transmission, 2010

Film and photo project:
3.40 min loop, and four still photographs, 260 x 138 cm.

Cars are usually associated with power, masculinity and progress. As recently as three or four years ago, the car of choice for the affluent middle class was a powerful, gas-guzzling SUV.

Today, the approach to cars is very different, more interesting and complex. We are still dependent on automobiles and other vehicles for transportation and travel, but the car itself is generally seen as a necessary evil, rather than a status object. Just as SUV’s and muscle cars have been replaced by eco-friendly Japanese cars, the macho attitude has given way to a more complex idea of masculinity.

The “Transmission” project is both a celebration of an era when the automobile was associated with freedom, mobility and wealth, and a lamentation of its irreversible environmental effects. A car can be a thing of beauty, but it leaves behind a trail of smog and poison. The project can be seen as a goodbye to a more innocent era, while it acknowledges the need for change.

The images and the film that make up the series are, therefore, not judgmental in nature. Rather, they serve as a reminder that we all need to change with the times and take the consequences of past actions.

The cars in the ”Transmission” series were photographed from underneath, like ships sailing on the surface of the ocean or airplanes against a clear-blue sky. They look like abstract shapes against the monochrome background, while the unusual perspective creates a sense of vulnerability and oppression in the beholder. With their shimmering metallic colors, they also look like bugs lying on their back. The cars move from the top of the image towards the ground, like a slow, perpetual waterfall. The soundtrack adds an eerie atmosphere that emphasizes the abstract quality of the film.

The title refers to the transmission system in a car engine, but in a wider sense it is about change on a personal and global scale.

Maria Friberg, Stockholm 2009-11-25