Exhibition
Film
March 22, 2025
March 30, 2025

It Cannot be Contained

by
Photo: Marte Aas

It Cannot Be Contained is an essayistic documentary exploring the historical, mythical, political, and scientific significance of blood. Using this as a poetic backdrop, the film examines the deep interconnections between ideas, language, the body and technology.

Blood is the vital fluid in humans and other animals that transports nutrients and oxygen to cells while removing metabolic waste. Throughout history, it has held both concrete and symbolic significance—representing the human life force and soul while also being associated with death, violence and division. Blood pulses through myths, religion, literature, art and science, continually acquiring new meanings and interpretations. It is simultaneously a life-giving serum, a commodity, a symbol and a chemical substance that shapes and defines the human body. By introducing conceptual "leakages" into these categories, It Cannot Be Contained seeks to visualise a porous, ephemeral subject—one that challenges the notion of the body as a self-contained, autonomous entity. The film interweaves mythical, historical, political and scientific narratives into a poetic-documentary meditation on blood, exploring both its mystical and material connotations.

Co-producton with SKAP Projects, It Cannot be Contained is made with support from Arts Council Norway, Norwegian Visual Artists Fund and The Audio and Visual Fund.