Our annual survey of abstract and experimental animation. Animators working in this field employ every technique from hand-drawn ‘musical scores’ all the way across the scale to high definition, computer assisted image making. In common, these films share a pure love of animated movement and an artist’s eye for filling the screen, harnessing colour and creating non-narrative imagery.
At Barbican book tickets
Jazz Orgie (Irina Rubina, Germany)
A total explosion of dots, lines, planes and forms drowning in a jazz-filled choreographic world.
1’00, 2016
Setting West (Judith Poirier, Canada)
A visual essay on the history of typography and printing using original 19th and 20th century printing materials.
5’00, 2015
If You Say Something, See Something (Gina Kamentsky, USA)
Subtitles can be fun! The latest flurry of stream-of-consciousness madness from LIAF regular Gina Kamentsky.
2’00, 2016
This (Malcolm Sutherland, Canada)
A soothing meditative visualisation of Tibetan Buddhist Monks chanting.
6’00, 2016
Youpla (Oerd van Cuijlenborg, France)
A playfully vibrant film exploring the abstractions and imagination of children’s worlds.
4’00, 2015
Retro Future (Mirai Mizue, Japan)
A futuristic world imagined in childhood – what will the buildings look like?
7’00, 2015
O (Erick Oh, South Korea)
The passage of time and the creation of the universe.
4’00, 2016
Squame (Nicolas Brault, Canada)
The sensitive shell of the body, the skin. A fragile landscape made with sugar casts.
4’00, 2016
Summer Streets (Paul Fletcher, Australia)
A smooth and elegant abstraction based on the music of Tatonic.
3’00, 2015
Books on Books (Lei Lei, China)
An eye-opening graphic cutup and collage of Eastern and Western secondhand book covers through the years.
7’00, 2016
A 4363’s Trip (Valentine Dumez, France)
A delightfully punchy and playful abstract riff on the power and presence of the circle in animated art.
3’00, 2014
Detour (Jasmijn Cedee, Belgium)
An illusory procession of wiped, scratched and painted imagery delivered in two tones.
6’00, 2015
Bottle Neck (Joanna Priestley, USA)
A luminous crush of still life silhouettes, abstract shapes and complex, interlocking patterns.
3’00, 2015
Sai Gon (Oerd van Cuijlenborg, France)
The hustle and bustle of the city, the incessant rain in the jungle – impressions based on several trips to Vietnam between 2007 and 2014.
5’00, 2015
Tracheal Shave (Gina Kamentsky, USA)
“Think of a small dot in space.” More glorious fun! Ink and paint on found 35mm film trailers.
2’00, 2016
Vitreous (Robert Seidel, Germany)
A riotously coloured nine-piece virtual sculpture resembling a Rorschach test on acid.
3’00, 2015
Begone Dull Care 2015 (Paul Johnson, Canada)
A re-imagining of the original 1949 NFB short by Norman McLaren – dizzying calisthenics dancing in time to an ’80s videogame soundscape.
4’00, 2015
