Menu

Johan Bergström Hyldahl

Winterreise

Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Stockholm

Log in to watch the artist video if you have been given an access

Artist
Johan Bergström Hyldahl
Title
Winterreise
Year
2015
Duration
16 min
Format & Technical

Single Channel, HD video, colour, sound
Edition 5 + 2 AP

  • Music
  • Voice
  • Text
  • Produced By
  • Postproduction
  • Sound Mix
  • Photography
  • Choreography
  • Animation
  • Cast
  • Special Thanks
  • Other

The video work chronicles the tale of the lowland gorilla Katharina Wisnierska, whose dream of flying carries her further than she could ever imagine, while at the same time inevitably towards the end of her short life.

Winterreise (Winter Journey) chronicles the tale of the lowland gorilla Katharina Wisnierska and her life in Bavaria, Germany. At an early age, around the time when the Moon suddenly and mysteriously disappears from its orbit around the Earth, Katharina develops an interest in flying, and after flying planes and parachutes, she becomes a competitive paraglider. Katharina’s growing connection to birds and the Moon becomes a consolation in a world where she feels like an outsider. In Bergström Hyldahl’s fairytale, Katharina’s dream of flying carries her further than she could ever imagine, while at the same time inevitably towards the end of her short life.

Winterreise is to a great extent driven by music, partly by Franz Schubert ́s piano concert with the same title, creating an intense film where fantasy, music and natural phenomena are intertwined in an imaginative story about longing, social exclusion and loss. As in previous works by Bergström Hyldahl, the interplay between gravity and humour keeps the viewer off balance. Working with computer­generated imagery as well as a handheld camera, Johan Bergström Hyldahl combines fantastical fiction with a documentary narration. In Bergström Hyldahl’s contemporary landscapes, Caspar David Friedrich, and the romantic tradition are unmistakably present in capturing the mystery of nature.

Stills

Still
Still
Still