Close Up

11 December 2016: Push and Pull: Films by Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart

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Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart are co-directors of Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation. Founded in Chicago in 2010 and now based in Los Angeles, Eyeworks’ pioneering curatorial approach is underpinned by Lilli and Alexander’s own acclaimed artistic practices. 

Working individually and collaboratively, Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart share a particular fascination with the history, processes and artefacts of animation. Their work encompasses a wide range of techniques, from drawn and digital animation, to live-action film and video, printmaking, ceramics and comics. Edge of Frame presents a selection of their moving image works on video and 16mm. Alexander Stewart will attend the evening for Q&A after the screening.

This programme is part of the Edge of Frame Weekend, which also includes a public seminar addressing questions around the context for animation practice, and further screenings at Whitechapel Gallery.

Jill
Lilli Carré
2016 | 7 min | Colour | Digital

Jill explores the idea of the rebellious cartoon body. Set in a plain white room reminiscent of a gallery space or a testing laboratory, an acousmatic voice interacts with Jill by command. Jill is a cartoon that shows the wear and tear of slapstick, maintaining dents on a body that seems to feel no pain. The piece speaks to power dynamics and the ambivalent relationship between creator and creation, recalling Gertie the Dinosaur and the asymmetrical interaction of Frankenstein to his monster.

What
Lilli Carré
2015 | 1’30 min | B/W | Digital

The language of hands.

The Negotiation
Lilli Carré
2013 | 6 min | Colour | Digital

Originally created as a 2-channel installation, this version places the two ever-morphing beings side by side, in a phased conversation that never resolves itself.

Birds of New York
Lilli Carré
2015 | 3 min | Colour | Digital

Created for the New York Times, to accompany a bird sound composition by Jeff Talman.

Ode to Lumpy
Lilli Carré
2014 | 4 min | B/W | Digital

Circulation drawn on 20 pieces of paper.

Crux Film
Lilli Carré & Alexander Stewart
2013 | 5 min | Colour | Digital

Animated forms in moments of transition loop and interrupt one another.

Very Similar To
Alexander Stewart & Peter Miller
2009 | 2'45 min | Colour | 16mm

Mirror experiments to fold, collapse, and refract a forest.

100 Foot Pull
Alexander Stewart
2010 | 2'45 min | Colour | 16mm

A camera is pulled 100 feet across a field in the time it takes to shoot 100 feet of 16mm film. Rocks are attached to the camera to make it appropriately challenging.

Fort Morgan
Alexander Stewart
2014 | 22 min | Colour | Digital

Fort Morgan uses animation and live action footage to examine the geometry, materials, and structure of a star-shaped brick fort on the Alabama gulf coast. A wandering figure begins to construct a fort, following an intricate geometric diagram. The fort grows of its own accord like an oyster shell or a crystal forming, until it is eccentrically shaped, encrusted, and overgrown. Eventually the fort succumbs to the calcification of its own geometric logic.

Errata
Alexander Stewart
2005 | 6 min | Colour | 16mm

An animation made using photocopiers. Each frame is a photocopy of the previous frame.

Here There
Alexander Stewart
2015 | 5 min | Colour | Digital

Here There begins as a traveller's sketchbook, drawn in Zagreb and on the Croatian coast. As the film progresses, observational fragments of landscape and architecture are refined into geometric forms and minimal marks. Details fade away, morphing into abstract impressions on the edges of memory. Here There is a travelogue through the Croatian coast in the summer of 2014 that gives graphic form to memory’s malleable, straying lines.

Total duration 65 min


The Edge of Frame Weekend is supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Royal College of Art, and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The event takes place during the Whitechapel’s William Kentridge exhibition, and is part of the London International Animation Festival.


More info:
www.edgeofframe.co.uk/edge-of-frame-weekend
www.liaf.org.uk
www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/william-kentridge