Directors Lounge Poznan, Poland 2006 Forming Motion: Animated Artistic Expertiments curated by Kim Collmer with assistance by Microcinema International May 12 & 13, Sunday and Monday

1. Vision Point directed by Stephen Arthur, Canada, 1999, Still Photos, 1:27 min., courtesy Microcinema International Landscape pixilation" is used to express and abstract our direct relationship to the land of Western Canada in a powerfully surreal and visionary way...

2. Disintegrated Memory Lapse directed by Carl Nolting United States, 2004, DV, 4:22 min., courtesy of Microcinema International Disintegrated Memory Lapse is a short experimental film exploring the visual memory of emotions and feelings associated with an individual through a time based medium. Each frame was rotoscoped and then composited on top of each other.
3. Destrukt, Aline Helmcke, Germany, 2005, Hand-drawn animation, 2:20 min. The animation film "Destrukt" operates with single frame drawings taken from political report photos envolve a non narrative structure which is based on transformative and decompositive movemants from one key-picture into the next. The black and white drawings blur the identity of the pictures that everybody knows from the daily news. Instead of showing the background stories of the conflicts that these pictures implicate, the film wants to investigate their main structure, surrealistic and worrying between nearness and absence.

4. Text Field directed by Chirstinn Whyte & Jake Messenger, United Kingdom, 2002, 1:00 min., courtesy Microcinema International A single continuous take of improvised movement, translated into an ascii-based animation, with a soundtrack generated by a computer read-out of the sequence's final frame....

5. HOAM, directed by Elizabeth Stohl, Germany, 2005, digital animation, 5 min. The globalization process and the resulting cultural homongenization are presented with the underlying question of regional identity.

6. Broadway Boogie Woogie, directed by Kelley Bell, United States, 2004, Digital Animation, 1:30 min. An animated short hanging two Dutch painters in the same frame. The ghost of Hieronymous Bosch haunts the colorful grids of Piet Mondrian... Where can he go?
7. Algorithmen directed by Bärbel Neubauer, Germany, 1994, 35mm, 3:17 min., courtesy Microcinema International Metamorphoses of colour and form which are painted , drawn and stamped on blank film directly and which are corresponding to rhythm and music.
8. Ampel directed by Ho-Yeol Ryu, Germany, 2002, 1:30 min. Das grundsätzliche Hauptthema von meiner Arbeit ist Realität und Unrealität. Eine Situation oder ein Phänomen, die in der Realität unmöglich ist, werden mit dem Computer als eine Mittel verwirklichen(oder anderseits eine Realität wird unrealistisch), und eine neue Welt mit anderer Vision wird geboren. Es ist nicht nur eine wesenhafte Bedeutung als eine Realisierung von einer Unwirklichkeit, sondern es ist ein richtige Sinn von der allgemeine Vorstellung auskommen zu können.

9. Party Party Chisai-san directed by Janet Galore, United States, 2006, Hand-drawn cells with Flash assist, 1:30 min. Chisai-san (Mr. Small) morphs, bends, and pulls himself to pieces while dancing to bouncy techno music. Mindless happiness in a minimal setting.

10. The Fold, directed by Kim Collmer, Croatia/ Germany, 2005, 4:11 min. Shot underwater in the Adriatic and a giant wooden water bucket, the Fold explores water as a reflective surface, creating mirrored images and abstract cellular animations. Assistance from Eike Mählman, Miles Chalcraft and music by Jeff McGrory. Filmed at Subart, Croatia.

11. Lovers Supplant directed by Norma V Toraya, United States, 2005, hand-paint and digital animation, 2:08 min., courtesy Microcinema International Lovers Supplant is an animated short about a femme fatale who creeps along in the night with an objective (abduction of a blissful female) and a motive (to be with the man she loves and role she deserves).

12. FRIGIDAIRE, directed by Virgilio Villoresi and Vivì Ponti, 2005, 5:41 Frigidaire is a stop motion animation about the birth, transformation, death and resurrection of a young girl. A hand takes her through a mad trip inside the house "Frigidaire". We took images from old magazines from the 40's-60's and from our reasearch of old books. The video is made with the collage technic and the sound is made by cuttings of old film. This is our first video together.

