Abstract Showcase
Melbourne International Animation Festival
The 2025 ART AFTER DARK program continues through cooler month on the Bunjil Place Outdoor Screen. Our next exhibition is a selection of Abstract animations from filmmakers across the globe. Curated by founder of the Melbourne International Animation Festival, the program explores a myriad of techniques that perfectly encapsulate the essence of animation itself. The program aligns with the 2025 Melbourne International Animation Festival happening in Melbourne, 18 -25 May.
Bunjil Place Outdoor Screen
1 – 31 May
5.00 pm - 7.00 pm (daily)
Image credit: Richard Reeves, still from Fusion, 2023. Images courtesy the Melbourne Animation Posse.
ABSTRACT SHOWCASE
Hello abstract, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
- Paul Simon
Making these films is an act that drills directly to the core of what animation means; that is to say, making images move, nothing less. Crafting great abstract animation requires a feat of great artistic honesty on the part of the artist; there are no props and no distractions that s/he can weave into the fabric of the film to cover over creative inconsistencies. Abstract animators generally need a substantial certainty in (and a comfort with) their ideas, techniques and tools.
Abstract animation plays a vital role in underpinning the core and purest elements of what animation more broadly is capable of expressing. In turn, this allows animators to produce incredibly interpretative and challenging imagery. These types of films, which sit upon the bedrock elements of what animation is really about, remind us that at heart it all comes down to having something significant to convey and the ability to articulate that using the most nakedly fundamental tools available in the moving image maker’s toolkit.
Abstract or experimental animation is a near-limitless trove from which to draw. It is ‘dislimited’ by the need to heed the restrictions of any given narrative arc, released from the shackles of building coherent characters and liberated from the gravity force otherwise exerted by the specific logic of a created world. Although the dissolving of these demands frees the imagination to depict the simplest and most ‘complexualised’ thoughts and imaginings of the artist, it also removes all the distractions and camouflage that a lesser expresser might be able, willing or compelled to hide behind.
Under these terms, abstract animation can be a depiction of just about anything that can nip at the very edges of imagination. These films are born of a near infinite roster of inspirations and they are made with a diverse range of tools and techniques. They can be provocateurs of specific memories, dreams and thoughts or they can prowl the perimeter fence-line of our imaginations, prodding us to think harder, look deeper or self-decode our scrambled, semi-formed thoughts.
And they can be fun!
- Malcolm Turner, Director: Melbourne International Animation Festival
ABSTRACT FILM PROGRAM
Among The People
Jody Cleaver, Australia, 6'25, 2022, Hand painted
Natalie Trayling's amazingly improvised composition, 'Among the People' accompanied by film maker Jody Cleaver's animated visualisation.
Fusion
Richard Reeves, Canada, 3'18, 2023, Direct-to-film
A captivating cameraless moving artwork celebrating the joyful interplay of image and sound that only 'direct-to-film' animation can muster.
Hot Spots Wood-Book Study I
Iby-Jolande Varga, Austria, 1'33, 2021, Stop-motion, mixed media
A wooden book dances for us, bringing to life a revolving carnival of images in constant, beguiling metamorphosis.
Glass House
Boris Labbe, France, 5'16, 2024, Digital
An immersive video-sonic spectacle invading a glass Tower of Babel inhabited by a human anthill.
In Threes
Natalia Ryss, UK, 6'50, 2023, Drawn 2D
The Tree as an embodiment of the Three Principles unites the manifestations of forms, following the rhythm of the heart. Big, bold, and bright.
Melbourne International Animation Festival
The Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) was established in 2000 to bring the best animation from around the world to screen for Australian audiences and offer Australian animators a ‘home ground’ platform to showcase the incredible, innovative and imaginative work they create. MIAF annually screens 200-300 films curated into 25-30 programs over a 7-10 day period each March. It is one of the few generalist animation festivals that includes programs focusing specifically on abstract animation which reflects the passion of the MIAF programmers and their belief of the critical and unique position that abstract animation holds within the broader animationscape.
MIAF will run 18 – 25 May. Check out the program here.
