Nathalie Djurberg

Life and work

Djurberg is best known for producing claymation short films that are faux-naïve, but graphically violent and erotic. Their main characters, as described by The New York Times, "are girls or young women engaged in various kinds of vileness: from mild deception, friendly torture and oddly benign bestiality to murder and mayhem." She began making her own unique style of Claymation in 2001 and in 2004 she worked closely together with Berg to make narratives rich with symbolism that also often had humorous aspects to it. The films are accompanied by music by Hans Berg.

Natalie Djumberg's artistic animations introduce the viewer into a world of miniaturized, disfigured, mutilated and often grotesque animals. The human beings are transformed into caricatured figures. Some of Djumberg's notable works are: New Movements in Fashion (2006), The natural Selection (2006), Turn into Me (2008), I Found Myself Alone (2008) and Hungry, Hungry Hippoes (2007).

Djurberg's works have been shown at Performa 2007, at Tate Britain (2007), at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (2006) and at the Berlin Biennial of Contemporary Art (2006). They were also featured at solo shows at the Kunsthalle Wien (2007) and at Färgfabriken in Stockholm (2006). In 2008, she exhibited both installations and films at the Fondazione Prada in Milan. Djurberg was awarded the Silver Lion for a Promising New Artist at the Venice Biennale in 2009. In 2011, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis organized and exhibited The Parade: Nathalie Djurberg with Music by Hans Berg, which traveled to the New Museum in New York (2012) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (2012–2013).

In 2012 at the new museum Djurberg’s installation included life-size sculptures of over eighty birds: pelicans, flamingos, turkeys, eagles, a dodo, and a snowy owl. These large pieces were made of wire, foam, silicone, painted fabric, and clay. The birds were depicted raising their wings, twisted their necks, and groomed each other. Many of them opened their mouths ferociously.

Nathalie Djurberg is represented by Giò Marconi and Lisson Gallery.

Education

From 1994 to 1995 Djurberg received a Basic Art Education from the Folkuniversitetet in Göteborg. She attended the Hovedskous Art School in Göteborg from 1995 to 1997. During Djurberg’s schooling in Hovedskous she primarily focused on painting. Her painting skills are proven with the way her plasticine figures are modeled – her prowess gives her figures gestural expressionism. Djurberg received her Master's degree from Malmö Art Academy in 2002.

Selected exhibitions

Clay animation and digital videos

Awards