WEEK 1- Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'.
Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'.
Nathalie Djurberg was awarded the silver lion for a promising young artist at the Venice
Art Biennale 09.
Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg's intricately constructed claymation films are both terrifyingly
disturbing and artlessly sweet.
disturbing and artlessly sweet.
The new works created for the Venice Biennale explore a surrealistic Garden of Eden in which all that is natural goes awry.
She exposes the innate fear of what is not understood and confronts viewers with the complexity of emotions.
Nathalie Djurberg was awarded the silver lion for a promising young artist at the Venice
Art Biennale 09.
(http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6886/nathalie-djurberg)
Research Djurberg's work in order to answer the following questions;
1. What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?
Claymation is a form of stop motion animation. Its a number of still images of the characters and the background put together to create a moving picture. Each piece is made of a malleable substance such as plasticine clay and is moved bit by bit to capture the movement of the character or background. Nathalie Djurberg is famous for using claymation to create short films such as: Camels Drink Water, 2007, We are not two, we are one, 2008, Turn into me, 2008 and many more.
Claymation is a form of stop motion animation. Its a number of still images of the characters and the background put together to create a moving picture. Each piece is made of a malleable substance such as plasticine clay and is moved bit by bit to capture the movement of the character or background. Nathalie Djurberg is famous for using claymation to create short films such as: Camels Drink Water, 2007, We are not two, we are one, 2008, Turn into me, 2008 and many more.
2. What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?
The Surrealistic Garden of Eden can be described as weird in the way that it looks and feels. It confronts the viewer with the 'complexity of emotions' in a terrifying and artistic way. (Towering Clay Flowers, n.d) 'Awry' means not functioning properly, turned or twisted to one side and can also be defined by the words wrong, haywire, malfunctioning, etc. In this case when they describe the garden 'all that is 'natural goes awry', it means that its gone wrong or not what it seems to be. So when 'surrealistic Garden of Eden' and 'all that is natural goes awry' is used to describe her work, it relates to the idea that she is trying to portray. The surrealism of her clay models of different flowers but also how she wanted them to seem dark and terrifying, where you experience the emotion behind her works.
The Surrealistic Garden of Eden can be described as weird in the way that it looks and feels. It confronts the viewer with the 'complexity of emotions' in a terrifying and artistic way. (Towering Clay Flowers, n.d) 'Awry' means not functioning properly, turned or twisted to one side and can also be defined by the words wrong, haywire, malfunctioning, etc. In this case when they describe the garden 'all that is 'natural goes awry', it means that its gone wrong or not what it seems to be. So when 'surrealistic Garden of Eden' and 'all that is natural goes awry' is used to describe her work, it relates to the idea that she is trying to portray. The surrealism of her clay models of different flowers but also how she wanted them to seem dark and terrifying, where you experience the emotion behind her works.
3. What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?
It can be described as 'Great, gruesome and wonderful'. (Nisbet.N, 2009). She exposes the the innate fear of what is not understood by creating a Garden which portrays a sense of fear where the 'complexity of emotions' is created by the sub-conscience, so its what she feels without giving it any thought and expresses it through her creativity and imagination. The way that it is presented in the Venice Biennale Art Show also helps emphasize the idea of fear by dimly lighting the room with shadows being cast enhancing the whole perception of the artwork.
It can be described as 'Great, gruesome and wonderful'. (Nisbet.N, 2009). She exposes the the innate fear of what is not understood by creating a Garden which portrays a sense of fear where the 'complexity of emotions' is created by the sub-conscience, so its what she feels without giving it any thought and expresses it through her creativity and imagination. The way that it is presented in the Venice Biennale Art Show also helps emphasize the idea of fear by dimly lighting the room with shadows being cast enhancing the whole perception of the artwork.
4. How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?
Djurberg's stories have a lot in common with traditional folktales. They deal with archetypical themes and involve traditional roles as the good, the bad and the kind helper. The films also have animals as characters e.g. the wolf, the bear and the tiger. As in tales strange and magical things happen in Djurberg's films; animals speak, trees walk and humans fly and talk with animals. Like in traditional tales the films have shocking and gruesome elements which occur after the narrative turning-point in the story. After this turn of events the films no longer look like children's TV but rather as a scary x-rated fantasy without any moral. (Nathalie Djurbrg, n.d)
Djurber likes to focus on the contradicting side of things. She often takes things that are known as one thing and change it so that it contradicts what we know. For example, in the film Florentine (2004), it starts off with two young girls playing with an adult man. The scene then turns violent where the man starts to spank the girls. In the end they get back at him by molesting him and jumping on him laughing. This shows that the victims end up with the power over the man.
