Johanna Billing
Johanna Billing (Jönköping, Sweden, 1973; lives and works in Stockholm) has been making video works since 1999 that weave together music, movement and rhythm. Merging the production modes of collective live events and workshops with a cinematic language, Billing in part directs the participants and in part activates a series of improvisations around the notion of performance and the possibility it holds to explore issues of the public and the private as well as the individual in the society as a whole. Billing often addresses political climates and cultural specificities, but more importantly she transforms, through a documentary method, her filmmaking in a fictive space to examine actual and contrived events and how that filmed compression illuminates their overlap. Billing’s films often involve music, which in her hands becomes a tool for communication, memory and reconstruction.
Recent major solo exhibitions include Keeping Time, Villa Croce, Genova, 2016, I’m Gonna Live Anyhow until I Die, the MAC, Belfast (2012); I’m Lost without Your Rhythm, Modern Art Oxford, Moving In, Five Films, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, (2010); Tiny Movements, ACCA, Melbourne, I’m Lost without Your Rhythm, Camden Art Centre (2009); Taking Turns, Kemper Museum, Kansas City; This Is How We Walk on the Moon, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö (2008); Forever Changes, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Keep on Doing, DCA, Dundee (2007) and Magical World, PS. 1, New York (2006). She has participated in survey shows such as 4th Auckland Triennial, Last Ride in a Hot Balloon, Auckland (2010); Documenta 12, Kassel (2007); Belief, Singapore Biennale (2006); 9th Istanbul Biennial; 1st Moscow Biennale (2005); 50th Venice Biennale (2003). From 1998 until 2010 Johanna also ran the Make it Happen record label, publishing music and arranging live performances.
![Each moment presents what happens Each moment presents what happens](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-074-each-moment-presents-what-h/johanna-billing-074-each-moment-presents-what-h.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Each moment presents what happens, 2021
loop, HD
27‘ 25‘‘
![Pulheim Jam Session Pulheim Jam Session](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-050-pulheim-jam-session/johanna-billing-050-pulheim-jam-session.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Pulheim Jam Session, 2015
HD
22‘40‘‘ loop
![Pulheim Jam Session Pulheim Jam Session](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-049-pulheim-jam-session-line-up-f/johanna-billing-049-pulheim-jam-session-line-up-f.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Pulheim Jam Session, 2015
Line Up, film poster, C-print
70 × 100 cm
![I’m Gonna Live Anyhow Until I die I’m Gonna Live Anyhow Until I die](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-057-im-gonna-live-any-how-until-i/johanna-billing-057-im-gonna-live-any-how-until-i.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
I’m Gonna Live Anyhow Until I die, 2012
HD
16‘29‘‘ loop
![I‘m Lost Without Your Rhythm I‘m Lost Without Your Rhythm](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-012-im-lost-without-your-rhythm/johanna-billing-012-im-lost-without-your-rhythm.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
I‘m Lost Without Your Rhythm, 2009
HD
13‘29‘‘ loop
![Original Film Soundtracks Original Film Soundtracks](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-064-original-film-soundtracks/johanna-billing-064-original-film-soundtracks.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Original Film Soundtracks, 2007-2016
Vinyl LPs
![This Is How We Walk on the Moon This Is How We Walk on the Moon](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-031-this-is-how-i-walk-on-the-moo/johanna-billing-031-this-is-how-i-walk-on-the-moo.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
This Is How We Walk on the Moon, 2007
HD
27‘20‘‘ loop
![Another Album Another Album](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-019-another-album/johanna-billing-019-another-album.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Another Album, 2006
HD
28’12’’ loop
![Magic & Loss Magic & Loss](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-017-magic-and-loss/johanna-billing-017-magic-and-loss.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Magic & Loss, 2005
16 mm film transferred to DV
16‘52‘‘ loop
![Magical World Magical World](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-002-magical-world/johanna-billing-002-magical-world.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Magical World, 2005
HD
6‘12‘‘ loop
![Look Out! Look Out!](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-060-look-out/johanna-billing-060-look-out.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Look Out!, 2003
DV
5'20'' loop
![You Don’t Love Me Yet You Don’t Love Me Yet](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-021-you-dont-love-me-yet/johanna-billing-021-you-dont-love-me-yet.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
You Don’t Love Me Yet, 2003
HD
7‘43‘‘
![You Don’t Love Me Yet You Don’t Love Me Yet](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-047-you-dont-love-me-yet/johanna-billing-047-you-dont-love-me-yet.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
You Don’t Love Me Yet, 2002
Documentation from live tour, DVD, Mixed Media (and institution, city)
![Missing Out Missing Out](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-062-missing-out/johanna-billing-062-missing-out.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Missing Out, 2001
DV
4‘14" loop
![What Else Do You Do? What Else Do You Do?](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-061-what-else-do-you-do/johanna-billing-061-what-else-do-you-do.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
What Else Do You Do?, 2001
DV
5'
![Where She is at Where She is at](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-028-where-she-is-at/johanna-billing-028-where-she-is-at.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Where She is at, 2001
DV
07‘35‘‘ loop
![Make It Happen, On Tour Make It Happen, On Tour](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-051-make-it-happen-on-tour/johanna-billing-051-make-it-happen-on-tour.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Make It Happen, On Tour, 2000
c-print
51 × 36 cm
![Project for a revolution Project for a revolution](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-043-project-for-a-revolution/johanna-billing-043-project-for-a-revolution.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Project for a revolution, 2000
DV
3‘14" loop
![Graduate Show Graduate Show](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-058-graduate-show/johanna-billing-058-graduate-show.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Graduate Show, 1999
Beta
03‘20‘‘
![Make It Happen, Releases Make It Happen, Releases](/media/artworks/johanna-billing-063-make-it-happen-/johanna-billing-063-make-it-happen-.jpg.600x1800_q85_crop-scale_upscale.jpg)
Make It Happen, Releases, 1998-2010
Record label project