III Shenzhen Animation Biennale – Revival

This special section of the III Shenzhen Animation Biennale – Time Based. Non Places – directed by Li Zenhua, draws on the theme of animation as a space of reactivation. Introduced by the masterpiece Tusalva (1929), by the New Zealander animation pioneer Len Lye, the selection presents a total of 8 works made in the last ten years by a heterogeneous group of visual artists of different generations: Francis Alÿs, Bruce Checefsky, Joachim Koester, Alessandro Pessoli, Robin Rhode and Jennifer West. Since its appearance, at the end of XIX century, the stop motion technique has been increasingly perceived by film makers as a vital space, a dynamic environment in which to give life to inanimate objects. In line with this trend, many contemporary visual artists are using animation as a special medium to bring artworks to life: drawings, paintings, sculptures, performances, design objects or architectures. The proposed videos, in particularly, make use of animation as a magical filter, a powerful potion able to bring creations of the past, or lost ones, back to life or even to give life to unborn projects. Together with the intimate relationships that can be build between artists of the past and present, the selection explores in the end one of the most fascinating opportunities that animation can offer: the reactivation of lost memories and meanings.

List of works:

1. Len Lye, Tusalava, 1929, Film 35mm transferred to 16mm. 10’05’’, Courtesy GAM, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Turin.
2. Bruce Checefsky, Colored Rhythm, 2005, digital color animation, 03’00’’, Courtesy of the Artist.
3. Joachim Koester, My frontier is an Endless Wall of Point (After the mescaline drawings of Henry Michaux), 2007, Film 16mm, loop 2’, Courtesy Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen.
4. Robin Rhode, Piano Chair, 2011, digital animation, 03’50’’, Courtesy of the Artist.
5. Jennifer West, Salt Crystal Spiral Jetty Dead Sea Five Year Film, 2013, 70mm film negative transferred to high definition, 54’’, Courtesy Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles and Vilma Gold, London.
6. Jennifer West, Spiral of Time Documentary Film, 2013, 16mm negative transferred to high-definition, 9’1’’, Courtesy Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles and Vilma Gold, London.
7. Alessandro Pessoli, Autoritratto Petrolini, 2014, digital color animation, 2’12’’, Courtesy Galleria Zero, Milan.
8. Francis Alÿs, The Silence of Ani, 2015, Video and digital animation, 13’21’’, Courtesy of the Artist and 14^th Istanbul Biennial.