‘LAND’, the first solo exhibition in Spain by Swedish artist John Skoog, presents the artist’s latest film ‘SHADOWLAND’, alongside other works from the artist’s practice. This project by A Tale of a Tub is in collaboration with LOOP Barcelona and Museu d’Història de Catalunya.

The films on show at Museu d’Història de Catalunya show the interest of the artist in the recollection of classical films. In The Chemical Analysis of the Last Breath Skoog presents the surviving material from a fire in a Hollywood Studio in the 1930s which brought to the destruction of many films from the early 20th century.

In his latest film ‘SHADOWLAND’ images from the Californian landscape pass by at a very slow pace, reminiscent of Scandinavian film noir. Shot on 16mm, the multifarious environment seems to be a place that functions outside the realm of time. Fragments of recognition and memory are resurrected by revisiting locations from early Hollywood films. We see desolate landscapes, extensive views, images of the sea, and endless rock formations. Echoes of classical films are heard within a collage constructed of audio fragments that were once recorded in the Californian landscape.

The Rotterdam-based nonprofit organization A TALE OF A TUB, explores alternative modes for the development and presentation of contemporary art. Research, dialogue and reflection lie at the center of the project’s programming. Intertwined with the presentation program, a local public program is organized, consisting of performances, screenings, artist talks, publications, lectures by curators and scholars, and theory development.