Face to Face with… Andreas Nilsson

Renowned for his promos for the likes of The Knife, Jose Gonzalez and White Lies, Swedish director Andreas Nilsson has returned to his fine art roots with an evening event in LA's Soho House as part of the new Flux Artist Series.

Curated by Flux's Jonathan and Meg Wells and presented in collaboration with Furlined, Nilsson's exhibition was the inaugural event in the Flux Artists Series at Soho House - a new project designed to provide intimate salon experiences. Featuring installations, site specific art, performance and video, shots.net tracked down the eclectic director to talk art, ideas and pancakes.


You originally studied fine art in Gothenburg, how and why did you cross into moving image?

I did some animated pieces in art school. A friend of mine Karin Dreijer Andersson saw that and liked it. She asked me to do a video for her band called the Knife. It turned out pretty good and I've been doing that ever since.

How does the creative process differ between your artistic projects and film work? And does one help inform the other?

Film work is a much less isolated process, a group effort where everyone's contribution is important.

Tell us a bit about the meaning or ideas behind a couple of your pieces on show at the Flux Artist Series, such as the Pancake installation?

It's a piece that started many years ago when me and some friends tried to create a mythology around a famous ufo-lore incident. It was in 1961 and Joe Simonton had a close encounter with aliens that looked like Italians. They left the disillusioned man with four pancakes that he tried to show the world.

We started a quasi-sect around the phenomenon called Scrollen. At the Soho House, The Church of Pancakes has taken the form of a musical in a way, with three caged aliens performing a couple of folksongs created by Hans Appelqvist and Chris De Burgh. We are elevating the myth of Joe Simonton into heavenly proportions.

Where do you tend to find the inspiration or ideas for your work?

From internal and external stimulus.

What have you been watching/reading/listening to lately that you would recommend to shots readers?

Music from the label Kning Disk and art by Christian Andersson.

Do you have any other creative projects in the pipeline that you can let us in on?

I'm working on a play with Malin Stenberg at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. We are doing an adaptation of one of my favourite movies, Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf. I look forward to working with the Royal Dramatic Theatre's amazing ensemble. It's going to be a lot of fun.