1. What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?
Claymation is a type of film animation in which the artist constructs scenes/figures out of clay and uses a stop-motion technique to bring their works to life. Stop-motion is much like a flip-book animation where you have many different still frames with small differences between them, allowing movement to happen.
2. What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?
When i hear the phrase 'Garden of Eden' i think of a place that has reached absolute perfection. A place where nothing could go wrong, however when the garden has been portrayed with a 'surrealistic' point of view there is no telling what it could entail. This out of wack Garden of Eden is exactly what Djurberg has created and everything in it has become strange. With monstrous flowers towering over people and the lack of natural light in the atmosphere it is said to be a very nauseating experience. I think the sentences 'surrealistic garden of eden' and 'all natural goes awry' simply mean that this perfect garden of eden is now a place where anything could happen, and where everything you thought was natural, is now strange.
3. What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?
After watching one of her videos it is clear that there is indeed a vast amount of emotions being thrown at us all in a very short period of time. The scarceness of the dark and gloomy environment, the horror and disgust of what is happening to the clay actors, the anxiety and confusion of not knowing what is going to happen next. We are confronted with different types of the same emotion while also being immense amounts of sexual discomfort.
4. How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?
To me these 'ideas' of children's stories do not exist much, maybe it is because of how un-innocent the videos really are. However i admit that all the videos do resemble child-like television programs that would be played for kids under the age of 10. This is purely because of the vivid coloured, cartoonish style of claymation she has used which is also seen on television a lot in today's world.
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?
I think artists these days have more options in the sense that they choose what they want to portray in their work rather than it being commissioned. A lot of the modern art that is surfacing today is more of just the artists trying to express themselves and their views to the world. I personally think one of the reasons for this change could be the constant strain we as humans are putting on the earth we live on. Sure we may live in a more civilized time but little by little we make the world become more disturbing due to all the industrial factories as opposed to it becoming more Eco friendly.
6. In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?
I think the reasons it was chosen are based around the intense amount of emotions and radical feelings we get as soon as we start watching one of Djurbeg's animations. An exhibition like this is highly unique and not seen very often. Also having the clay works around you while you are watching, making you feel like you are part of the atmosphere is all the more exiting.
7. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.
Djurbeg's work strikes me at first as something that came from the minds of people in some sort of mental asylum. It is only after looking past all the disgusting sexual displacement that I can fully understand many of the emotions that she is trying to portray. All in all it is not something i would normally want to view but, despite all its horribleness, i would still congratulate her for creating such masterpieces.
References
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6886/nathalie-djurberg
http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2009/10/nathalie-djurberg-who-won-the.php
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6886/nathalie-djurberg-experiment-at-venice-art-biennale-09.html
http://www.labiennale.org/en/Home.html
http://www.rolloart.com/nathalie_djurberg/about
No comments:
Post a Comment