Alexander Svartvatten [b.1978, residing in Sweden] studied Fine Arts at the academies in Umeå, Sweden and Bergen, Norway and achived his Master in 2011.
Time and Space being the core components through which his stories unfold their narrative, which is conceptually influenced by thinkers such as Paul Virilio [b. 1932] and Giorgio Agamben [b. 1942].
In Svartvatten’s films, installations, soundworks and sculptures, he frequently portrays life lived as war – as lived in an in-between state – on the fringe – as a transgression of the inside and the outside – lost – as a Homo Sacer.
The use of archival material is often used simultaneously with references to recent or upcoming events. Some surreal passages could find their references in films by David Lynch [b. 1946] or in soundpieces by the artist-duo Janet Cardiff [b. 1957] and Bures Miller [b. 1960]. Installations could remind the viewer of works by Mike Nelson [b. 1967-] and Christian Boltanski [b. 1944-].
No matter the technique, the hallmark of Svartvatten is a multi-layered narrative. An experience of merged elements of the real and fictional. At times impossible to tell apart.
