ART & FILM PROJECTS
PRODUCTION COMPANY; 40,074KM EHF / Iceland is a private limited company founded by Jóhann Sigmarsson in August 2013 for designing, building furniture & creating art works, producing concerts, exhibitions & all kinds of events in art section and in filmmaking. It was given the name 40,074KM, which is the length of the Equator. The company is responsible for The Equator Memorial Project, International, itinerant Artists project. It has been developing the art project and preparing its platform. It is responsible for collecting the historical material / ruins together in cooperation with its governments and institutions, furthermore the company is finding the international companies, co-partners to participate in the art project. The intention is to expand the international group of the artists and the team that are now available who travel between countries, building functional objects, creating artworks and sculptures from historical monuments. It will be established in cooperation with other artists and businesses, in the countries were the materials derive. When the project is completed it will be exhibited on a specific heritage site or at galleries or museums suitable for the project. 40,074KM EHF will design and organise the set up all of the exhibitions and is directory of curatorial and will be authoritative for work with the international artists on the creation of the art pieces and directors and curators from the museums / galleries which are cooperating with the art project. They will interpret the artworks, select them and be responsible for writing labels, catalog essays and other supporting content for the exhibitions in cooperation with the curatorial team, provide art historians, historians, writers, translators and create professional publication / communication to the public and media such as various of articles, interviews, preface of the book of collection, for seminar and opening speeches, academic, journalistic writing which can be distributed in newspapers, magazines, TV, official site and all kinds of web media.
“THE STORY BEHIND HISTORY” a full-length documentary about THE EQUATOR MEMORIAL PROJECT
The Equator Memorial Project is a group of international artists who are creating art pieces and functional objects by recycling historical materials of ruins from world heritage sites. The mission is to hold a series of exhibitions in galleries or museums worldwide in support of a sustainable environment, justice, freedom and peace. At each exhibition approximately 50 – 60 art pieces will be presented created by selection of international artists. A part of the income for each sold or rented piece will be allocated to a charity fund for humanitarian and community projects. Confirmed materials: the Reykjavík Harbour, the Hamburg Port, the Berlin Wall, Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima (A bomb) and two broken windows from office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in the Norwegian government’s headquarters in Central Oslo after it was damaged from terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik and from Graveyard of Lenin monuments and Stalin statues. Plans have been drawn up to obtain materials from; the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, which has been preserved untouched since almost all its inhabitants were massacred on June 10, 1944, the Czech village of Lidice, 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, former Soviet Union – GULAG, Colosseum, ruins of the Buddhas of Bamiyan which was destroyed in Afghanistan by Taliban in 2001 to demolish holy icons and disrespect ideologic of the religion, the Basque town of Guernica, Liverpool and the slave trade and from the time of the Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sugihara, when he was in Lithuania helping refugees, women and children from the tragedy of the World War II.
THE STORY BEHIND HISTORY – INTERPRETATION / DIRECTOR’S VIEW
In the story we follow the main character Johann, get to know his background, what he wants and his passion that reflects in the Equator Memorial Project. His own discovery of the skills to design and build furniture lead him to the vocation of forming worldwide projects about making art with positive messages out of recycling materials from world historical sites. Johann works hard on making his dream come true by forming a net of people that could be of help in making this happen. This net includes characters such as; artists, lawyers, factory owners, Japanese diplomats, old friends e.t.c. We follow Johann as the lead character of the film, even though we also follow the other artist as well, but this is “Johann’s story”.
IN- PREPERATION
A FULL- LENGTH DOCUMENTARY
David Bowie once recalled in an interview about his time with Brian Eno while the two were famously making the Berlin Trilogy: “Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future.’… he puts on “I Feel Love,” by Donna Summer. ‘This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.’ Which was more or less right,” said Bowie.