13. PAO (bread) directed by Andrea Martha, Portugal, 2005, pixelation animation PAO was Andrea's first film, made in her apartment in Lisbon. Imaginative, humorous, and low-tech, PAO brings everyday objects to life.
14. Childhood directed by Shizuko Tabata, Japan, 2001, 16mm, 2:30, courtesy Microcinema International Is the memory of your childhood a happy or sad one? Everything has gone to the past, but we can only look forward....

Longer description of Forming Motion, Poznan:

Forming Motion is a night of animation shorts collected from around the world. For this series, animation is depicted as both a connector of images, and as a reminder of the artificiality and tedious nature of its construction. Many artists in this program create a tension between the flow and the construct, for example Helmcke's work melds together newspaper images but through a very labor-intensive drawing technique. This creates a wonferful tension between movement and frozen moments in time. Some of the other work has connections to visualized music and absolute film. Within their work there is a focus on texture, line, movement, light and rhythm and film's ability to contain life and energy.

Stephen Arthur's Vision Point is a mixture between a medidation on the road trip and a homage to the great Western vistas. Created by single shots taken from a Pentax camera, he is able to manipulate the landscape, causing the earth to shake and rumble and also changing the depth of field, creating an unreal perception of the natural landscape.

Carl Nolting's Disintegrated Memory Lapse calls attention to the fleeting moments of memory in relation to the portrait. Various people pose as if their likeness is being captured for the camera, but instead we only see fragments slipping away, fluidly morphing into other images. We are caught somewhere between the camera's ability to capture and our ability to remember.

Aline Helmcke's Destrukt searches for connections between the mediated world of news. Newspaper images are fused with one another through the meditative process of drawing. Destrukt constructs (or deconstructs) a space for deeper reflection into the images that shape our understanding of the world around us. Helmcke slows down moments, allowing us to consider the connections and dislocations of these fragmentary sketches.

Text Field by Christinn Whyte & Jake Messenger use ASCII animation to portray human movement. Demonstrating our ability to see life inside of a lifeless medium, Text Field represents the simple magic found in animated movement while also drawing our attention to the construct of computer imaging. The body electric, freed from the physical world, dances in abstraction.

HOAM by Elizabeth Stohl, is a personal reflection on language and cultural identity through letters and textures. Floating in a sea of sound and words, we feel ourselves swimming in a painterly pool of global and local cultures.

Broadway Boogie Woogie by Kelley Bell is a humourous look at two Dutch masters. Using paintings as environments, she animates a physical encounter between these two elements.

Algorithmen by Bärbel Neubauer demonstrates the simple beauty of the medium of film. Color, rhythm and movement bring together an elegant exuberance. Dancing abstract shapes and colors pulse together in a celebration of the animated form.

Ampel by Ho-Yeol Ryu is part of a series of animated shorts in which he questions simple perceptions of reality. Ampel uses an unspectacular everyday scene and changes our understanding by highlighting a specific element. The rhythm he finds realistically amplifies the mechanical rhythm found in daily city life.

Party Party Chisai-san by Janet Galore shows us a simple figure dancing in a pure white space. A connection could be drawn here between Text Field. Party Party shows a trend in character driven animation as seen on the internet and mobile phones- short, cute, simple. What sets this animation apart is the skill in animation and the timing of the character's movements.

The Fold by Kim Collmer fuses water, light and form to sculpt an abstract fluid environment. Through animation she is able to recreate the feeling of submersion and tranquility. Hypnotic and opulent, the Fold makes a connection between the sculptural environments found in stop motion animation and the painterly textures of 2D animation.

Lovers Supplant by Norma V Toraya is a dark story of jealousy and revenge. Painterly and seductive, Lovers Supplant uses animation to meld forms and environments, pulling us through a dreamlike tale of doom. Especially poignant is her use of painted animation techniques to move us in between different spaces and situations.

Fridgidaire by Virgilio Villoresi and Vivì Ponti makes use of the collage technique, depicting the disruption of a young girl. Using old magazines and books, they chop together a dislocated and fractured landscape of fashion, surrealism and dark humour.

PAO (bread) by Andrea Martha brings animated magic to the personal space of one's home. She uses stop motion animation to allow her private daydreams to come to life. Although the scenes she depicts are not real, the everyday nature of her materials create a strong connection to the manipulations she imploys. A connection can be scene between this piece and Ampel.

Childhood by Shizuko Tabata uses the simple white piece of paper to evoke time and events throughout one's life. This piece represents animation's ability to suggest without showing.