[-empyre-] chris sullivan p.S.

[christopher sullivan]

by the way, I show power and water in my "not quite animation" day in my
alternative animation history class. It is a wonderful film. you should all try
to get Pat out to show The Decay OF Fiction, his amazing film, that
unfortunately he does not like, but I sure do. Chris.


Quoting christopher sullivan <csulli at saic.edu>:

> 
> Hi Eric, I do think that certain technologies or circumstances dictate trends
> in
> work. For instance the non verbal history of independent art films in the
> 70's
> and 80's, was directly related to issues of french versus English in Canada,
> and the fact that the Netherlands, Italy, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, where
> important places that could not count on language to engage a wider world. 
> 
> And for that matter the frame by frame process does break down time and lead
> to
> different ways of looking at the world. But I am questioning starting with
> formal notions of Code, or digital culture as subjects. I guess it gets back
> to
> notions of modernist painting, which is about putting color on a flat
> surface. 
> All of the great works that I am attracted to in animation, have something
> inherently frame by frame about them, but there is an underlying content
> that
> is being negotiated. 
> 
> I think that animation because of it's labor, tends to give birth to the
> wondering pilgrim, the emptied city, the lone figure in a minimal world,
> because you just can't draw fifty people, CGI is changing this, but these
> limits are good too. They are like the limits of independent theater, no
> dance
> numbers, no effects, just words and a few bodies. I also think that the
> limits
> of animation, create a need to condense time, in ways that live action does
> not.
> and this leads to it's odd sense of time, I hope you have all seen Cat Soup,
> amazing time play in that film.
> 
>  
> Quoting Eric Patrick <ericp at northwestern.edu>:
> 
> > Hello All,
> > 
> > Eric Patrick here.  Rather than repeat my bio, I'll just jump right 
> > in...  I've been making animated films now for twenty years, and the one 
> > thing I've become convinced of is that animation is a ritual act.  My 
> > own work underscores this in it's experiments with narrative without the 
> > confines of character development or plot...  rather, I often find 
> > myself creating associative connections over causal ones.  I'm certainly 
> > not the first that has noticed this, but perhaps all animators find it 
> > on their own terms...  small repetitive acts, done over long periods of 
> > time...  a withdrawal from day to day life.  The very act seems like a 
> > description of an alchemist's chamber, saying a rosary, kabuki theatre. 
> > 
> > In my particular case, I choose a technique that in some way comments on 
> > the ideas embedded in my work.  This is one of those things that I find 
> > to be unique about animation (though I would argue that new media has 
> > this ability too): the ability to orchestrate the concept into the very 
> > fabric of the image through the technique that is utilized.  It's that 
> > relationship between form and content that makes animation quite so 
> > unique.  That these techniques involve increasingly preoccupied states 
> > of consciousness only adds to the ritual effect of animation.  It's no 
> > wonder then that we can see such a wide interest in metaphysics 
> > throughout animation history.
> > 
> > As an animator stepping into a group dedicated to new media, I'm 
> > interested in finding where my experience may cross over with yours.  
> > Perhaps we can also weave with Chris Sullivan's intro, because, as he 
> > states that technology is a tool but not a subject, I am almost 
> > inferring that the process can become a subject.  I have shown Pat 
> > O'Neil's work "Water and Power" to students, and interestingly, they 
> > told me that it completely changed their relationship to after effects.  
> > O'Neil's work somehow seems like it could only be conceived and executed 
> > on an optical printer, though it can obviously very easily be created 
> > with something like after effects.  While I agree that technology is a 
> > tool, do certain tools not engender certain kinds of work?
> > 
> > best,
> > 
> > Eric
> > 
> 
> 
> Christopher Sullivan
> Dept. of Film/Video/New Media
> School of the Art Institute of Chicago
> 112 so michigan
> Chicago Ill 60603
> csulli at saic.edu
> 312-345-3802
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> 


Christopher Sullivan
Dept. of Film/Video/New Media
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 so michigan
Chicago Ill 60603
csulli at saic.edu
312-345-3802