Final Report Summary - IDEAOFANIMATION (The Idea of Animation: Aesthetics, Locality and the Formation of Media Identity)
The Idea of Animation project has examined how animated film was understood, used and situated within culture during its formative years as a medium, from the period in which it became a fixture on film programmes in the mid-1910s to its heightened cultural role in the late 1930s, with the rising prominence of Disney and the inclusion of animated film in archives and galleries. Focusing on the USA, the UK and France, the project has involved extensive research at film archives and collections of animation-related material, alongside the development of databases to collate the project research. As the project has developed, it has become increasingly clear that in order to better understand this vital period of animation history we must move beyond animated film to also take into account other animated media, ranging from kinetic sculptures to motion displays to animated advertising. The aesthetics and expressive aims of such forms helped shape the ideas and potentials that circulated around animation in art, culture and society.
The Idea of Animation project has disseminated its research findings in publications, as well as conference papers and other presentations. These include studies of individual animators who explored how animation could draw upon – and go beyond – existing media forms, as well as studies of how animation crossed into other media such as radio and advertising. The monograph The Days of Animation: Art, Advertising, Design and Film in New York’s Animation Culture, 1939-1940 extends this approach to combine a study of the creative practices of influential animators (such as Norman McLaren and Mary Ellen Bute) and the exhibition strategies of major animated films (such as Fantasia and Pinocchio) with a wider array of animated forms during a two year period in New York. From screenings of abstract animated films at the Museum of Modern Art to animated displays at the New York World’s Fair to spectacular animated billboards in Times Square to moving displays in shop windows, the monograph explores how animation crossed boundaries to express a dynamic vision of art, industry, technology and modern life.
Focusing on different ideas of animation between 1915 and 1940, the project has explored in depth a range of discourses circulating around animation. This has revealed how animation cultures rooted in particular places and times played a central role in the history of animation. Rather than focusing on more established historical concerns, such as individual animators, studios or technologies, attending to animation cultures can reveal new ways of understanding the intersections between the ideas that circulate around animation, the creative practices of animation, the role that animation plays in society and the ways that animation is exhibited. This approach can deepen our knowledge of the diverse ways in which animation has been understood, created and used.
Exploring the aesthetics of animated films and other animated forms, in conjunction with the discourse and exhibition of animation, this project has also examined shifting ideas of motion as an aesthetic form. The idea of motion aesthetics allows us to better understand how different uses of motion underpinned the forms that animation took, allowing it to cross between seemingly distinct contexts, such as galleries, exhibitions and cinemas, which drew upon a shared sense of motion’s sensorial and expressive power.
While attending to the richness of the growing body of research on animation, the project has investigated new areas within animation history and deepened our knowledge of animation’s intermediality. By emphasising motion aesthetics and animation cultures, the project has expanded our understanding of how animation – a vital form within art and culture – developed as a medium.
The Idea of Animation project has disseminated its research findings in publications, as well as conference papers and other presentations. These include studies of individual animators who explored how animation could draw upon – and go beyond – existing media forms, as well as studies of how animation crossed into other media such as radio and advertising. The monograph The Days of Animation: Art, Advertising, Design and Film in New York’s Animation Culture, 1939-1940 extends this approach to combine a study of the creative practices of influential animators (such as Norman McLaren and Mary Ellen Bute) and the exhibition strategies of major animated films (such as Fantasia and Pinocchio) with a wider array of animated forms during a two year period in New York. From screenings of abstract animated films at the Museum of Modern Art to animated displays at the New York World’s Fair to spectacular animated billboards in Times Square to moving displays in shop windows, the monograph explores how animation crossed boundaries to express a dynamic vision of art, industry, technology and modern life.
Focusing on different ideas of animation between 1915 and 1940, the project has explored in depth a range of discourses circulating around animation. This has revealed how animation cultures rooted in particular places and times played a central role in the history of animation. Rather than focusing on more established historical concerns, such as individual animators, studios or technologies, attending to animation cultures can reveal new ways of understanding the intersections between the ideas that circulate around animation, the creative practices of animation, the role that animation plays in society and the ways that animation is exhibited. This approach can deepen our knowledge of the diverse ways in which animation has been understood, created and used.
Exploring the aesthetics of animated films and other animated forms, in conjunction with the discourse and exhibition of animation, this project has also examined shifting ideas of motion as an aesthetic form. The idea of motion aesthetics allows us to better understand how different uses of motion underpinned the forms that animation took, allowing it to cross between seemingly distinct contexts, such as galleries, exhibitions and cinemas, which drew upon a shared sense of motion’s sensorial and expressive power.
While attending to the richness of the growing body of research on animation, the project has investigated new areas within animation history and deepened our knowledge of animation’s intermediality. By emphasising motion aesthetics and animation cultures, the project has expanded our understanding of how animation – a vital form within art and culture – developed as a medium.