Malevich re-animated

The avant-garde artist Malevich’s iconic image of one basic geometric form defined the term “abstract” in art when his ground-breaking painting “Black Square” was first exhibited in 1915. On the hundredth anniversary of this event, significant in the context of art theory and practice in western art, we continue to debate the concept of non-representational imagery and abstraction. This presentation pays tribute to the legacy of Malevich’s ground-breaking art and its continuing influence on artists and filmmakers. There is no doubt about Malevich’s influence on the visual arts in most of its forms of expression but the links between his art and film or animation are largely unexplored. In this presentation, his abstract painting of a square is used as a point of departure to discuss contemporary abstract animations which revisit animation’s ‘purist’ views. The fundamental or pure elements of animation are seen as composed of basic shapes, forms, colours, rhythm, timing and movement, synchronised to sound, to evoke an aesthetic experience in the viewer. In this aesthetic aspect or sense, abstract animation also echoes Malevich’s ideal views on “the supremacy of pure artistic feeling”. There is an even more direct influence: some filmmakers have intentionally used the Malevich square (e.g. “Black Square” and “White on White”) as a point of departure in the creation of their abstract animations. This will be illustrated by screening a selection of these films including abstract animations by Kenichi Yoneda, Sawako, Rhyane Vermette, Steven Subotnik, amongst others. Schmid will also show her own practice-based animation in progress, where imagery of abstract paintings are used simply as a point of departure and playfully reinterpreted through animation using a combination of painting on film and digital animation.