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Koning icon Vicious Cycles Series / Home, Closed

Vicious Cycles Series / Home, Closed Exhibit Display
Vicious Cycles Series: Boom -> Bust (#1) | 2018; Spawn (#2) | 2019; Light Play (#3) | 2023
Object Animation, 3D Printed Animation, Replacement Animation. Running times: #1, 1:42 min; #2, 1:31 min; #3, 3:19 min
Series of 3D printed objects (PLA plastic) Hand-build sets (wood, screws, aluminum foil, PLA plastic, etc.).

Home, Closed | 2020
Object Animation, Replacement Animation. 3:43 min
Character “puppets” made out of junk (wood, cork, broken lightbulbs, screws, nails) Hand built set (wood, metal hinge, etc.).

My work usually involves combining 3D computer animation and video with audio to create mostly linear single channel works. While exploring 3D printing, I turned to stop motion as I enjoyed a return to physical making and applying my traditional film-making skills. In the Vicious Cycles Series, 3D printed physical manifestations of simulated virtual objects are re-virtualized through stop-motion photography. Objects grow, evolve, and, in the first in the series, form a rhythmical cacophony of Boom and Bust.
In the second, the spawned objects seem to compete for limited space. In the third, inspired by Brian Eno, light plays through translucent objects, only to be reined in by square metal. While some of environments in the Vicious Cycles Series are worn down and rusty, in Home, Closed, these recycled materials take center stage. As one object, or character, intrudes upon the space of another, a battle for control ensues. They find places to sit, but is that the end of it?


As a filmmaker I have always approached film as Art, not entertainment. Animation is a specific kind of film making, and can also be used to create work that might be considered Art. There is of course art or artistry involved in creating even the most utilitarian animation, and some explicitly commercial or entertainment pieces can rise to the level of Art. What interests me most are the animations that challenge convention, and while doing so visually convey what cannot be put into words.
My process for creating animations varies greatly. When the pandemic hit early 2020, I lost access to the 3D printers at our school. For Home, Closed I created the character objects out of junk I had lying around in my basement. One character is made of a cork with a part of a car headlight on top. I created multiple versions of each character object, varying in height. The animation itself was not as meticulously planned like the Vicious Cycles Series but was more improvised: it developed and grew as I was shooting the piece.The sets from my stop motion animations are generally pretty small, with the objects being manipulated only one or two inches tall. Thus, my relation to the material, if we take that to mean the physical objects used to create the animation, is pretty intimate. I push the objects around gently, nudge them into position. The material plays the role of actors in the scene, and of scenery. I direct the movements, oversee how the material acts and performs.

The material plays the role of actors. I direct the movements, oversee how the material acts and performs quote symbol

Wobbe F. Koning
Wobbe F. Koning
Nationality: Dutch (The Netherlands)
Monmouth University

Wobbe F. Koning is an award-winning animator. His work ranges from abstract and procedural, to narrative character animation. Recently he branched out into Virtual Reality. Previous work includes multi-screen video installations and on-stage video for dance performances. He teaches animation at Monmouth University in New Jersey, U.S.A.