20 January – 12 March 2023
Tromsø Kunstforening, Muségata 2, Tromsø, Norway
Free entry
Counterimaginaries (or Motforestillinger in Norwegian) is this year’s Tromsø International Film Festival exhibition, and has been curated by Mike Sperlinger/PRISMS.
The exhibition is based around a classic of Norwegian ‘new wave’ cinema, Erik Løchen’s Remonstrance (Motforestilling, 1972). Here Remonstrance is presented alongside a series of moving image works by contemporary artists including Ed Atkins, Lene Berg, Kevin B. Lee, Maryam Tafakory, James Kienitz Wilkins and Rehana Zaman, while the whole exhibition has been designed by artist Tobias Putrih.
‘Motforestilling’ (Erik Løchen) in Tobias Putrih’s installation 
‘Motforestilling’ (Erik Løchen) in Tobias Putrih’s installation 
‘Motforestilling’ (Erik Løchen) in Tobias Putrih’s installation 
‘Motforestilling’ (Erik Løchen) in Tobias Putrih’s installation 
‘Motforestilling’ (Erik Løchen) in Tobias Putrih’s installation 
Tobias Putrih’s auditorium with moving parts 
Special Features (James Kienitz Wilkins) playing in Putrih’s auditorium 
‘Transformers: The Premake’ (Kevin B. Lee) playing in Putrih’s audtorium 
‘Transformers: The Premake’ (Kevin B. Lee) playing in Putrih’s audtorium 
Putrih’s auditorium, exhibition opening 
Putrih’s auditorium, exhibition opening 
Putrih’s auditorium (in between screenings) 
Putrih’s auditorium (in between screenings)
Installation shots: Mihály Stefanovicz/Tromsø Kunstforening
A satire about a film crew trying to shoot a political film, Remonstrance is unique in that its 5 reels can be shown in any order, meaning there are 120 potential versions of the film. Putrih has been invited to create a unique architecture in which to experience Remonstrance, in which the audience must negotiate the film’s different parts and each other.
Løchen wanted his film to unsettle the certainties and conventions of postwar Norwegian life, not only in its themes – the thriller-like narrative touches on terrorism, surveillance, great power politics, NATO etc. – but also in its form. With its fractured narrative open to different interpretations, Remonstrance was ahead of its time in imagining its audience as co-authors.
For the second part of the show Putrih has devised an auditorium of moving parts in which to watch the contemporary works. These very different works share a curious, sceptical interest in how today’s moving images are produced, from the conventions of television interviews to the fate of cinema in the age of social media.
As part of the exhibition, the Kunstforening will also host a special workshop performative film production workshop in February by the Institute for Scene Experiments.
Download a pdf of the gallery guide here