Roundtrip Animation
This piece is a collaboration and therefore, the information about all the artists is available here, written as a collective.
Animated by Vincent Chow, Grace Burns, Hayden Staples, Katherine Norris, Martin Cho, Brody O’Brien, Abigail Bargas, Sophie Golly, Elena Gabriela Manea, Anna Mitscha, Paul Elia Zeißig, Ghazal Sabzi Yakhforoozani, Louise Rogiers, Arwen Aznag, Sam Schmetz, Aaliyah Nyanguile, Idriss Ajouaou, Cyril Van Nuffel, Louis Monden, Alise Issanbaieva, Humberto Gonçalves da Costa, Amber Van Osselt.
This project started from an old circle, the phenakistiscope. A circle that turns and thus creates animation through a continuous flow of images. This project was also a circle across the Atlantic, an inquiry into the cultural similarities and differences between what used to be called ‘the Old World’ and ‘the New World.’ At the same time, it was an exploration of ‘old media’ and ‘new media,’ opportunities that arise from the interrelation between both, creating yet another circle in a hybrid experimental fashion.
Our work was an interplay between analog and digital, tactile and ephemeral. This included repurposing ‘obsolete’ media devices and bringing digital animation to the tangible realm through laser cutting and hands-on experimentation. Proto-animation devices from the 19th century hold a special place in our practice, compelling us to think differently about animation conceptually and visually and extend the moving image beyond the two-dimensional screen.
We have separate artistic practices, and this was our first collaboration. In a broad sense, discovering alternative and experimental animation was the revelation that inspired different creative pursuits for each of us. It’s a cliché, but the possibilities become endless when different artistic disciplines meet!
My work originates from a substrate of exploration, combining different techniques and approaches without an intended goal in mind.
The process starts from a deep curiosity about form, texture, light and motion, both in its creation and perception. The human body features prominently in my work, conveying meaning and emotion outside of a traditional narrative framework.
