Animations

October 14, 2001 – January, 2002

P.S.1 is pleased to present Animations, an exhibition showcasing the unique ways in which contemporary visual artists address animation as a medium and subject. Animations focuses on the implications of living in an age where visual experience is informed by new technologies, and where the "reality" of live action film and the imagined worlds of animation have blurred together. With works by more than thirty artists, this exhibition addresses the utopian beginnings of the medium, the relationship between analog and digital, between graphic form and 3-D animation, and between commercial and experimental animation.

Works include New York-based artist Karen Yasinsky’s premier of "Fear" (2001). Her work uses stop-motion animation to tell ambiguous tales of personal interaction, in which her characters seem to be hobbled by their own construction, moving in an atmosphere of wistful emotion. South African artist William Kentridge’s "Memo" (1993-94) will be shown outside of South Africa for the first time. "Memo" combines live action film with drawing and recalls the beginnings of animation at the turn of the last century. On the other hand, French artists Pierre Huyghe and Phillippe Parreno’s videos "Two Minutes out of Time" (2000) and "Anywhere out of the World" (2000) address the contemporary corporate context of much animation today through the "plight" of Annlee, a ready-to-use anime character that the artists purchased from a Japanese cartoon agency for their international project "No Ghost, Just a Shell," through which the artists have "saved" Annlee from imminent disposal by the manga comic industry. This exhibition also includes works by Haluk Akakçe, Francis Alÿs, Peggy Ahwesh, Oladele Bamgboye, Jeremy Blake, Angus Fairhurst, David Galbraith, Liam Gillick, Claudia Hart, Simon Henwood, Alex Ku, Liane Lang, Kristin Lucas, Christine Mackie, Melissa Marks, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, Jonathan Monk, Juan Muñoz, Damian Ortega, Sven Påhlsson, Jenny Perlin, Liliana Porter, Possible Worlds, and Teresa Seeman.

Animations also presents an array of artist-designed rooms that offer unique spaces where visitors can interact with other works. If "to animate" means to "give a soul," New York-based artist Gareth James reasons that the Frankenstein monster is the ultimate symbol of animation, and transforms a room within the exhibition into the laboratory of a mad doctor. A "folly/arcade" designed by New York-based artist John Pilson and architect Andrea Mason offers visitors the opportunity to view works selected from hundreds of international animated films. Web artist Paul Johnson makes his own working projectors and computers from the most quotidian of elements. Johnson has designed a web animation room which features a selection of web-based animation, from stand-alone applications to interactive games. Artists include: BASICRAY, Natalie Bookchin, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Mark Daggett, Joshua Davis, Andy Deck, Xeth Feinberg, Alex and Munro Galloway, JODI, John Klima, Golan Levin and Casey Reas, Sebastian Luetgert, Panajotis Mihalatos, Mouchette, Mark Napier, and Eric Zimmerman and Word.com. Finally, P.S.1’s vault features historical programs and film-based hits of animations in a room reminiscent of the cinema experience.

This exhibition is curated by P.S.1 Senior Curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev with P.S.1 Associate Curator Larissa Harris. The web animation section is curated by P.S.1 Director of Education and Public Programs Anthony Huberman. Consultants: Giannalberto Bendazzi, John Canemaker, Norman Klein and Karyn Riegel.

This exhibition is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The MetLife Foundation. Special thanks to Etant donnés, The British Council, The Mexican Cultural Institute, Lisson Gallery, London, Sadie Coles HQ, London, The Italian Cultural Institute, New York, and Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York..