Week 1: Nathalie Djurberg

1. What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?

- Claymation is the movement of clay models by making them sing, dance, move around etc. The movement is made from stop motion photography catching each individual frame and turing all the frames into one movement which gives the animation.

2. What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?

- The garden of Eden is a Garden filled with these weirdly proportioned and coloured flowers which tower over the visitors. I think Nathalie's version of the garden which is known as being lavish and beautiful is anything but that. Her version of the garden resembles a gloomy and unhappy environment.

3. What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?

- Her work work is shown to the audience as being uncomfortable and fearful. A lot of her work consists of erotic and harsh scenes which leaves the audience shocked. The sound track which goes with her work by Hans Berg is very airy and reinforces the mood of her work.

4. How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?

- Her work consists of very innocent looking characters but then they turn into very violent and inappropriate characters. A lot of her films consist of erotic and violent scenes. The story line is very child like but the actions which take place are far from it.

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 it is a very effective and strong way to emphasize a point to viewers because they are stuck with this very disturbing scene which gets stuck in their head and remember it as something which stood out to them. Their opinions can be both positive and negative so it is a very hard technique to perfect but Djurberg has succeeded in turing it into art.

6. In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?

- Because her work is very different and unique which audiences have become to love which is why she is so popular. Its not for everyone but the ideas behind her work is what has made her so famous, she turned something as simple as making clay models, into a film full of violence and sex.

7. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.

- I am very intrigued by Djurberg's work because it is very different which is why she stands out for me. I like the way how she presents her work in an opposite to what we would think of something and turn it into something completely extreme and disturbing.

References:

- http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nathalie-djurberg

- http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/04/there-are-very-very-few.php

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathalie_Djurberg

- http://www.sammlung-goetz.de/upload/exh/i_000066/4_big.jpg