Between the Frames

 Still from Roughhouse – a work in progress by Jonathan Hodgson

Between the Frames  
BFI Southbank, Friday 2nd March, 13.00 – 17.00
BOOK HERE
(Combined ticket with Persistence of Vision available by phone booking only: 020 7928 3232)

Edge of Frame aims to stimulate discourse around experimental animation, and the opening event of the Weekend is an afternoon of talks by leading contemporary animators, academics and curators, addressing the histories, contexts and creative processes of this constantly evolving artform.  

Speakers: Animator Jessica Ashman on her recent project about navigating the art and animation world as a Black woman; Jonathan Hodgson on his much-anticipated new work in progress Roughhouse; Edge of Frame Guest Artist Peter Burr on the development of his extraordinary multi-disciplinary practice; artist, animator and writer Steve Reinke will deliver twelve microlectures on animation, in an attempt to distill the most interesting and productive ideas about animation he has come across; curator Herb Shellenberger will discuss The Animated Body and Self-Expression in a talk that complements his Saturday evening screening; Lilly Husbands will examine the forces that have shaped the evolution and legacies of experimental animation; and Birgitta Hosea will challenge some of the assumptions often made about hand-crafted animation. 

Hosted by Gary Thomas, Co-founder and Director at Animate Projects and Film Programme Manager, British Council. 

The Edge of Frame Weekend 2018 is supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Royal College of Art, and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Speakers:
Jessica Ashman
Jonathan Hodgson 
Lilly Husbands
Herb Shellenberger 
Birgitta Hosea
Steve Reinke 
Peter Burr 

Jessica Ashman: I Don’t Protest, I Just Dance In My Shadow
Artist animator Jessica Ashman presents her visual essay film ‘I Don’t Protest, I Just Dance In My Shadow’, about navigating the art and animation world as a Black woman. Jessica will discuss the research, making and journalistic discovery she undertook in finding other women of colour and Black women artists to interview for the project.

Jessica Ashman is a London based, BAFTA in Scotland award winning animator, artist and arts educator. She has worked with Animate Projects, UK Film Council and Arts Council England as well as having created arts educational projects for the ICA, The Wellcome Trust and the Tate Modern.

Jonathan Hodgson: Roughhouse – a work in progress
“Most of what we do in our lives is forgotten, and leaves little trace upon us. But sometimes the results of our actions leave an indelible stain, which we are destined to wear forever. Some nights, I can still hear the whistle blowing and see Shirley standing there ready to jump from the bridge. Shirley, our mate, who we harassed and humiliated and stupidly pushed to despair.”

Jonathan Hodgson is an independent animator based in London. His short films have won many international awards including a BAFTA for The Man with the Beautiful Eyes. Since 2008 he has been course leader of the Animation degree at Middlesex University. He continues to combine teaching with animated filmmaking and is currently on a short animated film about teenage bullying called Roughhouse with financial support from CNC and Arte.

Lilly Husbands: Mapping the Rhizome: Multiplicities of Experimental Animation
In an effort to trace the evolution and legacies of experimental animation in contemporary moving image art and visual culture, this talk will map out some of the artistic, curatorial, academic and commercial forces that have shaped the ways we conceive of experimental animation as an art form.

Lilly Husbands received her PhD in Film Studies from King’s College London in 2014. She has published book chapters and articles on experimental animation in journals such as Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), Frames Cinema Journal, and Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. She is an associate editor of Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. She is the co-editor of a book entitled Experimental Animation: From Analogue to Digital, forthcoming from Routledge.

Herb Shellenberger: Bend Me, Shape Me: The Animated Body and Self-Expression
Experimental animation can allow artists to represent their internal feelings, desire, sexuality and bodily experience in highly complicated, abstract or metaphorical ways. In this talk, a series of case studies will be shown to display how artists have used animation to articulate these highly personal, sometimes intangible and complicated experiences through physical morphology of the bodies shown in their films, either representations of their own body mediated through animation or quasi-human and non-human forms. The talk will cover film and moving image works by Lisa Crafts, Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Jacolby Satterwhite, Sky David and more.

Herb Shellenberger is a curator and writer originally from Pennsylvania and based in London. He has curated screenings at institutions such as Irish Film Institute, Light Industry (Brooklyn), Lightbox Film Center (Philadelphia), LUX (London), New York University and Tate Modern (London). Since 2016, he has been Associate Programmer for Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK).

Birgitta Hosea: Made by Hand
Despite the commercial adoption of digital production methods, the attraction of laborious hand-made methods for making animation persists in the independent sector. What ideas and assumptions can be seen to underpin the notion of craft and crafting? This presentation will critically reflect on ‘craftivism’ and the implications of working by hand.

Dr Birgitta Hosea is an artist, animator and curator who works in the field of expanded animation. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, has been the recipient of numerous awards and artists’ residencies and her work is included in the Tate Britain archive. She is Reader in Moving Image at UCA and was previously Head of Animation at both RCA and Central Saint Martins.

Steve Reinke: Twelve Microlectures on Animation
Using aphorisms and anecdotes, Reinke will attempt to distill the most interesting and productive ideas about animation he has come across.

Steve Reinke is an artist and writer best known for his monologue-based video essays. He is co-editor (with Chris Gehman) of the book “The Sharpest Point: Animation at the End of Cinema.” He lives in Chicago and teaches at Northwestern’s Art, Theory, Practice program.

EoF 2018 Guest Artist Talk: Peter Burr
Peter will chart a trajectory from a comix/zine culture of the late ’90s to his independent animation practices of that same era, connecting to a larger discussion about alternative methods of media presentation. Peter will be showing examples of his performance work, installation practice, and a computer virus. A retrospective programme of Peter’s short film works will take place at Barbican on Saturday 3rd March.

Peter Burr is an artist from Brooklyn specialising in animation and installation. His work has been presented across the world by institutions including Documenta 14, Athens; Le Centre Pompidou, Paris; and MoMA PS1, New York. In 2006 he founded the video label Cartune Xprez, through which he produced hundreds of live multimedia exhibitions and touring programs showcasing a multi-generational group of artists at the forefront of experimental animation.

Still from Green | Red (2014) by Peter Burr