The latest issue of Animation Practice, Process and Production on the theme of Decolonising Animation is now out through Intellect. Co-edited by Birgitta Hosea, Helen Starr, Pedro Serrazina, Natalie Woolf and Tereza Stehlikova with contributions from Diwas Bisht, Paula Callus, Mark Chavez, Ina Conradi, Tara Douglas, Nairy Eivazy, Liliana Conlisk Gallegos, Maybelle Peters, Susan Sloan, Helen Starr and Yijing Wang.
In their editorial article ‘Decolonizing Animation’, Birgitta Hosea and Helen Starr provide an introduction to key ideas from the decolonial thinkers who form the theoretical framework for this issue and how these ideas might enliven the thinking and making of animation.
This edition of the journal is based on the symposium Ecstatic Truth VII: Decolonising Animation, which was held at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham in 2023. Thanks to all the contributors, the publications team at Intellect, my colleagues at UCA who supported the event and also to the executive editors of the AP3 journal. Cover art courtesy of Liliana Conlisk Gallegos.
To view a live streamed webcast from Thurs 18th May 2023 of all the original presentations at Ecstatic Truth VII: Decolonizing Animation – click here
Ecstatic Truth VIII: Animation and Documentary in Times of Artificial Intelligence 19th April 2024, Auditório José Araújo, Universidade Lusófona de Lisboa, Portugal
Close up of little Nemo and Mickey Mouse, walking side by side with Lara Croft in Lisbon City (image generated in collaboration with Deepai.com)
Ecstatic Truth is an annual symposium on animated documentary founded in 2016 that explores issues arising from the interface between notions of animation and of documentary (conceptualised very broadly as non-fiction), with a particular interest in questions raised by experimental and practitioner perspectives.
An AI Call For Papers
The 8th edition of Ecstatic Truth will be dedicated to the impact of AI in image making, animation and documentary processes.
To fully immerse us into the context, we worked with an AI interface to produce this year’s Call For Papers: we used a previous description of the Ecstatic Truth symposium framework and had it “improved” by AI; we gave AI the general topics that concern us and would like to address and, through an interesting “dialogue”, came to the following result. The text below is the result of that interaction, between the Ecstatic Truth team and AI. If this is the future, we may face it sooner rather than later:
A generic AI description of Ecstatic Truth:
“In an age where mere facts often give way to the accountant’s reality, the influence of artificial intelligence and manipulated imagery has opened new frontiers in the realm of image-making and documentary practices. As Werner Herzog insightfully stated, it is the ecstatic truth – a poetic reality – that can more faithfully capture the nuanced depths of human experiences. As we navigate this landscape marked by the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the deliberate manipulation of visual content, we find ourselves at the heart of a transformative era in documentary filmmaking. As a reaction to that, we instructed AI to write the following CFP and invite you to join us in Lisbon for a symposium focused on the theme of “Animation and Documentary Practices in times of Artificial Intelligence.”
Animation and Documentary in Times of Artificial Intelligence – CALL FOR PAPERS
“In a world where any image can be artificially generated, questions abound regarding the evolving role of the animator and the definition of the animated image in contemporary filmmaking. Furthermore, how do we navigate the discourse surrounding documentary, especially animation documentary, in the age of AI? Are we witnessing the gradual replacement of the animator by AI? Is AI-driven animation merely an escape from reality, or can it be harnessed to address pressing societal issues? How can animation, especially in the documentary context, grapple with the veracity of the image and the challenges posed by deepfake technology? How do we navigate notions of truth and authenticity in the digital age?
This symposium, guided by an intersectional perspective, seeks to explore the profound impact of AI and digital manipulation on our understanding of the human experience and the possibilities for alternate realities. Just as colonialism disrupted local and indigenous knowledge systems, AI challenges our perceptions of reality and truth. How can we articulate and navigate the complexities of AI’s influence on our visual culture and society? Can animation, in its various forms, liberate us from the distorted realities created by artificial intelligence? We invite and encourage discussions on form, strategy, and the ethical considerations surrounding AI-generated imagery in our quest to explore “Animation in times of Artificial Intelligence.”
