ART AFTER DARK
Image Credit: Journey To The Sentient Core, Paul Fletcher Australia, 4'37, 2026
MIAF Abstract Showcase
Melbourne International Animation Festival
As the evenings grow cooler, the Outdoor Screen hosts the 2026 Art After Dark program. Entering the second month of the program, we’re proud to once again partner with the Melbourne International Animation Festival, presenting a curated selection of the festival’s finest abstract animations.
Bunjil Place Outdoor Screen
1 May – 31 May
5.00 pm - 7.00 pm (daily)
MIAF Abstract Showcase
Curated by Malcolm Turner, Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Animation Festival
“A lot of people would probably be surprised to learn how much abstract animation is being made. MIAF receives up to 3,000 submitted new films every year from all over the world and at least one quarter of those could be categorised as ‘abstract’.
StoryStoryStory is the persistently pounding backbeat offered to so many developing animators. While that is a good idea – in fact, it is the BEST idea for those who want to make those sorts of films, the metronome that enforces this particular structural rhythm is often set by those more familiar with the conventions of narrative-driven live action ‘cinema’ and are thus not always ready to appreciate the unique visual vocabulary that only abstract animation can offer as a moving image artform.
“The question is not what you look at - but what you see.”
That is American naturalist and essayist Henry David Thoreau trying to outline not so much his philosophy on life but a philosophical approach to life that allowed him to take in what was before his eyes and translate that alpha version of the information into something of much greater meaning.
“Art cannot be real without a little of the unreal. I have always sensed that the beauty is double-sided. I do not know how to explain it to you… Remember how our planet looks? We are hovering in space but not falling. What is it? A dream?”
That is master artist Marc Chagall talking about how his ability to properly interpret the visual world he must move through everyday cannot adequately function for him without running it through some sort ‘art translator’ of the imagination. It is not so much that it would not make sense to him, but that it would not make enough sense to be valuable or even of particular use.
These are a couple of the keys to decoding the abstract imagery that is depicted in the kind of films that appear in this showcase and they double as explanatory notes as to why much of it is created in the first place.
-Malcolm Turner
FILM PROGRAM
Journey To The Sentient Core
Paul Fletcher
Australia, 4'37, 2026
A celebration of living patterns, sound, and colour; a journey to the sentient core and a challenge to imagine ourselves as dynamic patterns.
Pictures For Piano (1)
Diek Grobler
South Africa, 3'00, 2025
An abstract interpretation of Chopin's Etude Opus 10 no. 12, made by instinctively improvising imagery onto a pinscreen.
Dance Of Creation
Natalia Ryss
Israel, 3'13, 2025
A vibrant and vivacious world is brought into being in a joyful dance before our very eyes channelling the aesthetics of Neoplasticism.
States Of Matter
Marvin Hauck
Netherlands, 7'00, 2025
A meditative exploration of materiality, textures, movements, and tactile sound, created from wax and paper.
Impromptu
Steve Subotnick
USA, 6'09, 2025
Proving less is more, an utterly fascinating film made entirely on five wooden boards.
