1. What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?
From what i know, i believe "claymation" is basically what animation is - the process of making a movie seem as real as possible, while creating cartoon like characters out of clay. This is a very complex and difficult process because a single blink can go up to 10 frames long, which means that there is alot of adjusting of the clay models along with shading on the clothing to give it a realistic look.
One example of claymation would be "Wallace & Grommit" (2005). This is actually one of my favourite movies to, and when you get in to it you realise how complicated it would be to make a whole movie out of clay; the settings, the backgrounds, the hats, the grass - its all clay. And that would take immense concentration and determination which is why I find "claymation" so interesting.
2. What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?
By looking at these pictures, i get this idea of an "exotic" sort of feeling because of the colours, such as the reds. Another thing that increases this exotic feelings is the strangely shaped tree's and habitation used in the works. Similiar to exotic areas such as the Amazon, for instance. The shades from the clay-formed-flowers and tree's create this sense of being surrounded, it reminds me of a recent movie called "Where The Wild Things Are" which is originally a childrens book.
Awry generally means to change courses, away from the appropriate, or askew. "all that is natural goes awry" could easily suggest that what Djurberg is making these objects for a purpose - this purpose could involve the environment itself, or she could be stating what is clear - she is creating what he said "all that is natural goes awry", by using claymation to create almost exagerated natural works.
3. What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?
When i look at Djurberg's work, i get this feeling of childhood again. The cartoon style, make-believe idea is so dramatic in her work, and then all of a sudden the story changes just like that and something will happen for no apparent reason, it just does. She creates this make-believe world of good going bad with her claymation, it begins by giving this childish, humourous feeling and then is followed by this almost gruesome, intense storyline that unfolds so quickly, and all of a sudden you are at the end considering watching it again because of the interesting ideas and art styles that flow throughout it. At one point your in a cheerful, happy mood because of what you are confronted with, but it is followed by this gruesome style of a kid program, it could simply put into an oppisitions catagory, because it targets both anger and pain, aswell as safety and security.
When i look at Djurberg's work, i get this feeling of childhood again. The cartoon style, make-believe idea is so dramatic in her work, and then all of a sudden the story changes just like that and something will happen for no apparent reason, it just does. She creates this make-believe world of good going bad with her claymation, it begins by giving this childish, humourous feeling and then is followed by this almost gruesome, intense storyline that unfolds so quickly, and all of a sudden you are at the end considering watching it again because of the interesting ideas and art styles that flow throughout it. At one point your in a cheerful, happy mood because of what you are confronted with, but it is followed by this gruesome style of a kid program, it could simply put into an oppisitions catagory, because it targets both anger and pain, aswell as safety and security.
4. How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?
The characters that she uses in her works are also seen in many children stories, in her works you will see for instance a blonde girl in comparison to a demon or a beast of some sort, which can be seen as relating to Beauty & the Beast. She uses basic storylines from tradition and well known children stories, and twists them into something more brutal and serious, with a essence of humour throughout 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?
I think the reason for this is because its quite a risk to take something sweet and innocent and make it disturbing. There are so many people in the world that stick to what they know in art, breaching the boundaries and giving something a twist can have major effects on the critics opinions. Changing something so cliche and known into something that it generally isn't, is major decision made by the artist. It's such a good idea, to do this, I mean why do something the same every time, when you could take something and put a completely different label on it, to produce something that completely wow's and shocks the audience. Sure, you may get insulted on the work, but it's worth the risk to learn different styles and such.
6. In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?
In my opinion, her work has been chosen purely because it is such a different and interesting concept to work your art off of, there are some artists who do this concept but she definately pulls it off in an original way of thinking, its so straight forward and "if something happens, it does". Thats the best way i can describe her work, things don't have reasons for happening. They either happen or they don't.
7. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.
The thing i love about Djurberg's work is that its so unexpected, the plot of the stories tend to differ and have nothing to do with original children stories. There is a sort of irony about her work that makes me enjoy it so much, I mean to stand out from the crowd you must produce something extraordinary and different, and I think Djurberg has succeeded with that because after all, she was chosen for the Venice Beinnale which is pretty special. Her work is a concept in which few understand, and that few need to understand. Because with this style of work, you either understand it instantly, or don't understand it at all, its as simple as that and that is what makes Djurberg's work so fascinating.
