I first saw Djurberg’s work a few years ago in a group show at the Royal College of Art and was interested in her technique and struck by the strange often darkly surreal subject matter. So I was looking forward to see what was on offer in my first visit to the newly refurbished Arts center. to the score of collaborator Hans Berg’s music we explore two darkened rooms, each showing two looped films (at opposite ends of the room) between tables filled with strangely moulded glass forms – the music (a cross between clinking glass and wind chimes) plays an important role linking the glass sculptures to the films.
The films are what we expected – with Djurberg’s now trademark claymation animated figures and strange beasts which explore an orgy of erotic sensuality and pain in an extraordinary way – these are definately not from the stable of Wallace & Gromit!
The experience as a whole is really effective – no sound from the video and the atmospheric ‘music’ of Berg leaves the viewer with a mesmeric memory likened to the thrills and fears of fairy tales visited upon everyone as children.
Well worth the visit.
