Inbetweening Beings: An Ecology of Relational Animation is my MFA thesis work in OCAD University’s Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design Program. The animated installation was exhibited in Toronto at OCAD U’s Great Hall, April 10-16, 2022. Below is documentation of the show and my written thesis document, outlining my theory and practice.
2023 UPDATE! Inbetweening Beings is also a 5-minute film. I will post it here soon. Here are some stills:
Inbetweening Beings uses the increments of animation to examine ecology in the Anthropocene. Experimenting with frame-by-frame filmmaking, installation, and the materiality of landscape, a variety of living systems are projected, asking where and how humans fit in. Referencing specific locations and relations, the installation connects human and more-than-human life with light and shadow, inviting reflection and implication. Focusing on urban and human-disturbed landscapes, Inbetweening Beings suggests a distinctly anthropogenic “nature” – jumbled, entangled, polluted, and resilient.
Keywords: Animation, Installation, Anthropocene, Ecology, Relations, Nature, Inbetweening
Drag around for some (low-res) 360 degree action!
Below is documentation of my outdoor installation tests, along with a large scale projection-mapping project, Returning. Exhibited as part of BigArtTO, Nov. 3-6, 2021, "Returning" celebrates the Day of the Dead through nature’s endless cycles of growth and decay on two sides of the Princess Park clocktower in Toronto. It references the the annual monarch migration to Mexico, where the butterflies have been interpreted as souls of the departed returning to visit. In the tradition of honouring ancestors, "Returning" presents the resiliency of natural ecological systems, of which humans are a part. With bright colours and constant motion, curious viewers were invited to the tower to celebrate, honour, and reflect together.
Here is my 10-minute Colloquium video presentation.
Below are some early conceptual and narrative maps.