Djurberg's stories have a lot in common with traditional folktales. They deal with archetypical themes and involve traditional roles as the good, the bad and the kind helper. The films also have animals as characters e.g. the wolf, the bear and the tiger. As in tales strange and magical things happen in Djurberg's films; animals speak, trees walk and humans fly and talk with animals. Like in traditional tales the films have shocking and gruesome elements which occur after the narrative turning-point in the story. After this turn of events the films no longer look like children's TV but rather as a scary x-rated fantasy without any moral. (Nathalie Djurbrg, n.d)
Djurber likes to focus on the contradicting side of things. She often takes things that are known as one thing and change it so that it contradicts what we know. For example, in the film Florentine (2004), it starts off with two young girls playing with an adult man. The scene then turns violent where the man starts to spank the girls. In the end they get back at him by molesting him and jumping on him laughing. This shows that the victims end up with the power over the man.
5. There is a current fascination by some designers with turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing. Why do you think this has come about?
Because of us, the idea of turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing is fascinating because we, as humans, remember what we are scared of and because of that we are always cautious and aware.In this case, Djurberg's art is more expressive in the sense of darkness and fear and therefore is more memorable because of that.
Because of us, the idea of turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing is fascinating because we, as humans, remember what we are scared of and because of that we are always cautious and aware.In this case, Djurberg's art is more expressive in the sense of darkness and fear and therefore is more memorable because of that.
6. In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?
I think that her work was chosen for the Venice Biennale because of her intresting idea that she portrayed in the 'Experiment'. In the Bible, the 'Garden of Eden' is described as peaceful and beautiful, whereas her interpretation of the 'Garden of Eden' is the opposite of what we know of. This intrigues me because I, myself, am a religious person and when I saw her work it made me question her intentions. I further researched her work and she was trying to portray deep emotion such as: fear, scared, terrifying, dark and gruesome-wonderful flowers bled wax onto the ground. This is probably one of the reasons why it was chosen for the Venice Biennale because it would intrest people in a way where they would be able to see and feel her contradiction of what the Garden of Eden is known as and her perception of it.
7. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.
Reference list:
Nisbet, H. (2009). Slashtroke Magazine: "EXPERIMENT" by Natalie Djuberg, Swedish Pavillion at the Venice Biennale. London, England
http://slashstrokemagazine.com/blog/?p=195
http://artnews.org/artist.php?i=1211
Yablonski, L (2010). The New York Times Style Magazine: Clay Mates. New York, NY
I think that her work was chosen for the Venice Biennale because of her intresting idea that she portrayed in the 'Experiment'. In the Bible, the 'Garden of Eden' is described as peaceful and beautiful, whereas her interpretation of the 'Garden of Eden' is the opposite of what we know of. This intrigues me because I, myself, am a religious person and when I saw her work it made me question her intentions. I further researched her work and she was trying to portray deep emotion such as: fear, scared, terrifying, dark and gruesome-wonderful flowers bled wax onto the ground. This is probably one of the reasons why it was chosen for the Venice Biennale because it would intrest people in a way where they would be able to see and feel her contradiction of what the Garden of Eden is known as and her perception of it.
7. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.
Reference list:
Nisbet, H. (2009). Slashtroke Magazine: "EXPERIMENT" by Natalie Djuberg, Swedish Pavillion at the Venice Biennale. London, England
http://slashstrokemagazine.com/blog/?p=195
http://artnews.org/artist.php?i=1211
Yablonski, L (2010). The New York Times Style Magazine: Clay Mates. New York, NY
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/t-magazine/22talk-yablonsky-t.html?scp=3&sq=nathalie%20djurberg&st=cse
I like your persective on the "Florentine (2004)" on how the victims take power over the situation. I agree that people remember their fears better than most other emotions and that this an interesting way to express art. Also I agree twith lene on the religious view, I also questioned deeply on her artworks credability but when I researched her work I saw the artistic value of it.
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