AiR Tilburg

Hillside Projects

Hillside Projects is an artist duo consisting of Emily Berry Mennerdahl & Jonas Böttern. Hillside Projects explore methods of storytelling and mainly work with performance, text, and video. Notions of extinction currently lie at the core of their artistic practice, and they attempt to locate alternative ways to talk about species loss and human/more than human relationships i.e. through an embracing of the slightly absurd and a juxtaposition of the tragic and comedic. To recognize the cultural and political assumptions behind what is of value in nature and what is not, and how this forms us.

Who should be saved and why?
Who decides who should be saved?
Is it time to say goodbye?

Hillside Projects are currently based in Stockholm. Their videos are distributed by FilmForm – The Art Film and Video Archive and Vidéographe Montréal. They are board members of ID:I Galleri in Stockholm and Böttern is a board member of NKF (Nordic Art Association).

Hillside Projects was formed in 2011, during a longer stay in India. Residing on the top of a hill in a small village in the south, conversations and daily excursions evolved into larger projects. Travel, movement and exchange have always been important elements for both artists and continues to be so within the collaboration. Music, alternative healing practices, writing, daily yoga practice and travel continue to inspire their work.

About the artists

Emily Berry Mennerdahl, born 1980, holds an MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University, Montréal (2009) and a BA (Hons) Photography from Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K (2004). Since returning to Sweden she participated in The Photographic Artist Book Postgraduate Course at The Royal Institute of Art Stockholm (2018). Prior to Hillside Projects she collaborated with Canadian artist Veronique Malo in The Independant Study Group and has taken part in residencies, screenings and exhibitions in amongst other places The Banff Centre, Articule Montréal, Excentris Montréal, Botkyrka Konsthall, Urbis Centre. Berry Mennerdahl was previously a research assistant at Hexagram -Media Arts at Concordia University and occasionally works as a visiting lecturer in Photography at Manchester School of Art, England and The Royal Institute of Art Stockholm.

Jonas Böttern, born 1977 in Lund, completed his MFA in Fine Arts at Konstfack – University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm (2016). Upon graduation at Konstfack Böttern was awarded the honorable Principle Scholarship. Recently (2020), Jonas completed the postgraduate course Art in the Open at Konstfack. Prior to his studies at Konstfack, Böttern has participated in artist residencies in China and India and is self-taught with a background in painting and drawing. Traveling has always played a significant role in his artist practice and continues to do so. Jonas is a board member of NKF (The Nordic Art Association) in Stockholm.

This residency is part of SEA Foundations’ longer term research project art and sustainability fold #01 on Empathy

Website Hillside Projects
Video channel: Vimeo
Read more on exhibition THEY WHO WERE
See full reading list on empathy, including the suggestions from Hillside Projects.