It started in the Nordic countries but went from there to Germany and ended its expansion in the United States, and most of the episodes are spent reminiscing about Thor’s twelve eventful years abroad. Among the performers who appear in the full-length documentary “THE MAN WHO LOVES MUSIC” and are connected to Thor in one way or another are the Savanna Trio, Dátar, Hljómar, Heiðursmenn, Ævintýri, Þrjú á palli, Nilsmen, Nina Lizell, Lee Hazlewood, María Baldursdóttir, Abba, Amol Duul, Frank Farian, Boney M, Rolling Stones, Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer, Twiggy, Tom Moulton, Grace Jones, Elton John, Pete Bellotte, Gaz, Salsoul Records, Joe, Ken and Stan Cayre, Munich Machine, Grandmaster Flash, Metropolis, La Bionda, Melba Moore, Cerrone, songwriters, arrangers, record producers, studio owners, relatives, old friends and many more.
Photo of Thor & Grace Jones. / On collaborating with Grace Jones for the track “Suffer” and usage of vocal hooks: Beginning in 1977, Jones embarked on a music career, securing a record deal with Island Records and initially becoming a star of New York City’s Studio 54-centered disco scene.
Music took Thor on a mission. He got to know the music scene by listening to the yankee radio from the U.S. Base in Keflavík, Icelend from early age, such as Marlene Dietrich, Louis Armstrong, Jerry Lee Levis, Elvis Presley to Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Beatles and more from the Yankee Radio. Later on he played in a band touring the base with concerts. We go from Iceland to Denmark, Finland and Sweden to Musicland Studios in Munich where Thor established himself as Studio musician and arranger, Casablanca Records which was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s, Studio 54, a former disco nightclub located on 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Launched at the peak of the disco dancing and music trend, the club became world-famous, noted for its celebrity guest lists, restrictive (and subjective) entry policies (based on one’s appearance and style), rampant club drug use, and open sexual activity in the club’s infamous balcony and basement VIP rooms. We will try to find old recordings note tracks of Thor through the years to create new mixing for the music score of the documentary.
Clip-works photo of Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco and Giorgio Moroder who is called the Godfather of Disco. THOR was working the first three albums with Donna, Moroder and Bellotte. He arranged them, played some instruments at the studio and time scheduled the voices of Donna’s singing.
On the SalSoul era and working with SalSoul as a company: “Very good memories. They treated me nice. I didn’t work directly with the SalSoul Orchestra but I worked for the SalSoul company. Our relationship was always pleasant. The owners Joe and Kenny Carie were super nice guys. My friend Tom Moulton, who produced Grace Jones, made things run smoothly.” SalSoul Orchestra tracks has been sampled in rap songs such as 50 Cent’s “Candyshop”, Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” and more artists like Dimitri from Paris etc. Madonna used samples in “Vogue” of the tracks, the inclusion of which was later the subject of a lawsuit, ended in Madonna’s favour.On the emergence of-disco and hearing his worldwide hit and now often sampled track, “SingSing” with Gaz: “Yes, I liked disco right away. The jazz and R&B elements appealed to me. It still appeals to me in rap music. And yes I’ve heard “Sing Sing” used and sampled, but that is all. Wish I would see some money for it. The industry is sadly crowded with thieves!”
GRANDMASTER FLASH, ON EARLY ‘80S NEW YORK MUSIC used and sampled “Sing Sing” by GAZ. Sing Sing is 17 minutes long and it’s easy to do a scratch or sample it. It has properly been one of the most sampled song of the business from Grandmaster Flash to Ice Cube and to nowadays Drake.
Thor has a wide experience of producing music as composer, songwriter, record producer, singing, mixing, expose and playing musical instruments for others in studio recordings and being in bands. “Music has been my sole source of income since in the late 1950s so this is my 64th year in this profession.” – Þórir Baldursson. The material which formed the beginning era of Disco, Break, Rap and HipHop deserves to be followed by storytelling of a documentary film from various different sides. His trip of discography deserves it and his efforts. Still today the era of this music are affecting people in entertaining and emotionally ways around the world. It will always be people existing that want to dance and enjoy good melodies. That’s just fantastic.
The documentary is produced by Ksenija Sigmarsson and FORTY THOUSAND SEVENTY FOUR KILOMETRES ehf, Director, scriptwriter “THE MAN WHO LOVES MUSIC” a full-length documentary, Johann Sigmarsson, Advisor and protagonist; Þórir Baldursson… aka… THOR.