Catalogue > At random

Mastering Bambi Walt Disney`s 1942 classic animation film `Bambi` is well known for its distinct main characters ? a variety of cute, anthropomorphic animals. However, an important but often overlooked protagonist in the movie is nature itself: the pristine wilderness as the main grid on which Disney structured his `Bambi`. One of the first virtual worlds was created here: a world of deceptive realism and harmony, in which man is the only enemy. Disney strived to be true to nature, but he also used nature as a metaphor for human society. In his view, deeply rooted in European romanticism, the wilderness is threatened by civilization and technology. The forest, therefore, is depicted as a `magic well`, the ultimate purifying `frontier`, where the inhabitants peacefully coexist. The original 1924 Austrian novel `Bambi, A Life in the Woods` by Felix Salten was banned in 1936 by Adolf Hitler. The novel shows nature (and human society) more as a bleak, Darwinist reality of competition, violence and death. Broersen and Lukács recreate the model of Disney`s pristine vision, but they strip the forest of its harmonious inhabitants, the animals. What remains is another reality, a constructed and lacking wilderness, where nature becomes the mirror of our own imagination. The soundtrack is made by Berend Dubbe and Gwendolyn Thomas. They`ve reconstructed Bambi`s music, in which they twist and fold the sound in such a way that it reveals the dissonances in the movie.

Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukacs are artists living and working in Amsterdam and Paris. They work in a wide variety of media- most notably video, animation and graphics- producing a myriad of works that reflect on the ornamental nature of today`s society. With layers of depersonalization, re-mediation and re-imagination they demonstrate how reality, (mass)media and fiction are strongly intertwined in contemporary culture. This results in a body of work that hovers between ornament and perspective, between a journey and a cul-de-sac. Their work is shown in filmfestivals, museums and galleries and broadcasted on TV worldwide. Recent exhibitions/screenings include: Casa Encendida, Madrid / Centre Pompidou, Paris/ Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam/ Oberhausen Filmfest, Germany and more