Call for Papers
The “Animation and Documentary in Times of Artificial Intelligence Symposium” invites scholars, filmmakers, animators, and artists to submit papers and proposals that delve into the multifaceted realm of animation in the age of artificial intelligence. We welcome contributions that explore but are not limited to the following themes:
The evolving role of the animator in the context of AI.
The definition and significance of the animated image in contemporary filmmaking.
Documentary practices and animation in the era of AI.
The ethical implications of AI-driven animation and deepfake technology.
Narratives and storytelling in AI-generated animation.
The challenges and opportunities presented by AI in animation production.
The impact of AI on the veracity of the image in documentary practices.
Discussions on the intersection of truth, authenticity, and AI in the digital age.
Case studies, artistic projects, and innovative approaches related to animation and AI.
Submission Guidelines
Authors are invited to submit their paper abstracts (up to 300 words) along with a brief bio (up to 150 words) via our online submission platform. Deadline for abstract submission is 23February, 2024.
Important Dates
Abstract Submission Deadline: 23-02-2024
Notification of Acceptance: 08-03-2024
Symposium Date: 19-04-2024
Join us in Lisbon for a symposium that promises to explore the frontiers of animation, documentary, and artificial intelligence. We look forward to engaging in vibrant discussions, sharing insights, and advancing our understanding of “Animation in Times of Artificial Intelligence.”
This comprehensive call for papers [has been created by AI and hopefully it should highlight] the
symposium’s theme, key topics of interest, submission guidelines, and important dates, offering a clear and engaging invitation to potential contributors.
Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
—
Submission Details
We call for papers, presentations and responses on our themes of artificial intelligence, in all its different manifestations, in relation to non-fiction manipulated moving image and animated documentary, in their most expanded forms.
You will be prompted to create a free account with Oxford Abstracts.
Your submission should include:
Title of your presentation
Abstract (brief summary of your proposed presentation) 500 words (including bibliographic references)
Short Biography – 200 words
Relevant links to moving image work/websites etc.
If the paper is practice-based, it should include reflection and contextualisation in addition to presenting the practice. We will not accept papers that propose to show the practice only.
Finally, we are unable to provide feedback on individual submissions.
The last of our series of 4 symposiums investigating the sensory dimensions of expanded animation took place at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria on 10th September 2023. Jointly organised and hosted by Juergen Hagler and Birgitta Hosea, the speakers were: Camille Baker, Darren Woodland, Tome Sone, Louis-Philippe Demers & Bill Vorn, Friedrich Kirschner, Julian Salhofer & Leoni Voegelin, Max Hattler, Johannes DeYoung, Varvara Guljajeva & Mar Canet Sola and Keynote Speaker Ghislaine Boddington.
All the presentations are archived and can be viewed here:
Panel 1: The Haptic Body in Action
Panel 2: Agency in Performance
Panel 3: Liveness and Procedural Animation
A very big thanks to Ars Electronica and the staff and students of the University of Upper Austria, Hagenburg for all their support and hosting this event for the last 4 years. We are planning a publication to bring together selected presentations from the events.
To view a live streamed webcast from Thurs 18th May of all presentations – click here
Birgitta Hosea, Pedro Serrazina, Helen Starr, Tereza Stehlikova and Natalie Woolf are currently editing a guest edition of the the Animation Practice, Process and Production journal (AP3) for IntellectBooks with written versions of the papers given at this symposium.
Ecstatic Truth is an annual symposium on animated documentary that takes place in a different country every year. We are interested in what animators and artists have to say about the work they make. This year, in conjunction with the Animation programme, it’s coming to Farnham! We have a different topic every year and this year’s theme is decolonisation.
What is decolonisation? In a nutshell, it is the idea that it might be possible to ‘unplug from the Matrix’ and find new ways to learn, think and act that are not imposed by dominant power structures.
How does that apply to animation? Our speakers will look at issues such as how to work collaboratively to tell stories of conflict or underrepresented peoples, how to counter bias in technology and whether animation can be used to express the voice and culture of indigenous peoples. There will be a range of approaches to making animation shown – from traditional drawn animation to the use of VR, AR, game engines, data and motion capture.
Farnham is a short train ride of one hour from London. Although there will be industrial action on the rail network 15-20th May, SW Rail trains should have no cancellations, although there may be minor delays.
