Åke Hodell (1919–2000) was the fighter pilot who became a political rebell and a linguistic innovator in the service of resistance and the anti war movement. Artistically he inhabited the intersection of satire, the poetry of sound and social criticism. He would become one of the driving forces behind Swedish experimental avant garde from the 1950s onwards.

A line runs through Hodell’s art which already early on starts from a modernistic approach to language and which from the early 1960s moves into tangible, sound based work. Through his art, Åke Hodell communicated political and anti-nazi messages right from the beginning, such as in Mr. Nixon’s dreams (1970). During the 1940s Hodell led the work at Malmö barnteater (Malmö children’s theater) and in 1944 he wrote the play Rännstensungar (Street Urchins), which was later filmed. Parallel to Malmö konsthall’s large exhibition Motstånd which opens on 19th March, Kalmar konstmuseum will show the work 220 Volt Buddha.

220 VOLT BUDDHA

The slide show 220 Volt Buddha is structured around a selection of the images that were used at the stage show in 1971. Many of the pictures can be found in the book Självbiografi (Autobiography) (Rabén & Sjögren, 1967), which in 220 Volt Buddha is accompanied by music in a carousel where among other things Hodell’s experiences during the Second World War are a recurring theme.

The version of 220 Volt Buddha shown at Kalmar konstmuseum was programmed in collaboration with Åke Hodell and originally shown at Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 2000.

The programming of the slide show has been done by Mats Lindström according to instructions by Åke Hodell.

The editing of the sound files into a shortened version was done by Sylve Sjöberg, 1980. Per Wiklund was the photographic consultant in 1971.

 

ÅKE HODELL: MOTSTÅND was originally commissioned for Tensta konsthall in 2020-2021 by Fia Backström and Elena Wolay and is now showing at MALMÖ KONSTHALL (19th March-22nd May).