In each of her short films, Niki Lindroth von Bahr shares a vision of the world tinged with humour and melancholy. Stop-motion, the technique she has used since she started out, sets in motion figurines representing little animals with human attributes and behaviour. These characters move around in familiar spaces brimming with details: a supermarket, a hotel, a fast food joint, a petrol station, a nuclear power station, a swimming pool… Like us, they worry, suffer, and wait for a better life; their need to connect with others is palpable.
Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s work is now internationally recognised. A regular guest at short film and animated film festivals, with films such as The Burden winning several awards, she is also present on the TV channel Arte and on Netflix. Since 14 January the platform has presented the dark, eccentric comedy The House, for which she made one of the three chapters.
The exhibition at the Institut Suédois presents a retrospective of her work and reveals her creative processes via drawings, storyboards, photos and “making of” videos, as well as some sets and characters from the films, highlighting how slow and complex they are to put together. Reproductions of paintings, graphic novels and film excerpts also provide an insight into artworks and artists who have particularly inspired her.
There will be an opportunity to meet the filmmaker during the exhibition run.
The exhibition will then be presented in spring 2023 as part of the Lumières Nordiques event at the Alexis de Tocqueville Library in Caen.