In this, our fourth symposium at the critical juncture of embodied, sensual perception and the processes and technologies of expanded animation, we turn our attention to kinaesthetic and physical presence. Our human senses of proprioception (detecting our own position in space) and the vestibular system (detecting gravity, movement and balance) allow us to map our surroundings, navigate through space and detect the proximity of others. In an age in which our city streets have become a film studio with our every movement tracked by surveillance cameras and our every thought, memory or social interaction mediated through the camera, GPS, microphone and motion sensors of our smart devices, what does it mean to have a body? In what ways can expanded animation explore the physical presence of the live human body in motion and what is the role of technology in relation to this?
Venue
The conference will be held at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. The media festival will take place on the 6th–10h of September 2023: https://ars.electronica.art/festival/en/.
Call for Papers
We are looking for thought-provoking proposals that present innovative perspectives on working in expanded animation with the live body in motion. The questions we are interested in include, but are not limited to:
How can we critically and creatively use live performance in animation and animation in live performance?
What can the liveness of performance bring to animation in terms of improvisation, participation, spontaneity and unpredictability?
Since ancient times, thousands of years of performance practice have produced many different ways to move a body from stylised forms of dance to exaggerated clowning. What is ‘life-like’ motion and why does psychological realism remain a goal for animated characters who are, after all, not human?
In what new ways can the properties of human kinaesthetics be applied to animation? How can balance, gravity, weight, movement patterns, spatial mapping and proximity detection be re-imagined and creatively explored?
What are the ethics of capturing and re-appropriating a performer’s physical movement signature with mocap? How can we counter the algorithmic biases built into the fabric of motion capture systems and the under-representation of different demographics in motion capture libraries?
How might the technologies of surveillance, motion detection and capture be subverted and used for new artistic purposes?
How can the space in which performance takes place be animated and what impact does this have on performer and audience experience?
Can animation be used in live performance to disrupt theatrical conventions such as the fourth wall and unity of time and space?
How can animation be used to create proximity and communal experience in connected audiences?
How can AI technology revolutionize/change the way we will animate human bodies?
What does it mean to have a body in interactive animated environments (metaverse, games, VR)?
Deadline
Submission deadline: Friday, 26th May 2023
How to Submit
We call for papers, presentations and responses to our themes above.
Abstract (brief summary of your proposed presentation) 500 words (including bibliographic references)
Short Biography – 200 words
Relevant links to moving image work/websites etc.
If the paper is practice-based, it should include reflection and contextualisation in addition to presenting the practice. We will not accept papers that propose to show the practice only.
Finally, we are unable to provide feedback on individual submissions.
Keynote: Ghislaine Boddington, body>data>space
Creative Director, body>data>space / Reader In Digital Immersion, School of Design, University of Greenwich
Ghislaine Boddington is a curator, presenter and researcher, known for her pioneering work placing the body as the interface for digital technologies and exploring telepresence, digital intimacy and virtual physical blending since the early 1990s. Her research led practise, expert direction and curations include “Robots and Avatars” (EU/Nesta 2009-11), “me and my shadow” (National Theatre 2012), Nesta’s FutureFest 2015-18 and the recent exhibition/symposium Extended Senses and Embodying Technologies (UoG/UCA Sept 22). In 2017 Ghislaine was awarded the esteemed IX Immersion Experience International Visionary Pioneer Award for her long-term work on collective embodiment within digital immersion. She is an expert presenter for BBC World Service Digital Planet weekly radio show/podcast, a member of the DCMS College of Experts and a Trustee for Stemette Futures. Her websites can be found at Linktr.ee
Committees
The symposium is jointly organized by Dr. Juergen Hagler, Ars Electronica, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg and Professor Dr. Birgitta Hosea, Animation Research Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK.
Scientific committee: Professor Rose Bond, PNCA, USA; Andy Buchanan, independent scholar; Associate Professor Max Hattler, School of Creative Media, CityU, Hong Kong.
Synaesthetic Syntax is a one-day symposium on Sunday 11th September as part of the 10th Expanded Animation section of the Ars Electronica Festival. The event explores the complex relationship between sensory perception and expanded animation. In focussing on the primacy of the senses, the symposium aims to ask questions about the seduction of technology and how to maintain a discourse of what is fundamental about being human. This year’s theme is touch, gesture and physical movement. For more details about the presentations and how to view them online, go to the website for Expanded Animation.
