by Elena Sommariva

Ten years ago Swedish artist Johannes Nyholm created an original puppet known as Puppet Boy. The trials and adventures of this “little hero” were narrated in video form. He has been portrayed, for example in a claustrophobic sequence of windowless rooms, becoming increasingly frustrated, opening and closing doors he goes from one room to another seemingly battling with the anguish of everyday life. In a more recent video, he is the protagonist of a television documentary where an arrogant critic meets a vain artist, played by Nyholm, in his studio. In the final take, Nyholm dresses up as Puppet Boy, in a singular identification of artist and work of art. Shown at the Gothenburg and Cannes Film Festivals, the saga of Puppet Boy is now showing at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (until September 25) as part of “The Studio”, a section of highly experimental work dedicated to animated images and web art.

Johannes Nyholm is a short-film animator, music video producer and artist, winner of the short film award in Hamburg in 2008 with his Puppet Boy, which was also shown at the Cannes film Festival. He was born in Lund in 1974, lives and works in Gothenburg.