Marjo Levlin
Ellipsis
28.5.-20.6.2021
The artist will be present on Friday 28.5., Saturday 5.6. and Sunday 13.6.
ELLIPSIS 2020 28:15’
Ellipsis is a meandrous story where the monologist encounters sculpture-like foam animals and a large fabric stretched between trees in a forest that archers use for target practice. The fabric evokes an image of a forested movie screen or a theater stage with sculpture animals. Through the story, the mute and mysterious plastic animals that play the role of archery targets come alive. They become a part of history which, through the famous Disney film “Bambi”, makes one reflect on sports hunting and the tradition of human and animal representation. The narrator’s story moves on to explore the historical relationship between zoos and mental asylums, which unexpectedly converges in several areas, such as circuses with their “freaks” and trained animals, the portrayal of indigenous peoples as exotic curiosities, eugenics, mass production of animals and industrial slaughter for human nutrition, tourism, racism…
The collage-like essay film combines text with visual material in an original way and was mainly filmed in a forest in eastern Helsinki, but also at the Rabat Zoo in Morocco, at the collections of Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg and, as it happened, in a remote graveyard in Astoria, Oregon, in the United States. Furthermore, the piece consists of old stereoscopic footage.
The film was supposed to have its premiere at Galleria Huuto in May 2020, but it was postponed for a year due to the pandemic. However, it ended up taking place at the DocPoint Festival in January 2021. In addition, Ellipsis was selected in the national competition series at Tampere Film Festival in 2021 where it received the Finnish Film Foundation’s Risto Jarva prize.
MARJO LEVLIN (b. 1966, Graz, Austria) is a visual artist/filmmaker living and working in Helsinki. In her works, she examines both personal and universal themes, combining history with current phenomena. Originally a painter, Levlin now works mainly with installations and short films and often uses found and collected objects as her construction materials. Archives, science and history have played an increasingly significant role in her latest works. Levlin’s works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions as well as festivals since the mid-1990s in Finland and abroad and are included in both public and private collections.
The production of the work has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Svenska kulturfonden, Oskar Öflund Foundation and Frame.
The exhibition has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Further information:
Marjo Levlin
+358 44 596 4727
marjo.levlin@gmail.com
www.marjolevlin.fi