We are delighted to welcome our keynote speaker and winner of a Golden Nica at this years Prix Ars Electronica: Rashaad Newsome. He will be giving his keynote presentation at 14.00 (CET) on Friday 9th Sept.
To be human, to be in a body, is to move and to feel; to move as it feels and to feel itself moving.[1] However, bodies do not exist in isolation. Bodies collide with one another in social contexts. They have the power to affect others or to be affected themselves. Bodies are structured by culture, but they can also resist. Motion and sensation felt in the body leads to change.[2]
At the time of organising the symposium, a line of tanks, armoured vehicles and troops 40 miles long were approaching Kyev: literally illustrating change in motion through technology. How can animation respond to this? How might technologies of gesture, proprioception and motion be used to create animation that goes beyond formalism and is able to reflect upon the forces that seek to contain movements towards change?
The sensation of touch can be brutal and violent or tender and loving. Through ‘haptic visuality’[3], a sense of touch can be evoked in animation by triggering physical memories of smell, touch and taste that engages the viewer bodily to convey cultural experience rather than through a use of language. How can touch be used in animation to create community or share memories?
Presentations:
The presentations respond to the following questions:
How to critically reflect on the tools and technologies of touch and movement used to create animation – motion capture, tablets and pens, sensors – and the data sets and libraries that they create?
How might the capture of motion, gesture and proprioception be used to innovate and tell stories of new communities?
What is the role of touch in conveying memory?
How might touch and biofeedback data be used in new ways to create animation?
[1] Paraphrase from p1. Brian Massumi, Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation (2002, Duke University Press) [2] Cf. Massumi, op. cit. [3] Laura U Marks, The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment and the Senses (2000, Duke University Press)
International symposium in which expanded animation and experimental moving image intersect with documentary, 22nd April 2022, University of Creative Communication, Prague, Czech Republic
Etymologically “to attend” comes from Middle English (in the sense ‘apply one’s mind or energies to’): from Old French atendre, from Latin attendere, from ad- ‘to’ + tendere ‘stretch’.
At a time when attending an event can mean two things: being present in person or virtually, new questions are raised about what attendance means. If attendance and attention have the same etymological roots, can we consider attending as a form of attention rather than requiring physical presence? And if the essence of attention is its elasticity, can we argue that attention is able to stretch to overcome physical distance? That our shared attention (as well as time and virtual platforms) allows us to be in attendance, together, no matter how physically displaced we are.
According to philosopher and cognitive scientist Lucas Battich (TT journal 3) shared attention not only helps us learn better, it is also multi-sensory. Is therefore watching a film together more illuminating than watching it alone, in separate spaces? What effect our new, so called “hybrid reality” has on our attention? Which role do the so-called proximity senses play in being attentive, attending to presence?
Attention is a precious and limited human resource which is under pressure: multiple forces constantly fight for our attention. Not just every day demands but social media, advertising and various other inventions of our late capitalist world, which understand that attention and money are intertwined. Attention is what makes us present, attention is learning, attention is the fabric of our experience, attention is being conscious, being conscientious, it is our future memory: we remember what we pay attention to, the rest becomes an unconscious assimilation of facts. And as we know from advertising methods, subliminal messaging can affect us on a level where we are unable to rationalise its effect, hence are more vulnerable.
Film (and moving image) as a medium has long been associated with memory: Like the mind it records and edits, what it deems significant. It can capture moments in time, make them conscious and preserve them for the future. It enables us, the viewers, to attend to the presence of those that came before us, even if they no longer share our everyday reality… Temporal and physical distances are bridged.
In association with Animation Research Centre, University for the Creative Arts, UK; Lusafona University, Portugal and Tangible Territory journal
The next Ecstatic Truth symposium on experimental and expanded approaches to animated documentary will be held in Prague on April 8th. It will take place at Vysoká škola kreativní komunikace (University of Creative Communication) in conjunction with the Tangible Territory journal. It will be a hybrid event – both in person and online.
