Experimental animation

Experiment
Noteworthy artists
Experimental animation

What Is Beauty? And What's Your Definition of Your Beauty?
The philosopher and teacher Confucius said of beauty:
"Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it."



  • Experiment

    • The term “experimental” suggests trial-and-error, the testing of new forms, the taking of risks, thinking outside the box... which has been applied to art that is concerned with exploring new ideas, concepts or techniques.

    • Artists inherently experiment because there is no other way to discover how best to navigate their own practice, or what other possibilities for creating might be out there.

    • Experimentation takes us outside those repetitions to unexplored territory and untried actions.

    • The outcome of experimentation is knowledge, and failure is just as valuable as success, because one has expanded one’s awareness of one’s own abilities, one’s deeper ideas, the potential of a media, a process, a genre, and an art-form.

    • The field for experiment is endless, and the sense of experiment could avoid some of the stereotyped repetitions of established forms of aesthetics and technique.





  • Noteworthy artists

    • Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) was a French painter, sculptor, and writer.

      • Readymades: The term was first used by Duchamp to describe his works made from existing objects taken from real life and modified or re-contextualized to function as works of art.

      • By simply choosing the object (or objects) and repositioning or joining, titling and signing it, the found object became art.

      • Duchamp was not interested in what he called "retinal art"—art that was only visual—and sought other methods of expression.


        Fountain (1917) Marcel Duchamp



        Bicycle Wheel (1963) Marcel Duchamp

      • The idea at hand, of art primarily as a concept rather than an object, is what would make Fountain arguably the most intellectually captivating and challenging art piece of the 20th century.

      • What is a work of art? Who gets to decide, the artist or the critic? Can a work derive from an idea alone, or does it require the hand of a maker? These questions strike at the core of our understanding of art itself.




    • Nam-Jun Paik (1932–2006) was a Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art.


      • Nam June Paik Predicted the Future | Tate



      • Nam June Paik: Electronic Superhighway



    • Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was a German artist, performance artist, and art theorist.

      • Everything Is Art - Joseph Beuys






    • Christo and Jeanne-Claude — Born in Bulgaria and Morocco, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009) — were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks and landscape elements wrapped in fabric, including the Wrapped Reichstag (1995), The Pont Neuf Wrapped (1985), Running Fence (1976) in California, and The Gates (2005) in New York City's Central Park.



    • Andy Goldsworthy (1956- ) is an English sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art.


      • Andy Goldsworthy - Earth Artist and his Process










  • Experimental animation


    • Characteristics of experimental animation

      • Experimental animations are made by artists for a variety of reasons, most of which originate in their enthusiasm for the medium itself and their desire to develop some technical or artistic aspect of it.

      • It defines itself to have illogical, irrational and non-linear (discontinuity) due to the fact that it often ignores the narrative or storytelling structure.

      • Experimental animation, like other serious art forms, requires in varying degrees an active and empathetic response from its audience.



      • Ultimately, the only way to understand and appreciate the filmmakers is to view their films again and again, as one would hear a piece of music, read a poem, or look at a painting. ​

      • In order to fully experience these complex artistic works, the viewer must be prepared to constantly develop new standards of judgment and perhaps and even new aesthetic attitudes.

      • One common bond among all experimental animators in that, in varying degrees, they personalize their equipment and techniques, as does any fine artisan or craftsman.​

      • It requires the artist to invent unique forms, shapes and colors that have their own rhythm and movement in a new and expressive way.

      • Norman McLaren (1914–1987) claims that his approach to each new film is experimental in the sense that he wants to explore some new technical invention of sound and image.


        A Phantasy in Colors (1949) Norman McLaren





    • Orthodox animation vs Experimental animation

      • Orthodox animation has a specific or logical continuity by prioritizing the character and context to make a scenario whereas experimental animation has non-linear and multiple continuities that has no context.

      • Experimental animation ignores the conservative and predictable nature because it generally focuses the abstract forms in motion.

      • Although it is obvious that a considerable degree of experiment is always possible in the course of normal commercial production, experimental animation is the "free" animated film (that is, animation-making without commercial commitments) that allows more extreme forms of work where failure or partial failure can be just as revealing as some successful new technical discovery.

      • Because of its subjective nature, the audiences have different perspectives as they interpret the experimental animation on their own and create their own meanings and speculations that are beyond the surface value.

      • "The discoveries made by the experimentalists" are therefore of constant use to the animators because they reveal both in their success and their failure what the medium is capable or incapable of accomplishing.


        Anatomy of a Poem (2011) Rebecca Ruige Xu


        In This Convex Hull (2016) Brandon Morse





    • Relationship with music

      • There is a strong relationship between experimental animation and music where music can be visualized as colors and shapes that can move in different rhythms and speeds.

      • It often resists the clichéd sound effects and easy emotiveness of certain music genres. Instead, silence, an avant-garde score and unusual sounds are used to create a variety of deeper messages that the artist conveys.

        Gyromorphis (1954) Hy Hirsh

        Poetic Musings (2018) Joon Sung






    • Fringe groups


      • Yuri Norstein (1941- ) is a Russian animator best known for his animated shorts Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales. Since 1981, he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name. According to The Washington Post, "he is considered by many to be not just the best animator of his era, but the best of all time".



        Yuri Norstein Documentary (2004)


      • Josko Marusic (1952- ) a Croatian author of animated films. He is a director and writer, known for Riblje oko (1980), Duga (2010) and Inside and Out (1978).
        Riblje oko (Fisheye) (1980)


      • Christoph Lauenstein (1962- ) a German producer, director and writer. While enrolled at the school Lauenstein, together with his twin brother Wolfgang, created the animated short film Balance. It received an Academy Award in the animated short film category in 1990.

        Balance (1989) Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein


    • Expanded Cinema (1970) by Gene Youngblood

      • Gene Youngblood (1942–2021) was an American theorist of media arts, and a scholar in the history and theory of alternative cinemas. His Expanded Cinema, the first to consider video as an art form and has been credited with helping to legitimate the fields of computer art and media arts.

      • Youngblood explains that expanded cinema requires "consciousness" that can reach through the cinematic technologies. His main objective is for motion picture to take part in the art media by using film as a means to reject the expectations of industry standardization.

      • He describes various types of filmmaking utilizing new technology, including special effects, computer art, video art, multi-media environments and holography.

        "Abstraction also plays a significant role in uniting experimental animation and the Expanded Cinema.

        Abstract films bring imagery that may carry no real-world references but also encompasses to capture a deeper meaning that can shape the society's traditional perspectives and expectations of the real world.

        There are various connections between the Expanded Cinema, experimental animation and film, and the wider arts".


      • Stan VanDerBeek is known to bridge experimental animation and the Expanded cinema as he is fascinated with free movements in animation when employing different forms of art.

        Movie-Drome (1964-65) Stan VanDerBeek






    • Conclusion

      • Although experimental animation is a unique art form with a bold tradition that dates back nearly 100 years, it has remained relatively isolated and undocumented within an area of animated film long dominated by the comic cartoon.

      • Many students have enrolled in animation classes every year as experimental animation begins to expand in art schools, colleges and universities.

      • A majority of students have attended these classes because they have an interest in learning the skills that can help them become employable. Meanwhile, others attended animation classes as they see animation as an 'art medium' that they relate or can express themselves.

      • A majority of experimental animators were aware that their works were not getting enough recognition in the entertainment world, such as movies and music. However, they have been able to use animation as a medium that is used to deliver their messages or concerns to the public.

      • Jules Engel (American filmmaker, animator, and teacher) believes that the future of experimental animation, which he calls 'fine art animation', depends on people who will promote their works in galleries.