Missing Out, 2001 DV 4'14" loop
Missing Out
The video begins with a bird’seye-view of a group of people lying sprawled on a floor in an irregular formation. No apparent activity is taking place, it seems perhaps to be a photo session of a fashion photographer. It is in fact a reconstruction of a collective breathing exercise for relaxation. The artist drew inspiration from a clear childhood memory of a collective relaxation exercise (a group activity commonly found in schools and kindergartens across Sweden in the 1970s). The video addresses things one learns as a child and re-learns as an adult, and about performance as a staged event and as the pressure to achieve. The anxiety of always having to be ready to perform and participate is constantly present in the work.
A film by Johanna Billing
Cinematography by: Manne Lindwall
Produced by Rooseum, Malmö.