Kim Hiorthøy


Kim Hiorthøy is a Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer, illustrator, filmmaker and writer.

Biography

Hiorthøy was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway, and studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art as well as the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. During his tenure at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Hiorthøy spent a year abroad in 1994 to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York. There he worked extensively with Cinematographer Mott Hupfel. Currently, he lives and works in Berlin, Germany. A fictionalized version of Hiorthøy is a character in Erlend Loe's novel L.

Career

Music

Hiorthøy began making music while attending the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art; he worked in the academy's sound studio until he left school and purchased his own equipment. After various "collaborations and accidents", his music was eventually introduced to Joakim Haugland of the Smalltown Supersound record label. Haugland asked Hiorthøy to work with the label, and in 2001 Hiorthøy released his debut album, "Hei". He has subsequently released several albums, EPs, and 7-inch records with Smalltown Supersound.
Hiorthøy's musical style is difficult to classify; the Smalltown Supersound website offers the following description: "On his records Kim Hiorthøy combines weird beats, lo-fi/leftfield electronics, field recordings, electro-acoustic sounds and samples, resulting in a sound all his own." His live sets, however, differ from his recordings, with louder, faster beats and a techno undertone.

Graphic design and film

While exploring music at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Hiorthøy simultaneously began his work in graphic design. He started to publish fanzines and design record sleeves for local bands, and as time passed he began to work more seriously in a variety of creative mediums. To date, Hiorthøy has released several collections of photography, drawing and design, and has provided cover artworks for such record labels as Rune Grammofon, Smalltown Supersound, Smalltown Superjazzz and the rock group Motorpsycho. He is currently represented by STANDARD, an Oslo-based gallery aimed at promoting contemporary Norwegian artists. Some of his other creative achievements include film directing, film photography, and illustration for children's books.
In a 2004 interview with KultureFlash.com, Hiorthøy described the relationship between graphic design and music: "I regard them as very different things, even though the place in my head that decides if something works or not is the same for both".

Illustrations