AN endless field of possibilities without the confines of reality was the starting point for Swedish video artist Nathalie Djurberg’s exhibition The Secret Garden.
Created with fellow Swede, musician and composer, Hans Berg, the immersive show combining sculpture, light, sound and claymation film takes viewers into a surreal landscape presided over by a shaman rabbit.
The Berlin-based partnership, both creatively and personally, premiered The Secret Garden in Melbourne last year with Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts the second stop, showing as part of the Perth International Arts Festival 2016 visual arts program.
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READ NOWDjurberg said their works always began with her becoming obsessed by a string of thought or an interest she could not let go.
“The process when the work evolves is when it gets exciting,” Berg said.
“I come in on a project a little bit after, we don’t talk about the actual works but the themes surrounding it and I start thinking about music.
“In this one we have an animation of a shaman rabbit, so the music is inspired by this shamanic music with a hypnotic drumming loop.”
Djurberg said although the pair had a clear idea of what the work meant to them, she did not want to limit a viewer’s artistic interpretation of the exhibition.
“The nice thing about art is that it really only belongs to the artist in the studio,” she said.
“When it leaves the studio it belongs to the ones who are looking at it; sometimes people are scared to not ‘get it’, almost like there is a correct answer, but in art there isn’t a correct answer.
“It can’t ever be wrong because for that person, their interpretation for them is right. It’s one of the most beautiful things about art.”
THE ESSENTIALS
What: The Secret Garden
Where: PICA, Perth Cultural Centre
When: showing until April 24
Open: Tuesday to Sunday