Djurberg & Berg exhibits first outdoor work at Wanås Konst, Sweden

From 15 May until 6 November 2016, Wanås Konst presents an exciting new exhibition by Swedish artists Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg. Founded in 1987, Wanås is an arts and cultural centre in Sweden that encourages dialogue between contemporary art, nature and history.

Each year the organisation commissions Nordic and international artists to create work for its permanent art gallery and sculpture park. For 2016, Djurberg and Berg have been invited by Wanås Konst to present new and recent work, including their first large outdoor installation, titled In Dreams (2016). The work takes nature as its starting point, yet transforms it. Drawing inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, Djurberg describes the group of new sculptures as a teenage party: “The teenager’s conviction, with that fantastic self-assurance, that she knows absolutely everything and has a firm grasp on reality has been displaced; it is like waking up with one foot in this world and the other in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world.” The relatives of this sculpture group reside in the Wonderland of Djurberg & Berg: acorns wear ruffled underpants, a bird in heavy makeup smokes out of its rear end, and another bird, its eyes wide open, appears to be in a trance.

In the Art Gallery, the artists return to their signature stop-motion animation in their new film Worship (2016). Desire, lust and human nature are key themes explored in the film, where victims and perpetrators switch roles, characters exploit and are exploited — evil is everywhere. On the Art Gallery’s upper floor, the installation Gates of the Festival (2014), which combines neon sculptures with synchronised music and moving pictures, is shown in Sweden for the first time.

Please click here for more information on the exhibition.

Image: Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, Worship (2016). © Djurberg and Berg; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery.