lifeiscarbon®

Team Carbon Update

For less regular readers of lifeiscarbon® or those who may be new to the website, we thought it worth quickly restating what we do and why we do it. At it’s simplest, lifeiscarbon® is a way for us to raise awareness and interest in Scandinavian Aesthetics and particularly in the art, design, fashion and music from the region that we happen to love. Why? Partly because it provides useful research for a number of The Carbon Foundation’s own ventures (ie carbonislife® –retail concept, carbonphotography® - commercial photography, ordinaryeverday® - fashion brand and lifeiscarbon® - print edition) but more importantly because we want to help local talent. Sadly, we’ve had the privilege of knowing too many talented individuals and companies from the region who simply don’t get the critical and financial return that they deserve. This website is one of the many small ways in which we try to help them.

Despite the fact that we enjoy writing about others, our motto of Faire Sans Dire makes us rather reticent to talk about ourselves. However, being a not-for-profit organization makes it necessary for us to occasionally turn to our readers for help. Whilst our editorial neutrality is important to us and we’ve gone on record as never accepting advertising on this site, we are currently involved in a number of interesting conversations with global brands that would like to collaborate creatively with us. Given the number of projects we’re interested in creating (including co-branded fashion ranges, guerilla stores, touring art exhibitions, book publishing etc etc), we’re keen to hear from brands that want to work with us. Beyond hearing from brands, if you happen to be a graphic designer, web designer or a stylist and would like to get involved in one of our up coming projects, we'd love to hear from you.

Finally, a quick word about music. We have to confess that music has been neglected of late but, given the number of musical discoveries we’ve made recently, we’re pleased to announce that carbonsounds™ will be relaunching later this week. It seems that it’s not only readers who have been missing our musicals profiles but also the bands themselves. Whilst we can’t promise to review all of the CDs that are sent to us, we’d like to encourage artists from the region to continue sending us their new releases (contact details here) in order for us to keep writing about the best new music from the region.

New Films From Iceland

Whilst we define Scandinavian Aesthetics as encompassing art, design, fashion and music from across the Nordic region, one of our greatest passions is for film. Classic Scandinavian films like The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman, Pelle the Conqueror by Bille August, Elvira Madigan by Bo Widerberg, The Celebration by Thomas Vinterberg, The Pathfinder by Nils Gaup, Elling by Petter Næss and Cold Fever by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson encapsulate the history, culture and aesthetics of the region far better than we can ever hope to do so with this website. We’re not suggesting you stop reading lifeiscarbon®, but we do recommend that you find time to see all of the films mentioned above.

As if catching up on must-see Scandinavian films wasn’t enough, the list of notable new films from the region is growing all the time. For those of you who happen to be in New York, there’s an opportunity to view some of the best new short films from Iceland on Thursday, April 17 at Scandinavia House. The films are part of Scandinavia House’s Nordic Shorts series, an on-going series introducing some of the finest new shorts by the next generation of Nordic filmmakers. The series concludes next month with new films from Norway.

Take a look below to watch Dog, an animation by Hermann Karlsson and to read more about other recent short films from Iceland including Misty Mountain by Óskar Þor Axelsson, Thanks For Helping by Benedikt Erlingsson, Wrestling by Grímur Hákonarson, Whatever by Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Rattlesnakes by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, and Anna by Helena Stefánsdóttir.

Behind The Scenes

Whilst it feels somewhat immodest to do so, it seems as though some of our readers would like us to tell them more about the people behind the scenes at lifeiscarbon®. Given the number of emails we’ve been receiving asking for information, we thought we’d save ourselves some time by adding a profile of our Founder and Editor-in-Chief to the site, rather than having to respond to emails individually.

If you’re only here for a daily dose of Scandinavian Aesthetics and hoping to catch a glimpse of some interesting art, design, fashion or music from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, then you probably won’t be interested in reading a profile of the creator of lifeiscarbon®. If that’s the case, then simply scroll down and read some of our previous articles or wait until later today when we’ll be introducing you to another talented new photographer from Scandinavia as part of our long running carbonarts™ series.

Scandinavian Limited Editions

Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Farewell is a small but fascinating independent publisher of artists books. With a primary focus on photography, Farewell produces and publishes simple but stunningly beautiful artist books. lifeiscarbon® are big fans of their books and applaud their efforts as an independent publisher of interesting artwork that might otherwise not see the light of day.

Last month saw the publication of Farewell’s fourth book, As Far As I Could Get by John Divola.
The intriguing series of photographs within the book were made in 1996 and 1997. Running as far as he could during the ten
seconds that the camera's self-timer allowed, Divola captured shots that seem to create a meditation on time and mortality.


Two earlier books by Farewell, Woodland and Machina by Mårten Lange, have recently been reprinted and are once again available from their online store. Sadly the first printing of their other book, Magnus Gyllensten's Late Winter Early Spring, is sold out but Farewell tell us that a second
printing is underway. Take a look below at a selection of pages from Farewell's books:

New Scandinavian Films

Suddenly (Underbara älskade) by Johan Brisinger

Given the long hours of darkness in Scandinavia at this time of year and evenings that seem to begin soon after lunchtime, we’ve been making the most of the opportunity by watching some of the best new films from the region.

Any of our readers who are International films fans should take a look below for brief reviews of our recent favorites from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. For those of our readers who happen to live in New York, there’s a chance to catch all of these films at Scandinavia House as part of their popular annual Winter/Spring film series.

