Knut Åsdam

Norwegian filmmaker and artist Knut Åsdam has developed a five-year film project in five chapters - as part of Oslobiennalen.

The project is presented as short clips at various tv-screens in public spaces all over Oslo before they are assembled into a feature film. Through stories about crises or deviations in different environments in the city, Åsdam explores the relationship between place and room for manoeuvre and how different areas in society are structured. The crises can be of a social or personal nature and the stories are told from underrepresented perspectives in society. 

 
SPEECH, Oslo, Chapter 2, 30 min is about language and deviations and describes, among other things, a therapy situation at a language clinic. The main character is a language pathologist and the film follows her at work and in everyday life and highlights different ways of using language. Åsdam takes situations where the language does not function as a starting point for dialogues that go in and out of function and fiction. The characters in the film communicate through partly dysfunctional language, but a change in context and social context means almost more.

Shown at Oslo Central Station, Schous Bøker at Grünerløkka, and at Tøyen Metro Station. Several places may be added during the period. The film is shown in six episodes of around 4-5 minutes each over a period of six weeks.

SPEECH, Oslo, Chapter 2, 30 min is shown in collaboration with Oslobiennalen 

Knut Åsdam (b. 1968, Norway) is an artist, filmmaker and writer. He studied at Whitney Museum Independent Study Program (NYC 94-95), Jan van Eyck Akademie (Maastricht, 92-94), and Goldsmiths College (London, 89-92). Through film, video and installation, Åsdam's work shows modern society, its psychological and material effects and the daily toil and struggle, and how individuals adapt their identity and desires in response to society's rules and organization. The peculiarity of Åsdam's films is created by drawing attention to space, history and place. This is combined with an acute sense of subjectivity and language and a mixture of documentary and fictional narrative elements that drive the action.