As it presents itself - Somewhere vague  

Project: 5 minute Stop Motion Animation    Client: Ryan Gander    Media: Contemporary Visual Art Installation 

Background:  

As it presents itself - Somewhere vague is a joint commission by Whitstable Biennale, Picture This and South West Screen as part of Recorded Live, a programme of new performance to camera moving image work.  Ryan wanted the work to put viewers in the position of a spectator within a gallery, within a film and in turn with the auditorium of a theatre.  There is a tongue in cheek contradiction within the action and the narration between the staged, the unstaged, and the upstaged, the directed and the happenstance.  As an investigation into the notion of entertainment, the work is an attempt to look at the relationship between performer and spectator relationships and to rigorously discuss the stereotypes of performing art. 

Brief: 

To work with Ryan to produce a five min film as part of the art installation.  This had to compliment the narration of Richard Briers using characters based on the comedian Spike Milligan, curator Matthew Higgs, Mrs Frances Gander - the mother of the artist, the Lumiere Brothers and a generic animator's armature.  The characters had to seem to be auditioning for a piano piece, appearing nervous and unsure of themselves and their reason for being on stage.

Solution:         

WÖNKY designed and built plasticine versions of the characters as well as a theatrical set.  The characters were then animated using traditional stop motion animation. 

Outcome:   

As it presents itself - Somwhere vague will be premiered at this year's Whitstable Biennale, Festival of Contemporary Visual Art.