Condition report
New
1948 saw the publication of Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Moraliteter’ (/Moralities, Bonniers), and in 2024, ‘Bergmans Banaliteter’ (Bergman’s Banalities, Farozonen) presented by A-FL, was released. The Swedish director was widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Despite significant international success, Ingmar Bergman’s self-image was characterized by a sense of being misunderstood. The director, who claimed to have been rejected from birth, may have been his own harshest critic.
In Bergman’s Banaliteter by A-FL, a heavily annotated original manuscript for a series of previously unpublished interviews, conducted by the critic and Bergman connoisseur Henrik Sjögren (1926-2020) during the autumn of 2001, is being processed. The text is completely omitted, and all that remains are Bergman’s extensive deletions; frenetic lines dancing across the pages in red and green ink. Taken out of context, these resolute strokes transform into abstract formations that manifest Bergman’s relentless self-censorship. On the 32nd page of the original manuscript, the director writes in a desperate note: “I feel like I’m practically always stating banalities about my productions. It’s too miserable, Henrik!”
‘Bergmans Banaliteter’ is published by Farozonen Förlag in an edition of 100 hand-numbered copies, with a risograph-printed inlay in a hot-foiled cover. The book is bound with an archival clip made from tempered steel. Each copy is packaged in a hot-foiled cardboard box, closed with a cotton string.
Biography
A-FL (b. 1985) lives and works in Gothenburg, Sweden. The artist’s conceptual point of departure is often a found object—whether tangible or intangible. From urban debris collected on the street to artefacts sourced at flea markets, such materials are treated as ready-made components in assemblages: ingredients, visual cues, or prompts. These objets trouvés may also take immaterial forms—a discovered word or phrase, an idea—ripe for appropriation or inviting a response.
Using the book as a vehicle for exploring questions of identity, language and culture, A-FL has published a number of editions with LL’Editions. In 2021, he released the book Första Januari, published by Hundörat Small Press, Stockholm. The artist’s book was proof-read by the legendary Swedish artist and Fluxus pioneer Bengt af Klintberg. A-FL’s recent releases include For Your Tears, a multiple made in collaboration with Heimo Zobernig (AU) and Simon Iurino (IT), Imposter Syndrome, a multiple released in 2023, Mixed Blessing; a multiple consisting of 100 needles and an aspirin in a medicine bottle, and Bergmans Banaliteter (Bergman’s Banalities), published by Farozonen Förlag in 2024.
