Innovations in Abstract Animation

Recent abstract animation is investigated as an innovative artistic form of expression within the contemporary post-modern and digital era. Abstraction was one of the most revolutionary and important innovations of avant-garde artists working in the visual arts in the early 20th Century. At the same time, visual abstraction also emerged within the early pioneering works of cinema and experimental animation. Partly this was due to artists desiring to create ‘art in motion’ by using the medium of film. Abstract styles and trends have ebbed and flowed over the last century within the visual arts. Significantly, abstract works as time-based moving images ran parallel to the developments of abstraction in other forms of the visual arts. Yet within cinematic culture and the moving image, abstract styles have persisted consistently within animation, in a continuum to the 21st Century and present day, alongside all other forms of animation throughout the developments of animation processes, techniques or technologies. In this context, the discourse takes a practice-based approach focusing on contemporary works and innovations in short abstract animations. A selection (excerpts) of recent abstract animations by contemporary animators are included to demonstrate some of the innovations, originality and trends in their visual forms or methods. From its beginnings to the contemporary, abstract animation involves experimentation at its essence, while the rich heritage of abstract animation becomes transformed through digital technology. Abstraction remains an important style or vehicle of artistic expression in the unique medium of animation, also in terms of how it can be exhibited in different contexts. Abstract form is not merely a visual style; it may be regarded as a mode of thinking and creative visualisation that is highly relevant to post-modern times in our perception and understanding of the world around us in the digital era.