Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Butterfly, 2014. Stop-motion animation. © the artist; Courtesy, Lisson Gallery
Long-time collaborators Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg present a new series of works for their inaugural exhibition at London’s Lisson Gallery. Here, the duo’s widely acclaimed Claymation films give way to sculptural interventions, projections, neon, film and music that are interwoven throughout the spaces in an immersive installation. This also marks a new beginning in terms of their collaboration as for the first time, Hans Berg’s soundscapes were composed before Nathalie Djurberg’s installations and films, thereby eschewing narratives for the more abstract.
Sleek: What ideas and concepts lie behind the show at Lisson? What approach have you taken here?
N&H We wanted to break free from the storytelling of previous works towards more abstract shapes that experiment with colour and music – this is more about movement than narrative. There are also many different ways of experiencing sound in this show, it’s physical, you can feel the bass. And the music is playing and controlling the neon lights in our work entitled “The Gates of the Festival”, for example. Then there are animations of waveforms and the colours of the electromagnetic spectrum – so this is sound you can see.
What prompted the move away from your more filmic works?
H In the past Nathalie would ask for music and then I would make it, but this changed when I asked Nathalie to make visuals for a piece of music. She spent 5 months working on it in the basement with no light.
N After that I made another Claymation film and felt that I had explored all I could within that area and that I was done with it, it didn’t feel necessary anymore. Something else started pulling at me.
You have broadened your collaboration – how do your practices work together? Who comes up with the initial idea – can you give us some insight into your working process?
N&H At first Nathalie would come up with the idea but now it is more about give and take. Many times now the music comes first and the visuals follow but always the project comes full circle, travelling from one of us to the other. This is the first time where the music came first, but each work is different.
What aspect of the contemporary art scene do you find most interesting? And what don’t you like at all?
N&H We don’t like much of it. The art world itself seems to be away from the point of why we are doing art. I wish we could enjoy it more. When you see something great, then you can be inspired, of course. But we try to stay out of the art scene and not take it too seriously.
Interview by Jeni Fulton
Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg: The Gates of the Festival is on until 1st November 2014 at the Lisson Gallery, London
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