Curated by Lena Essling
This midcareer survey of Berlin-based artists Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, “A Journey Through Mud and Confusion with Small Glimpses of Air,” marks their first comprehensive exhibition at a major museum in their home country of Sweden. Djurberg has been refining her Claymation technique since 2001, folding visceral allegories and painterly tableaux into fantastical tales propelled by the deep biological drives for sex, violence, and power. Berg, her collaborator since 2004, sets these narratives to hypnotic electronic soundtracks that offer profundity to the absurdity of her clay formations. In addition to a teeming compilation of more than a dozen such films and a selection of new sculptures, the exhibition will feature four immersive installations, including The Experiment, 2009, and The Parade, 2011. The accompanying catalogue will vivify the works with contributions by the show’s curator, Lena Essling; musician David Toop; artistic director Massimiliano Gioni; and philosopher Patricia MacCormack. Travels to the Contemporary and Modern Art Museum of Trento and Rovereto, Italy, October 5, 2018–January 13, 2019; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, February 28–May 26, 2019.
