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.
MAN is an expansion of gender and language, a journey of physical transformation through the wilderness of pregnancy echoed by the sole remaining recording of Virginia Woolf’s voice.
The film is a truly experimental expression of form – hand-processed super 8mm film combined with watercolour-negative animation; timelapses of a pregnancy shot frame by frame, day by day; bookended by a series of self-portraits where the filmmaker is satirising their own use of particular attire, generally read as masculine, becoming revelatory when posed in the context of the pregnant body.
For a decade Borg has been exploring the semantics of visual language in their work, experimented with form to push content beyond the limits of established thought. The use the deconstruction of language to dismantle other systems – may they be political, sexual, economic or cultural. This is the second time they draw on the essay Craftsmanship by Virginia Woolf, this time to deconstruct gender identity during their own pregnancy.
Born 1982 in Norrköping, Sweden. Works internationally and is based both in Sweden and the UK. Visual Artist and Film Director, additionally working as Director of Photography, Dramaturg and Creative Editor.
”The work of Maja Borg exists at the intersection of documentary, fiction and experimental film fusing the languages of these genres into a compelling, visually rich and politically astute body of work. Borg’s films are as likely to be seen in film festivals or television as they are in the visual arts context. The artist uniquely succeeds in defying genre expectations and their language seamlessly combines elements of animation, experimental camera and sound techniques with tools of documentary filmmaking. Their films have tackled subjects ranging from investigations of myths and traditions, borders of desire and violence and, most recently, urgent contemporary issues such as the crisis of capitalism and the global environmental and economic downturn, investigating what options one has in such a dystopian landscape.”
/Lina Dzuverovic, co-founder and Director of Electra – contemporary art agency, London
