S2 Week 1 - Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'

1. Claymation is a form of animation, using clay (or a similar material) molded into figures and altered slightly each frame, which is then run back at full speed to create the illusion of free movement.

2. The 'Surrealistic Garden of Eden' refers to the clay utopia that Djurberg set up for her exhibition for the Venice Biennale. It seems that she constructed this fanstasy world based on something very innocent and beautiful (the Garden of Eden), and then turned it upside down as she does in her videos, by exposing or manipulating a seemingly innocent scene into something darker. This is summed up by the line "all that is natural goes awry".

3. Djurberg bluntly portrays scenes that would be considered taboo, in a very childish (though not unprofessional) manner, and when this mixture of 'what' versus 'how' come together, it can be a very uneasy and awkward experience. Her works often look innocent until the moment you realize what is happening. This constantly shifting feeling creates a sense of emotional confusion - while you want to turn away, you just can't. She capitalizes on our curious nature.

4. Djurberg's works obviously take some inspiration from children's stories and other common familiarities that come from our childhood. However, she then flips then into something that is about as far away from childhood innocence as one can portray with clay. Once again, she is mixing claymation - something that strikes up memories of children's TV shows and of pure innocence - with shocking storylines and concepts. Through the materials, something that is blatantly taboo has an aura of innocence, or naivety.

5. I believe the fascination with turning the innocent or seemingly sweet into something morbid or disturbing is simply based on the increased level of access to all kinds of information we have today. Art, and people in general, have always been obsessed with contrasts. With advances in technology and the "shrinking" of the world, more people have access to more information - be it through the internet or news coverage, etc. Events or situations happening on the one side of the world are reported in real time across to the other side of the world. In general, I think our access to things that make us say "what!?" has just given us more ideas to contrast with others. While artists 300 years ago may have been contrasting shapes, or seasons or emotions, we today can hear of an event that strikes up a new level of contrast (ie. a school shooting), and it can in turn inspire our artwork. The increasingly disturbing level of some crimes or ideas that we hear about on a day-to-day basis will only push this 'innocent versus disturbing' envelope further.

6. I think it was a gutsy move to include Djurberg's work in the Venice Biennale due to the nature of her videos, but a correct one. I believe art should consist of at least one of these two things - to look appealing to the eye, and secondly, to make you think. Her work may not be very appealing to the eye, but it definitely makes us think. The highest level of viewer participation is when emotions come into play, and she accomplishes this at a high level. This allows her work to be successful, and above all - interesting.

7. My opinion on Djurberg's works has evolved as I have taken the time to think about the concepts behind them. At first, they seemed crude and just there for the shock factor, but I figured if that was the case, there would have been no emotion involved. I believe the materials and medium she used to convey her concepts were the make or break factor, and claymation was the perfectly contrasted medium. Almost everything else would have probably failed and rendered her artworks as nothing more than crude "shock jock" style concepts. Djurberg managed to turn images of what would make most people shake their head and turn away, into something that plays on our curiosity and invites us to watch despite the graphic nature of the content, by confusing our emotions.