Perth Voice Interactive

THEIR dark and savagely humorous claymation films brought Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg to the world’s attention.

But for Swedish animator Djurberg it’s a side of her work she is inured to, and with a certain Germanic toughness (she and Berg live in Berlin) she dismisses others’ squeamishness.

“People go to see art to experience something else so if they are shocked it is because they went there to be so,” she tells the Voice.

Shamanic

Rather than offer a childish rendition of Hodgson Burnett’s book, the pair’s The Secret Garden portrays a strange, hallucinatory place, “with a mad, shamanic rabbit,” Djurberg says.

Sculpture, light and sound mix to amazing effect, all the more so for the “audience”, a series of odd little sculptures, alternately lit up in time to the music: “You have flowers that also look like cushions and big melted ice creams…it’s kind of like a garden, but abstract…like walking in on your own dream–or someone else’s,” Djurberg says.

Using only percussion the music sets an atmospheric tone: “Hans added layers and layers, so it goes deeper and gets very hypnotic.”

What started out as a working relationship for the pair turned to trust and romance: “When we started working together I was very demanding…[saying] I want this, I want that.

“But I realised doing that took away possibilities in the music. The more freedom I gave him the better it gets…bringing something else to the animation. It feels like a gift.”

Part of the Perth International Festival The Secret Garden is on at PICA, James Street, Northbridge until April 24.

It’s spawned a series of spin-offs, including the Psychedelic Cupcakes and Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, where kids create their own cakes with decorations inspired by the surreal world of The Secret Garden.

Or there’s the Spark Lab Workshop… Through the Looking Glass, a chance for young artists to create their own animated film.

For the grown-ups there’s a movie marathon A Night of Claymation, showing the quirky, libidinous claymation videos that shot Djurberg and Berg to international fame.

For dates, times and prices go to pica.org.au

by JENNY D’ANGER