Ingmar Bergman Tribute

Ingmar Bergman first went to Fårö, a remote island in the Baltic Sea, on a stormy day in April 1960, to look for a location to shoot his film Through a Glass Darkly. The visit made a deep and lasting impression on him. From that date, seven of Bergman’s films were shot on Fårö. It’s also the place where he lived and worked for long periods of his life, and where Bergman was eventually buried following his sad passing earlier this year. Having once made the long pilgrimage to see his home on Fårö (despite the fact that the island is officially off limits as it’s a Swedish military area), we can vouch for the fact that it is a mysteriously beautiful place.

If you happen to be in New York next month, there’s a rare chance to see the documentary film Bergman Island at Scandinavia House as part of a tribute honoring the legendary Swedish director. Produced and directed by Marie Nyeröd, the documentary is being screened by The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) and The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Saturday, November 17.

As if this wasn’t enough of a treat Bergman fans, there’s also a memorial tribute and a special screening of three of his films at the BAM Rose Cinemas. Persona and Shame will be screened on November 20 and our favorite film of all time, Fanny and Alexander, will be screened the following day. If you haven’t ever seen Fanny and Alexander, you should! Considered by many to be one of his best films (Bergman intended the film to be his last ever feature, although he did go on to write several screenplays and to direct some TV specials), it is not an exaggeration to suggest that watching this film might change your life. See below for more details about the documentary and films in this special tribute:

New Nordic Short Films

Rondo by Marja Mikkonen

Whilst the Nordic region may not be home to the biggest movie industry in the world, its short films do regularly win top prizes at major film festivals around the world, To reflect this fact, Scandinavia House in New York is presenting a Nordic Shorts series, a wide-ranging survey of genres that introduces some of the best film shorts by the latest generation of Nordic filmmakers. The series begins this month with seven short films by Finnish directors and continues with films from Sweden, Denmark and Norway well into the Spring of next year.

The program of Finnish films includes Anu Pennanen’s Friendship (Sõprus- Дружба), a fascinating look at how two initially hostile groups of Russian and Estonian teenagers in Estonia come to know each other. Alli Haapasalo’s comedy Ilona (The Girl Who Had No Problems) explores the identity crisis of a young woman as she prepares to graduate from high school. Other highlights include Sami Korjus’s black comedy Harvest Time (Elonkorjuu) about a farm wife fed up with her lazy husband; Mika Hotakainen’s Visitor (Ensimmäinen Eskelinen), a darkly humorous portrayal of a father and son in rural northern Finland; and the animated story of an air hostess on a plane full of nasty passengers in The Irresistible Smile (Ilo irti) by the award-winning animator Ami Lindholm. See below for more details about the Nordic Shorts series and about the individual films:

Life Is A Freak Show

It all started just under two years ago when Gard and Bee, two friends from Norway, saw some photos of Mickey Avalon that had been taken by the the Cobrasnake and were inspired to start their own website. For those that don't know, the Cobrasnake is the pseudonym of Los Angeles photographer Mark Hunter whose eponymous website features candid digital photographs of parties, club nights and various promotional events in the US.

The launch of Gard and Bee’s new site, called thepolarbeer, soon followed and it quickly became clear that people just can’t get enough of their candid shots of partying Scandinavians. These days, following the departure of Bee, the polarbeer is run by Gard Q. Hugaas alone but he has received official encouragement from Mark Hunter following a meeting with him in London. Check out a small selection of shots from thepolarbeer below:

Danish Film In New York

Next week sees the start of an interesting Danish film series at Scandinavia House in New York. Featuring some of the best known films from Nordisk Film, one of the world’s oldest film production and distribution companies, the selection being screened can in many ways be viewed as a history of Danish cinema, from the very early days (Nordisk Film was founded by Ole Olsen in 1906) right up to the present day.

Olsen’s innovative and forward-looking company has often been regarded as synonymous with filmmaking in Denmark. Before the First World War, Nordisk was a prominent force in developing the language of cinema and hugely at successful competing internationally, maintaining offices in Berlin, Vienna, London, and New York. Productions at the company’s studios in Valby (near Copenhagen) were aimed at an international audience and the films in this series reflect Nordisk Film’s high production values and preference for literary stories and socially relevant subject matter. Continue reading to see details of the films being screened including a couple of our favorites; the award winning Pelle the Conqueror and the harrowing Aftermath:

New Monograph Magazine

If you’re a fan of the style of photography that we often feature on lifeiscarbon®, by the likes of photographers such as Sannah Kvist and Emilie Björk for example, then you’ll love Swarta, a new magazine from Sweden. Not content to be born quietly, their first issue has just been launched with not just one, but two parties – the first in Stockholm and the second in Paris.

The basic premise of the magazine is for invited artists (there are twelve contributing artists in the first issue) to interpret a chosen subject or theme through new work specifically made for the publication. Contributors to Swarta’s first issue include Trinidad Carrillo, Anna Clarén, JH Engström, Thobias Fäldt, Niclas Holmström, Helga Härenstam, Stefan Höglund, Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez, Klara Källström, Mårten Lange, Jesper Ulvelius and our friends Marianna Mørkøre and Maria Arnell (who collaborate together under the name Marmar). Through the medium of photography, the artists have explored the tricky question ‘what is fashion imagery?’

Within the stark and minimalistic layout of Swarta, you'll find endless pages of stunning photography with many examples of New Scandinavian Realism and plenty of images loaded with Nordic Angst. All in all, more of a limited edition monograph than a magazine and bound to become a collector’s item. See below for a preview: