After hours
Mats Hjelm (born 1959) is one of Sweden ́s most prominent video artists and documentary filmmakers. Since the early 1990’s, his monumental video work has been shown world-wide, and the documentary film Black
Nation (2008) has received international acclaim over the past years.
In a number of large-scale video installations, such as Black Like Him (2008), Father’s Day at the Shrine of the Black Madonna (2006), and the Trilogy White Flight – Man to Man – Kap Atlantis (1997-2002), the history of the blacks in America is in focus. Poetic images interwoven with documentary footage tell stories of oppression, pride and the complexity of integration. But Hjelm’s work also encompass more down-to-earth video works such as After Hours (2010), where dancers in business suits perform an incredulous dance with the office space as a backdrop.
Hjelm’s work has been shown in numerous solo- and group exhibitions, including Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Museum of African American History, Detroit, Dubai International Film Festival, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Venice Biennale.
After Hours is a video installation exploring how we are affected by social norms and expectations in an office environment. Hjelm explores w hat happens at the office when everyone has gone home and who we are allowed to become when we meet outside the given boundaries. In the scenes, the individuals meet in a much more human, intimate and loving way than what is customary at an office. The art piece consists of several film sequences with various character put together as a whole. After Hours is a playful and sagacious
comment on the working life today, with all it ́s roles and implied rules.
After Hours is screened in the SSE Atrium