Submission deadline: 30th June 2021 Symposium details: Sunday 12th September 2021, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria (online) Submit proposals here:https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ea2021
In the age of pandemic, our previously normal experiences of human touch and intimate proximity have become mediated by the screen rather than felt directly. We can no longer hear live music and feel the sonic vibrations; see a painting’s texture in close proximity; become immersed in the events of live theatre or engage in debate: these events are now bounded by the flat rectangular screen and limited by the extent of the pixels in our screen’s resolution.
Under these conditions, how can animation, in combination with music or audio art, re-engage us with bodily sensations received through the senses?
Coming together as a series of online events, this year’s Expanded Animation (http:/ /www.expandedanimation.com)symposium at Ars Electronica continues a dialogue about relationships between the senses, in particular the auditory and the visual. What are the rules, principles, and processes that govern correlations between sound and animation? How might these embodied sensations be explored, unpacked and reassembled in our age of virtual communication intensified by COVID-19?
Keynote Speaker: Refik Anadol
Our Keynote Speaker is media artist, director and pioneer in the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence, Refik Anadol. His body of work locates creativity at the intersection of humans and machines. In taking the data that flows around us as the primary material and the neural network of a computerized mind as a collaborator, Anadol paints with a thinking brush, offering us radical visualizations of our digitized memories and expanding the possibilities of architecture, narrative, and the body in motion. Anadol’s site-specific AI datasculptures, liveaudio/visual performances, and immersive installations take many forms, while encouraging us to rethink our engagement with the physical world, its temporal and spatial dimensions, and the creative potential of machines.
Submission Guidelines
In response to these themes, we call for academics and artists to propose 20-minute papers that bring the disciplines of music, audio art and animation together from a variety of perspectives: from historical, theoretical or critical perspectives to new and surprising practice. If the paper is practice-based, it should include reflection and contextualisation in addition to presenting the practice.
The proposal should include an abstract of no more than 500 words (including references) and a short biography of no more than 200 words.
In the field ‘Title and Abstract’ please enter the text for both your abstract and your bio. Do not submit a web link instead of a bio. This information can also be attached as a PDF document.
List of Topics
Suggested topics include:
Hearing Colour Seeing Sound Can music become visual? How did pioneers of visual music such as Oskar Fischinger and Mary Ellen Bute translate melody, harmony and rhythm into the form of animation? And can moving drawings become music? How can historic and / or contemporary practice demonstrate synaesthetic syntax?
In front of your eyes and ears With a perceived disparity between the slow time taken to create animation and the instant time taken to perform music, how can animation be performed live? Can the audio and the visual be combined in improvised performance? How can live, hand scribing or music notation or coding or drawing be used to conjure spontaneous audio-visual performance? What is gained from real-time, instant creation in the present moment? What does it mean for ‘liveness’ to experience this at home through a screen rather than being fully present at the event?
Rhythmanalysis Repetition and difference is at the heart of rhythm, at the heart of the algorithm, at the heart of animation, at the heart of lived experience. Rhythm is everywhere. From the natural – visceral, internal rhythms of the body breathing and the heart pumping or the slow changing of the seasons; to the artificial – externally imposed rhythms ordering us through the ticktock of mechanical clock-time or the ebb and flow of economic cycles. How does rhythm connect audio and animation? What might animation learn from audio and music theory and vice versa?
A Return to the Material In an age of digital synthesis and screen-based connections is there a craving for a return to the material? Do we long for haptic feedback and analogue experience: the touch of guitar strings, the feel of charcoal smearing under the fingers, banging a drum, painting on film? Is this simply a form of nostalgia or might it be thought through in new ways? How can it be brought together in the audio-visual?
Organising Committee
The symposium is jointly organised by Dr Juergen Hagler, Ars Electronica, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg and Professor Dr Birgitta Hosea, Animation Research Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK.
Scientific committee:
Professor Rose Bond, PNCA, USA
Dr Max Hattler, School of Creative Media, CityU, Hong Kong
Laura Lee, Audio Research Cluster, UCA
Dr Vicky Smith, Animation Research Centre, UCA
Dr Harry Whalley, Audio Research Cluster, UCA
Venue
The conference will be held online as part of Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. The media festival will take place on 8th-12th of September 2021 under the motto “A New Digital Deal – How the Digital World Could Work” (https://ars.electronica.art/newdigitaldeal/en/).
