Inhabited by surreal and even nightmarish visions, the artist duo Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg's stop-motion animations explore human desires.
Read MoreWhen the Swedish-born artists met in 2003 in Berlin, Djurberg had already been working with her clay and plasticine figures, while Berg had been engaged with techno music. Their collaboration initially began with Djurberg commissioning Berg for scores to accompany her animations, which then led to the formation of the duo in 2004.
Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg work intuitively, each in their medium—Djurberg sculpts her figures, characterised by bulging eyes and gaunt limbs, as well as the sets, while Berg composes atmospheric sound effects and musical compositions based on the work in progress.
Themes of human desire related to sex, violence, power, and domination are central to Djurberg and Berg's animations. Humanoid as well as animalistic characters engage in often violent or sexual situations that probe the darker underside of human emotions and fantasies.
The sexual and the gory court each other closely in The Experiment (2009), a three-channel video installation for which the duo received the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale. In Greed, three impeccably dressed popes take turns hiding a naked woman under their robes; Cave shows a woman in a cave, where her limbs free themselves from her body; and Forest follows the exhibitionistic journey of a couple through a forest.
Djurberg and Berg continue to examine these themes in later works, including the trilogy of short animations revolving around erotic fantasies and tropes. Phallic objects and suggestive scenarios abound in Delights of an Undirected Mind (2016), which stem from a child's fantasy dream, while Worship (2016) explores imagery associated with porn. Of the three, Dark Side of the Moon (2017) is perhaps the least explicit, depicting a girl's futile efforts to open a thatched house in the forest, foregrounding an intense desire for access to secrets and possession.
Djurberg and Berg have also experimented with virtual reality, creating the immersive virtual reality experience It Will End in Stars (2018) in collaboration with Acute Art. Presented by the Julia Stoschek Collection, the work begins in a forest—a recurring setting in the duo's animations—before shifting to a wooden cabin occupied by a wolf. Objects inside serve as portals to other places, including a kaleidoscope of unicorns and skeletons, constructed with Djurberg's signature clay figures and charcoal drawings.
Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg have shown their works in both solo and group exhibitions globally.
Select solo exhibitions include A Stream Stood Still, Lisson Gallery, Shanghai (2022); Can't Keep it in, Can't Lock it Away, Futura Gallery, Stockholm (2021); Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin (2020); Delights of an Undirected Mind, Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (2019); A Journey Through Mud and Confusion with Small Glimpses of Air, Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (2018).
Select group exhibitions include UNI QUE, Parkett, Zurich (2021); Manifesta 13, Marseille (2020); Nordic Impressions: Art from Åland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, 1821–2018, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2018); My Music, ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishoj, Denmark (2017); Swedish Art: Now!, Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum, Stockholm (2016); Inside, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015).
Sherry Paik | Ocula | 2022
