Artist: Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg

Lisson Gallery presents its first exhibition of work by Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg in Beijing, following their 2022 presentation, A Stream Stood Still, at Lisson Shanghai and A Moon Wrapped in Brown Paper at Shanghai’s Prada Rong Zhai in 2021. Known for their compelling fusion of visual art, music, and multi-dimensional storytelling, the Swedish artistic duo presents three signature psychologically-charged clay-animation films alongside sculptural works. The gallery is transformed into an immersive environment, engaging viewers on both a physical and psychological level, as the artists navigate the complexities of human emotion—addiction, desire, shame, greed, loss, and vulnerability.

Collaborating for over two decades, Djurberg and Berg have developed a deeply symbiotic creative process. Djurberg meticulously crafts and animates each figure and set in stop-motion, while Berg composes hypnotic soundscapes that heighten the psychological intensity and amplify the drama. This interplay of image and sound produces works that transcend traditional animation, acting instead as a visceral examination of the subconscious, tinged with absurdity and dark humour. Their characters—often anthropomorphic, surreal, and grotesque—function as metaphors for raw human impulses, existing in a world where logic yields to emotion.

The exhibition features three films that exemplify the duo’s signature aesthetic and thematic concerns. Dark Side of the Moon (2017) unfolds within a shadowy woodland, where a young girl is denied entry to a sentient cottage and tormented by surreal fairy-tale figures, including a smoking wolf, an overweight pig, and a dancing moon. The work traverses themes of fear, memory, and longing, framing sexuality and loss as intertwined experiences. A Pancake Moon (2022) follows an anthropomorphised egg on a hallucinatory journey through a forest inhabited by cunning animals seeking to seduce and consume it. As the egg transforms into the moon, it escapes danger, only to fall from the sky, losing its form and identity—a poetic meditation on transformation and selfhood. How to Slay a Demon (2019) confronts the theme of gluttony through the eyes of a supine woman, as a looming demon appears poised to consume her. The work offers a visceral reflection on addiction and desire, exposing the fragile boundary between pleasure and destruction.

Accompanying the films, a suite of sculptural works expands the exhibition’s immersive atmosphere. The Enchanted Garden series—comprising wall-mounted and freestanding sculptures—extends the presence of the forest beyond the screen. Crafted in deep electric blue, these organic forms, adorned with birds, recall Scandinavian folklore and reinforce the artists’ exploration of flora as a symbol of fleeting human emotions—joy, sorrow, desire, and vulnerability. Within this surreal landscape, golden beavers and mice gather amidst a tangled mass of branches. Known for building new pathways underground and altering the flow of water, these creatures metaphorically embody the unconscious thoughts that lie dormant before surfacing into awareness, as the title of the series Possibilities Untouched by the Mind (2024) suggests.

Nearby, Wolf and Moon (2023) depicts a humanised moon resting on the shoulder of a wolf, exploring the inextricable connection between instinct and reason. The tension between the primal and the rational underpins much of Djurberg & Berg’s practice, where familiar narratives of fables and fairy tales are reinterpreted through a psychological lens. The duo’s practice harnesses the dark potency of folklore, unearthing its contemporary relevance through visceral storytelling. Their works transcend conventional narrative structures, inviting audiences into an uncanny realm where the subconscious unfurls in all its raw and often unsettling beauty.