What is the cutting edge of animation? In July 2025, staff and PhD researchers from the Animation Research Centre at UCA came together to present Cycles and Sequences: Research Currents in Animation with interdisciplinary works of expanded animation that span the disciplines of animation, games, photography, design, illustration and music. Alongside installation, sequential drawings, animated documentary, experimental CGI, AI, animation machines and live 16mm performances were items from UCA’s animation archives.
Curated by Vicky Smith, Cycles and Sequences featured more than twenty different artworks on display in the James Hockey Gallery in Farnham along with a number of entirely new collaborations in expanded animation.
Artists: Will Bishop-Stephens, Jordan Buckner, Jingyue Chang, Hattie Croucher, John Dargan, Vesi Dashinova, Jamie Dobson, Stephen Featherstone, Miriam Fox, Griffin Gu, Nicky Hamlyn, Max Hattler, Birgitta Hosea, Ciara Kerr, Belle Mellor, Martin Pickles, Vicky Smith, Emmanuelle Waeckerle.
The events included live performances and a discussion panel on contemporary animation research featuring Will Bishop-Stephens, Max Hattler, Birgitta Hosea, Irene Kotlarz, Martin Pickles and Vicky Smith.
[All of the events from this year’s Expanded Animation strand at Ars Electronica are now available to view online on their You Tube Channel.]
Come together on Sun 13th Sept for a Synaesthetic Syntax ‘Watch Party’ at IKLEKTIK London. At this socially distanced event, a small group of attendees can watch the online symposium from the final day of the Expanded Animation events for Ars Electronica on a big screen together. The presentations explore the interrelationships between audio and animation, between sound and vision. It is hosted by co-organiser Birgitta Hosea of the Animation Research Centre and a few of the UK speakers will be in attendance. This event is supported by the University for the Creative Arts. For more information and to book a free place, go to: https://synaesthetic-syntax-watchparty.eventbrite.co.uk.
Synaesthetic Syntax: Sounding Animation / Visualising Audio is a one-day symposium that brings together animators, musicians, artists, technologists and academics to discuss the interrelationships between audio and animation. Papers cover topics such as synaesthetic connections between sound and image, the role of gesture, improvisation and presence in live performance and the creative use of geometric and algorithmic patterns.
Our Keynote speaker is media artist, Rose Bond, who produces work at the juncture of cinema, animation and experiential design. She will be presenting her latest animated collaboration with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra on a live performance of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ars Electronica festival is mainly taking place online this year with a number of small events taking place at different associated venues around the world. The Expanded Animation strand will have a series of small, socially distanced Watch Parties in Linz, London and Portland.
Synaesthetic Syntax Symposium Schedule:
10:15–10:45 Keynote: Rose Bond (CA/US), Sounding Together – Choreographing the Unpredictable
11:05–12:40 Panel I: Hearing Colour Seeing Sound 11:05–11:10 Introduction: Birgitta Hosea (UK)
11:10–11:30 Vicky Smith (UK), Expanded Cinema and Para Animation: More than Audio and Visual 11:30–11:50 Alexander Stublic (DE), Presence and interaction in synaesthetic space 11:50–12:10 Sama Mara (UK), A Hidden Order – Revealing connections between geometry and music through harmony and mathematics 12:10–12:40 Panel Discussion (Chaired by Birgitta Hosea)
12:40–14:00 Break
14:00–15:30 Panel II: In front of your eyes and ears 14:00–14:05 Introduction: Harry Whalley (UK)
14:05–14:25 Giusy Caruso, Bavo Van Kerrebroeck, Pieter Jan Maes (BE), PIANO PHASE for two pianists in VR 14:25–14:45 Umut Eldem (BE), Towards a “Live Synaesthetic Visualisation”? Considerations in Artistically Visualised Sound 14:45–15:05 Jānis Garančs (LV), Algorithmic conflation and re-configuration of audiovisual space and movement in the series of experiments with financial data audio-visualisations as immersive artworks. 15:05–15:30 Panel Discussion (Chaired by Harry Whalley)
15:30–16:00 Break
16:00–17:30 Panel III: The Kinaesthetics of Music and Vision 16:00–16:05 Introduction: Juergen Hagler (AT)
16:05–16:25 João Pedro Oliveira (US), Gesture Interaction Between Sound and Image 16:25–16:45 Fred Collopy (US), A hypothesis-based approach to visual synthesizer design 16:45–17:05 Eric Dyer (US) Physical Presence and Material Desire: Eric Dyer’s sculptural and performative animation art practice 17:05–17:30 Panel Discussion (Chaired by Juergen Hagler)
17.30-18.00 Closing Note: Rose Bond (CA/US), Birgitta Hosea (UK), Juergen Hagler (AT),
MA Character Animation presents: Ketchup, an installation by Animation Artist-in-Residence Chunning (Maggie) Guo.
MACA is delighted to welcome Chunning (Maggie) Guo as our first Chinese Visiting Researcher and Animation Artist-in-Residence, a project made possible by the British Council and CICAF. Maggie is an independent animator who collaborates with Baishen Yan on films that explore memory and is in residence at Central Saint Martins for 3 months. Her work has been shown at international festivals and she was previously in residence as a Visiting Scholar at Vancouver Film School. She currently lectures at Renmin University, where she is also a PhD candidate, and is the author of several books on animation and digital arts. Link: http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/people/teaching-staff/drama-and-performance-programme/chunning-guo/
Ketchup, in the Windows Gallery at Central Saint Martin, presents the context behind the short film, Ketchup, made with Baishen Yan, in which tomatoes act as a memory trigger for brutal events in China in 1984.
Opening times: 09.00-21.00, 11-25th November 2014
Venue: Windows Gallery, The Crossing Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, Kings Cross, London, N1C 4AA
Screening: There will also be a screening, presentation and Q & A on Monday 17th November at 18.30 in room C303. If you would like to attend the screening, please RSVP to: http://ketchup.eventbrite.co.uk as seats are limited.
Here are the final films created by students from MA Character Animation at Central Saint Martins for the London Transport Museum. Made in small teams of 3-4 people to a short deadline of two weeks, they employ a variety of digital and drawn techniques in combination – from stop motion to Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Maya. Each short film is inspired by a historical poster that had been designed by an alumni from the college. The posters are shown at the end of the films. We will be having a small exhibition of the films and original posters in the Central Saint Martins Window Gallery during the month of May.
This one day symposium at Kings College London, University of London offers new perspectives on the field of animation. It is free and will be on Saturday 31st March. To find out more details and to book a place click here.
Tickets are on sale for the next Onedotzero festival at London’s BFI, which runs from 23-27 November 2011. Featuring a feast of innovative, contemporary animation and motion graphics from around the world this festival is a must-see! It’s particularly important to support the festival since it lost its government funding in the recent cuts and may not be so ambitious in scale in future years.
Expanded Animation 