Relentless Melt and the London International Animation Festival are proud to present an online screening of abstract and experimental animations from Hong Kong curated by Max Hattler.
Relentless Melt is a Hong Kong-based society for abstract and experimental moving image, promoting experimental animation around Hong Kong and presenting programmes worldwide including Taiwan, Germany, England, Austria, Denmark and the USA.
Abstract animation plays a vital role in underpinning the core and purest elements of what animation in general is capable of expressing. In turn, this allows animators to produce incredibly interpretative and challenging imagery. These types of films which sit upon the essential elements of what animation is really about remind us that, at heart, it all comes down to having something significant to convey and the ability to articulate that using the most fundamental tools available in the moving image maker’s toolkit.
Abstract or experimental animation is a near-limitless trove from which to draw. It is released from the shackles of building coherent characters and the specific logic of a created world. Although the dissolving of these demands frees the imagination to depict the simplest and most complex thoughts of the artist, it also removes all the distractions and camouflage that a lesser communicator might be able, willing or compelled to hide behind.
Under these terms, abstract animation can be a depiction of just about anything that can nip at the very edges of imagination. These films are born of a near infinite roster of inspirations and they are made with a diverse range of tools and techniques. They can be provocateurs of specific memories, dreams and thoughts, or they can prowl the perimeter fence of our imaginations, pushing us to think harder and look deeper into our scrambled, semi-formed thoughts. These 14 short films, made in Hong Kong by Max Hattler’s students, are the cream of the crop produced within the last few years. And they show that abstract animation can be fun!
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Online book tickets
Grafik (Or Chun Yiu, Hong Kong)
Circles, rectangles, lines, and crosses – the beauty of graphics and minimalism in between positive and negative space.
2020, 0’45
Divisional Articulations (Max Hattler, Hong Kong)
Fuzzy analogue music and geometric digital animation collide in an electronic feedback loop, and spawn arrays of divisional articulations in time and space.
2017, 4’33
Float (Poo Ching Yan, Hong Kong)
The reconstruction of a cup of ice cream soda, an exploration of how ingredients can behave in different ways.
2020, 2’28
(Invade) (Wong Man Sze, Hong Kong)
Animated music video for the track “入侵” – mostly made with powdered charcoal and compressed charcoal.
2020, 5’33
Catgot (Wing Ho, Hong Kong)
Water droplets, bubble smashes and rain dripping. The sound and image of a fountain.
2019, 3’08
Split (Qiao Qing, Summer Huang Xiaowen, Li Yuanlu & Daniel Liu Da, Hong Kong)
Analogue clashes with digital. Rules are made to be broken.
2018, 2’42
_Im Edge (Summer Huang Xiaowen, Hong Kong)
An exploration of various landform’s conditions of uncertainty, focusing on the outlines of objects and transformations between each still through edge detection technique.
2018, 4’13
Tangram School (Emma Mei, Hong Kong)
A day in the life of a building. Busy people, curiosity and incomprehension.
2019, 6’20
Firefly (Lee Yun, Hong Kong)
A vibrant watercolour dance, fireflies glowing in the darkness.
2020, 2’15
Where’s My Stress Ball? (Or Chun Yiu, Hong Kong)
Created in quarantine. How to turn a stressful situation into something playful.
2020, 1’15
Phobia (Tsun Wai Lau, Hong Kong)
A phobia. An adventure, a subject lost in time and space. Lost in a fog, lost in oblivion.
2020, 3’24
Rotation (Tsun Wai Lau, Hong Kong)
Spinning, spinning….familiar imprints on our memories.
2020, 2’00
The Window (Chan Ka Wan, Lai Shan Wan & Yiu Lok Man, Hong Kong)
A monochrome composition of dynamic shapes and patterns comes to light and to life.
2019, 0’40
Serial Parallels (Max Hattler/Relentless Melt, Hong Kong)
A dizzying portrait of Hong Kong’s urban environment. The city’s signature architecture of horizon-eclipsing housing estates is reimagined as parallel rows of film strips.
2019, 9’00
