I'm Robert Willim, cultural analyst and artist. I work as Associate Professor, researcher and teacher at Lund university, Sweden. My academic roots are in European Ethnology, though I try to challenge the boundaries of traditional academic practice. In my work I try to mix scientific approaches with art, film and music.

Fields of interest: New media. Aestheticization of earlier manufacturing industry (Industrial Cool). Mixes of material and digital culture. Experiences of spatiality, twists of cultural tourism and cultural heritage.

Contact info: Department of Cultural Sciences / Lund University / Finngatan 8 / SE-223 62 Lund / Sweden. E-mail: robert.willimATkultur.lu.se alt. mailATrobertwillim.com (please replace AT with @)

Going on / Coming up

Live performance
The new audio-visual live performance Sweden for Beginners by me and Weberg has left the cradle.

Folklife, The TV-series
Together with Anders Weberg I'm about to finish a TV-series for Swedish national television (UR). It's a surreal and thought provoking journey through Swedish tales and traditions.10 episodes, 6 min. each, to be aired 2010.

Espacio Enter
Elsewhereness was selected for the net art category at the International Meetings of Creativity, Innovation and Digital Culture at the Espacio Enter, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Canary Islands in September 22-27.

Innovation in Mind
Elsewhereness was exhibited at the conference Innovation in Mind and the event Qday in Lund, September 15-17.

ECTN, Turku
I was invited as a keynote speaker at The 5th ECTN (The European Cultural Tourism Network) Annual Conference in Turku in September. Read more at the conference website

NEFK, Helsinki
I presented a paper on art and cultural analysis at The 31st Nordic Ethnology and Folklore conference 18-22 august 2009. Here's a draft version of the paper (in Swedish).

ACSIS, Norrköping
I presented the paper "Ruined Workplaces - On Postindustrial Romanticism" at the ACSIS-conference Culture ~ Nature in Norrköping June 15-17.

Taide & Design
Elsewhereness is featured in the first issue of Finnish magazine Taide & Design (Release May 27th).

Sverige, SVT2
Swedish national television broadcasted a piece on Surreal Scania as part of the program Sverige, SVT2. April 12, 2009.

NECS Conference
Together with Anders Weberg I will present "Evocations of Geographies" at The Lund Conference "Locating Media" arranged by NECS - European Network for Cinema and Media Studies. Lund, Sweden, June 25-28, 2009.

The Sydney Morning Herald
Andrew Frost has some interesting words to say about Surreal Scania and a number of other locative artworks in The Sydney Morning Herald February 27th.

Industrial Cool - The book
The book on IC (in Swedish) has now been published. Follow this link to read about it, download it or listen to the soundtrack "Brownfields Forever".

Dark House
Domestic Safari was screened at SF Cinemateque in San Francisco. The screening was part of the program Dark House, curated by Jessica Allee and Wago Kreider. November 30th.

Qday
Surreal Scania was exhibited on the Qday-event in Lund, september 17th. The work was shown in collaboration with SonyEricsson, who provided six of their coming C905 "Shiho"-phones. Read more about Qday here (in Swedish).

Elsewhereness
Our work for Dislocate08 is online here.

Full Pull
Domestic Safari was shown at Full Pull 08 in Copenhagen/Malmö, September 2008.

Selkosen Sähkö
I made an audiovisual performance in connection to the exhibition Valoa Vintillä in Taivalkoski, Finland, 10th of July.

Revolutionsonline
Surreal Scania was included in revolutionsonline, a specially designed online venue as part of Biennale of Sydney 2008 - Australia's Festival of Contemporary Art ,18 June - 7 September 2008.

Dislocate08
Together with Anders Weberg I made a new work for the festival Dislocate08 in Tokyo/Yokohama (September 2008).

Pocket Films
Domestic Safari has been chosen for the International Competition - Mobile Screen at the 4th edition of Pocket Films Festival. The event was organised by Forum des images, and took place at the Center Pompidou in Paris from June 13 – 15, 2008.

IC-blog
I've started a blog on the Industrial Cool-concept (in Swedish). It is related to the coming launch of my IC-book. Visit the blog.

Shanghai
Domestic Safari was screened at Shanghai International Science & Art Exposition. May 16th - May 25th.

Cartes Flux
Domestic Safari was screened at Cartes Flux in Espoo, Finland, May 14th.

Artificial Past
A new sound- and light installation by me and light designer Anna Jönsson opened 27th of April at the museum Kulturen in Lund, Sweden. It is placed in one of the museum's peasant houses from the 1800th century. It deals with ideas about authenticity and museological representation techniques.

FLEFF
Being There was screened at The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) 2008, Ithaca College, NY, US. March 31 - April 6.

Transmediale
Being There was selected for Transmediale.08 in Berlin 30 January - 3 February. The festival for digital art and culture took place in the House of World Cultures.

Rio
Surreal Scania was selected for the FILE Rio 2008 edition. The event took place at Oi Futuro, an art institute in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from February 26th to March 29th.

GPS-walking in London
On monday October 29th I presented the paper Walking Through The Screen at The Department of Anthropology, University College London. You can download a pdf of the paper here.

Backup in Weimar
Being There was screened at The 9th Annual Backup_festival 18. – 21. October 2007 in Weimar, Germany.

IC @ Konstfack
Industrial Cool was the departure point for a four month undergraduate course at The Department of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at Konstfack (Univerity College of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm last Autumn. The students produced proposals for a rework of an industrial estate in the town Eskilstuna. I held an inspirational lecture to start off the course, and has been invited to examine the works at the end of the course.

IC at The Museum
In collaboration with New Media Meeting 07 September 21-22, The Museum of Work in Norrköping arranged a smaller live version of the IC1-concept. Sounds were recorded in factories and workplaces around the city. The sounds were then transformed, interpreted and performed by electronica artist Christian Björklund. . Emilie Bardon did a dance performance to the music. During the event I lectured on the background and concept of Industrial Cool

Electrofringe
Being There was selected for Electrofringe 2007's ElectroOnline in Newcastle, Australia.

File Festival
Surreal Scania was exhibited at FILE Electronic Language International Festival, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. August 13 - September 9th.