RETARDATION is the second short film in the Male Nature Studies series.
”The Great Acceleration” gained momentum in the 1950s with the Western man at the wheel. The growth curves turned sharply upwards and so did, and still do, the human impact on the biosphere. But what if this man begins to see himself as a small part of nature instead of striving to "conquer" it? What if he abandons the pursuit of status and the ever-expanding claims to power? What if he slows down and throws his paralyzing yoke? Is he still a Man then?
In RETARDATION, Nils Agdler visualizes ideas of another future man – the resigned man, the regressed man, the liberated man, and possibly – the last man.
RETARDATION is the second short film in the Male Nature Studies series. The first film, REBIRTH, was produced in 2018. In these films, Nils Agdler examines alternative approaches to what is popularly called ”toxic masculinity”. In today's society, it has a great impact as a negative male role model, which could be expressed as a desire to constantly compete against and to dominate, both other people and the non-human.
RETARDATION takes its starting point in the emerging research field "Ecological masculinities", which is influenced by masculinities politics, deep ecology, ecological feminism and feminist care theory. ”The Great Acceleration” gained momentum in the 1950s with the Western man at the wheel. The growth curves turned sharply upwards and so did, and still do, the human impact on the biosphere. But what if this man begins to see himself as a small part of nature instead of striving to "conquer" it? What if he abandons the pursuit of status and the ever-expanding claims to power? What if he slows down and throws his paralyzing yoke? Is he still a Man then?
In RETARDATION, Nils Agdler visualizes ideas of another future man – the resigned man, the regressed man, the liberated man, and possibly – the last man.
Nils Agdler is a Swedish visual artist, photographer and filmmaker. He received a MFA from Konstfack in Stockholm, followed by studies in fine arts at Valand Academy in Gothenburg. In his artistic practice, Agdler is interested in contemporary social and visual phenomena, representation and history, posthumanism and colonialism, primarily working in the fields of photography and film. He has been collaborating with the artist and filmmaker Timo Menke in several film projects such as Fugitives from the Fields (2005), Gifted Men (2015) and Brothers to Sisters (2018). Over the past 20 years, he has worked on issues that concern men and masculinities, and produced several exhibitions related to this theme. His work has been shown at museums such as The 5th Moscow Biennale, Pori Art Museum in Finland, Gothenburg Art Museum and Kalmar Art Museum in Sweden and Ostrale Biennale O21 in Dresden, Germany. Recently also at festivals such as Super Shorts Film Festival in Los Angeles and London, Shockfest Film Festival, Obskuur Ghent Film Festival, Defy Film Festival, Très Court International Film Festival, Sidney World Film Festival, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, 35th Kasseler Dokfest, Exground filmfest in Wiesbaden, Festival des Cinémas Différents. He is distributed by Filmform – The Art Film and Video Archive, Sweden.
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