nature of violence that traditional masculinity advocates and is based on. With this video we commentate on the indoctrination of men into these violent patterns, commenting on how we as a society discourage vulnerability and emotional literacy for men and there by create a culture where the only emotional response comes in the form of violence. The end product is emotionally stunted adults, which in turn make for the perfect soldier, capable of committing unthinkable acts unburdened by empathy.

Made in response to Alex Da Corte's performance called Chelsea Hotel No.2. The original video features a large array of different consumer items whereas I wanted to focus on the natural. Wanting to commentate on how on a societal plane we value and treat the natural. Inspired by the poem Idealism and Realism by Swedish poet Gustaf Fröding which at the end of the poem states: "Snus is Snus, and nonsense is nonsense even if contained in a box of gold. But a rose in a broken pot is still always a rose". Fröding underlines the vanity of the tobacco product snus in order to contrast his perceived view of the beauty of the natural. I used the Talking Heads' song (Nothing But) Flowers as audio which plot about a dystopian future where all the concrete structure and consumerist objects have disappeared, and in their place is nothing but nature and flowers. The video recordings are played in reverse in order to give a false sense of positivity to contradict the gloomy commentary. This parallels well with the song whose upbeat tempo gives a similar false sense of positivity contradicting the lyrics and now also the visuals of my performance.

My video documents my endeavors in trying to tame a local squirrel population. Attempting to grasp how far removed wild animals are from humans and the human concept of domestication and tameness. The light satirical tone of the editing and the choice of music is done to compliment the absurdity of the concept and the footage. I chose to edit my video along with the classical piece The Flower Duet by Leo Delibes in order to add an ironic sense of grace, class, and importance to the quite absurd footage of me clumsily chasing squirrels around for a couple of days.

Park Upkeep

Par Upkeep is an experimental 360-degree short film written and directed by David Agardh. The film is a found footage horror film that follows a tourist hiker and their guide as hike throw the woods, unknowing of the dangers ahead.