Joonas Hyvönen’s Sematectonia (2024, in featured image) and Hanna Hovitie’s Square the Circle (2023) were selected for the international video competition of the 39th International Festival of Hybrid and Digital Arts Videoformes, held from March 14–31 2024 in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Hanna Hovitie’s Square the Circle is included in the competition programme 1, screened on Saturday, March 16, at 10:45 in Salle Boris-Vian, Maison de Culture. The 360° short film asks how to be a circle in a square world? In a two-dimensional space, out of time, a person seeks their belonging to the world through a journey to infinity.
Hanna Hovitie (born 1991) is a film director and video artist from Helsinki, Finland. Her films have been shown and awarded at several prominent international festivals such as DOK Leipzig, Melbourne International Film Festival, Sheffield DocFest, and International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Joonas Hyvönen’s Sematectonia will be screened in the competition programme 6 on Sunday, March 17, at 13:00 in Salle Boris-Vian, Maison de Culture. Sematectonia is a 3D animation where a character scoring basketball throws behind his back finds himself stuck in a loop in which he, as if cursed, keeps producing the same content over and over again, aware of his situation but unable to stop. As the environment becomes even weirder, the protagonist must confront it as something that exists not only for him but rather with him. Sematectonia considers online spaces as stigmergic areas of interaction between users and the environment. However, the environments in the work acquire features referred to by Timothy Morton as hyperobjects, and develop their own active agency.
Joonas Hyvönen (1990) is a multidisciplinary Finnish artist working mainly with digital means and addressing topics surrounding digital technology in relation to other contemporary phenomena, specifically focusing on the interaction between user and the user interface. Hyvönen holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.
The 39th International Festival of Hybrid and Digital Arts Videoformes, March 14–31 2024, Clermont-Ferrand, France
More information: Videoformes
AV-arkki has promoted and distributed Finnish media art since 1989. AV-arkki’s promotional efforts have made the artists’ participation in this event possible. If you want to hear the latest news from our distribution, subscribe to our newsletter!