The video Sporing Lips of Transposed Desire (2011) is a collaboration between Malin Arnell and Pablo Zuleta Zahr. The work, in which Arnell acts out autoerotic fantasies on a tree covered in fungus, was shot in a northern Swedish forest.

Sporing Lips of Transposed Desire arose spontaneously during a hike. The film is characterized by Arnell’s interest in a feminist redefinition of pornography and references the “queer” tradition in filmmaking, such as the work of the American artist Barbra Hammer, who made experimental films in the 1970s that addressed taboo themes such as menstruation, female orgasm, and lesbian sexuality. At the same time, Sporing Lips of Transposed Desire is also an ironic play on the countless amateur outdoor pornos circulating in the net that use nature merely as a backdrop and not as an object of lust, desire, and longing.

Videographer: Pablo Zuleta Zahr.

Malin Arnell is based in Stockholm and Berlin. They investigate collective processes within a performative sphere. The artistic practice is anchored in a queer feminist and posthumanist stance for an expanded ecological sensitivity. Arnell was awarded her PhD at Stockholm University of the Arts in 2016. Together with Åsa Elzén, Arnell participates in Bildmuseet’s exhibition in Umeå with the work Skogen kallar – Ett oändligt kontaminerat samarbete eller Dansandet är en form av skogskunskap. Utsträckning: Spillvirke, 2024.

Pablo Zuleta Zahr is a Berlin-based Chilean artist who works mainly in photography and videos that explore sociological issues.