[Image: George Grosz, ‘The Voice of the People is the Voice of God from The Face of the Ruling Class’ (1920)]
Well it has certainly been one crazy year! We planned this symposium to happen in April 2020, but it had to be postponed because of the pandemic. Despite many obstacles, we have decided to go ahead with a series of 3 webinars on Tues 15th – Weds 16th December 2020 in conjunction with our partners Under_the_Radar festival Vienna and the University of the Applied Arts Vienna.
Ecstatic Truth V: The Age of the Absurd
Ecstatic Truth is an annual symposium that explores issues arising from the interface between animation (in all its forms) and documentary (conceptualised very broadly as non-fiction), with a particular interest in the questions raised by experimental and practitioner perspectives. According to Werner Herzog, mere facts constitute an accountant’s reality, but it is the ecstatic truth (a poetic reality) that can capture more faithfully the nuances and depths of human experiences. Given that animation (or manipulated moving image in all of its expanded forms) has the freedom to represent, stylize or reimagine the world, it lends itself well to this aspirational form of documentary filmmaking.
For this, our 5th symposium, held in collaboration with the Under_the_Radar Festival, Vienna, our theme is the Absurd. George Monbiot has described our contemporary age of increasing social and economic inequality, mass extinction and impending climate breakdown as deliberate disaster capitalism in which the ultra-rich benefit as institutions, systems of taxation and democratic processes implode. Everywhere the killer clowns and kleptocrats are taking over, he argues, with ludicrous strongmen dominating nations that would once have laughed them off stage. Absurdity is what they seek in order to take advantage. Chaos becomes the profit multiplier for the disaster capitalism on which they thrive. Every rupture is used to seize more of the assets on which our lives depend.[1]
So how can we imaginatively and creatively respond to these killer clowns and the absurdity of a world being run to continuously make profit regardless of its sustainability? What is there to stand for if the world is perceived as meaningless and how to fight this complacency ? Can we use animation for activism, to re-animate our conscience? How can we creatively challenge all this doom and gloom, and use our creative practice to navigate and challenge the absurd of our everyday lives? What is the role of humour, surrealism, the historic strategies of the Absurd and Central European Existentialism? Why does animation matter?
[1] George Monbiot, ‘From Trump to Johnson, nationalists are the rise – backed by billionaire oligarchs’, The. Guardian, 26/07/19
Webinar 1: The Many Forms of Censorship 19.00 – 20.30[Central European time]
Andrijana Ruzic: Recurring Elements of Absurd in Several Films of Zagreb School ofAnimation (1958-1969)
Gabriella Jutz: Animating Truth(s): Surveillance, Censorship and Journalistic Ethics
Susan Young: Who is, or Was, Ms A
Presentations followed by discussion and Q&A hosted by Birgitta Hosea
DAY2 Weds 16th December
Webinar 2: Subversion and Resistance: Defying Oppressive Structures 10.30 – 12.00[Central European time]
Chunning Guo: Rethinking Injustice in the Age of Absurd: Re-Constructing Prisons as Narrative Spaces through Animated Memories
Max Hattler: Abstract Animated Documentary? Moving-Image Abstractionand Meaning-Making in Hong Kong’s Age of the Absurd.
Zeynep Akcay: Dance, drawing and repetition: an absurd manifesto about female body
Presentations followed by discussion and Q&A hosted by Birgitta Hosea
Webinar 3: Hidden Force: Celebrating the Invisible Labours 19.00 – 20.30 [Central European time]
Orla McHardy: x‘C: Maintenance Animation is a drag: it takes all the fucking time’
Sally Pearce: Shades of Invisibility. A case study in animation activism.
Oliver Gingrich / Sara Choudhrey:AYAH – Sign: Collaborative Digital Art with the Grenfell Communities
Presentations followed by discussion and Q&A hosted by Tereza Stehlikova.
Ecstatic Truth is organised by: Birgitta Hosea, Animation Research Centre, UCA Farnham, UK; Pedro Serrazina, Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal; Tereza Stehlikova, CREAM, University of Westminster, UK
With thanks to Under_the_Radar: Barnaby Dicker, Martina Tritthart, Holger Lang
Expanded Animation 