httpvh://youtu.be/-pbCA8ktDnQ

As its Surrealist title suggests, 971 HORSES + 4 ZEBRAS is a dazzling and confounding compilation of animations and experimental films co-curated by featured artists Jordan Baseman and Gary Thomas of Animate Projects.

The eponymous opening film, by Yu Araki, presents the viewer with a temporal collage referencing Muybridge’s highly influential pre-animation experiments. From this captivating animation it’s clear that the following films will not be concerning themselves gravely with 12 principles of animation outlined by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in the ILLUSION OF LIFE. These experiments will not conform to the traditions of mainstream animation and cinema. The artists featured in 971 HORSES + 4 ZEBRAS express a fascination with the process of creating and perceiving animation. The films are reminiscent of the Avant Gardist experiments seen in the films of such notables as Stan Brakhage or Michael Snow. It is the substance of their fabrication that is under scrutiny here.

…most art is based on uncertainty…

As any animator will tell you, producing animation is a labour intensive process. While experiments with animation are nothing new, the time and effort required to produce even the shortest sequence can often prevent an artist expressing herself intuitively with the medium. As most art is based on uncertainty, it is not practical for an animator to spend an inordinate amount of time and resources exploring a questionable idea.

This could be the reason why the majority of mainstream animation is conservative in its approach to narrative, and seldom explores those more tenuous and dark corners of humanity. These limitations are a great shame, as animation is an ideal medium to explore those inexpressible emotions and philosophies.

The earliest experiments in animation from Duchamp, Fischinger, and Eggeling present ridged, geometric shapes forming patterns with motion and time. This is a far cry from OCTOCAT ADVENTURE by Randy Peters (pseudonym of David O’Reilly) which, through its childish crudity, creates a sense of disturbing unease. The creative process is destructive and Dadaistic here, making the assignment of any cognitive logic difficult for the viewer.

httpvh://youtu.be/doAF7okTr38

This same tendency to distort the viewer’s expectations of animation is seen throughout many of the films shown here. GOD BLESS AMERIKA, by Tadasu Takamine, deconstructs the highly fetishised illusion of life created with stop motion animation while synchronously producing a satirical metaphor of patriotism. Lois Rowe and Patrick Rowan experiment with duration and editing in FILTER, while WALKING HOLIDAY IN GRINDEWALD by David Theobald drops us deep into a simulacrum of format versus reproduction.

OUR RELATIONSHIPS WILL BECOME RADIANT by James Lowne is probably most easily described as a CGI Picasso directed by David Lynch. Although such pedestrian references do this work some injustice, the film does present what is closest to a traditional narrative seen in this collection. The characters are broken and inside out, while the environment in which they reside is pensive and brazenly computer generated. Lowne’s cold, mangled, polygonal faces tell a horror story of post-digital fallout teeming with sexual depression that is eerie in its stark, poetic realism.

…we are invited to engage with and understand animation with unruled eyes…

971 HORSES + 4 ZEBRAS is tearing at the flesh from animation to see what lies beneath. It wants to expose the organs that drive this magical art form and upon viewing these experiments we are invited to engage with and understand animation with unruled eyes. It is an exciting experience to witness artists exploring the mechanics of animation as they have done with film, painting and sculpture in the past. Here’s hoping that these films will inspire artists and curators wishing to explore further what has been buried by generations of masters, refining the processes that create the illusion of life but ignore the art of creation.

http://www.animatedexeter.co.uk/

httpvh://vimeo.com/35682585