It is getting to be that time of the year when we are all thinking about gifts. One of my favorite presents to give and receive is books. This year there has been a bountiful crop of books to give to your favorite animator or to gift to yourself. From a book about Simon Stampfer and his Stroboscopic Disks to a tiny Viennese animation gallery, to two books about Portuguese animation and animators at BAP Studio there is something for everyone out there. I even wrote a book and it will be published on the 20th of December.
ANIMATING ART: 130 Exhibitions of Contemporary Installations
Edited by Stefan Stratil and Holger Lang
320 pages, full color; €29 or $30.50 + Shipping
Order at: https://www.asifa.at/animating-art/
In September 2007 ASIFA Austria opened ASIFAKEIL, a small triangular room in Raum D of the Museum Quartier Vienna. Approximately every two months a new animator has taken up the challenge of mounting an exhibition in this tiny space.
The ASIFAKEIL, or in English “ASIFA Wedge”, a small space under a staircase, has inspired not only Austrian animators like Holger Lang, Franziska Bruckner, and Reinhold Bidner, but also international animators such as Lei Lei, husband and wife team Sasha Svirsky and Nadya Svirskaia, and Max Hattler. According to Stefan Stratil, animator, illustrator, President of ASIFA Austria and curator of ASIFAKEIL, “. . . this is the only art gallery in the world that is dedicated to animation installations art and the list of animators reads like a who’s who of experimental animators”.
Each of the 130 exhibitions in this book is displayed on one or more pages of color photographs with a facing page detailing the exhibition along with a biography of the artist.
The book begins with an introduction by Stratil and the book’s co-editor Holger Lang, animator and curator of the Under The Radar Animation Festival. Recognized authors have also contributed essays to the book such as the Media Scientist Dr. Franziska Bruckner; Architectural Theorist Otto Kapfinger; Art Historian Jens Meinrenken; Artist and Curator Dr. Birrgitta Hosea; and director of the Museum Quarter Vienna from 2011 to 2021 Dr. Christian Strasser. There is also an informative interview with ASIFAKEIL curators Renate Kordon (2007 to 2012) and Stefan Stratil (2007 to the present).
Anyone interested in the latest trends in animation and/or contemporary art will find many pleasurable hours’ worth of reading in ANIMATING ART. ASIFAKEIL may be small in size but it looms larger in creativity.
You can see pages from the book and a list of animators who have exhibited there at: https://www.asifa.at/animating-art/
PERSPECTIVES ON PORTUGUESE ANIMATION
David Doutel and Vasco Sa edited by Pedro Serrazina – 69 pages
Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires edited by Catia Peres – 56 pages
In both English and Portuguese
Available free to download in PDF format at:
Publications "Perspectives on Portuguese Animation" - Cinanima (Tap on book cover to download in either language)
For years not many people outside of Portugal knew much about Portuguese animation. With the arrival in 2007 of Sardinha em Lata Studio that began to change. Then Cola Animation Collective, founded in 2015, broke new ground in 2023 when Ice Merchants directed by Joao Gonçalves and produced by Bruno Caetano at Cola Collective was nominated for the Academy Award. It was the first Portuguese animated film to be among the five final nominees.
The two Perspectives on Portuguese Animation books introduce the reader to four of the founding members of BAP collective: Laura Gonçalves, Alexandra Ramires, David Doutel, and Vasco Sa. BAP Studio was created in 2011 as the animation arm of Banda a Parte. In 2018 it became autonomous as a collective and is now a powerhouse in Portuguese and international animation. In 2023, Laura Gonçalves’ film The Garbage Man was short-listed for the Oscars, and in 2024 Laura and co-director Alexandra Ramires took home the Crystal for the Best Short Animated Film at Annecy for their beautiful film Percebes. David Doutel and Vasco Sa have made several award-winning films and are now working on a feature film at BAP Studio.
The analytical books give insights into how each of the four filmmakers works, and examines the thematic, graphic, and continuity structures of their films. Both volumes are beautifully illustrated with graphic dailies from films and photographs of their films in different stages of completion.
The two books give great insights into four of the new generation of Portuguese animators. Remember they can be downloaded for FREE.
Stampfer Dreams
By Thomas Renoldner, with Stroboscopic Disks by Simon Stampfer and Matthias Trentsensky
Self Published; 95 pages; To order: mail@thomasrenoldner.at
€25 in Europe; $25 in the US + shipping
Website: https://stampfer-dreams.info/
Stampfer Dreams is an introduction to the Austrian scientist and inventor Simon Stampfer and his stroboscopic disks which he first presented in Vienna in 1839. Publisher Matthias Trentsensky was primarily the creator of the figurative animation on the disks.
The stroboscopic disk is thought to be the first device ever invented to show moving images. The optical disks show a variety of animated loops ranging from abstract to figurative when rotated. The first set of disks the pair published sold out immediately. At the time it was thought to be a child’s toy but Stampfer’s role in pre-cinema history has strongly influenced scientific exploration of capturing motion and the development of early cinema.
The book's 23 images of stroboscopic disks can be viewed in motion via ARTIVIVE on a smartphone. Thomas Renoldner has also written an excellent analysis about each disk's meaning and place in the history of film and animation.
The final portion of the book is devoted to Stampfer Dreams, Thomas’ 12 minute film inspired by Stampfer’s stroboscopic disks. For the film's narrative framework, the figures on the disks were placed in naturalistic backgrounds.
The figure of the runner on one disk takes on the role of young Simon as he discovers a water wheel which later is part of the inspiration for his invention. The abstract and semi-abstract disks are mainly used in dream sequences in the film.
If you are already familiar with Stroboscopic Disks in their many forms, this book will allow you to see a wide variety of Stampfer’s work in action. If you have yet to discover the marvels of Stroboscopic Disks and similar forerunners to the zoetrope, Stampfer Dreams is your perfect introduction to this magical world.
You can order the book directly from Thomas via email. On the website, you can read more about the book and the film and also see an actual disk from the book in action. The book will also be available at numerous festivals where the film will be playing. If you buy it at a festival, you also save shipping.
ON THE ANIMATION TRAIL
20 Years of Animation Festival History
By: Nancy Denney-Phelps
With Front and Back Cover artwork By Joanna Quinn
Published By CRC Press; 190 Pages; 55 Color Illustrations
Paperback £44.99 (€54.26 or $57.42); Hardback £90.00; eBook £33.74
Free Shipping (7 to 14 days)
Website: On the Animation Trail: 20 Years of Animation Festival History - 1st E
My book charts the history of more than 20 years of animation festivals. From Annecy, the oldest animation festival in the world, to Beirut, or the founding of Anibar festival in Peja, Kosovo, I have recorded not just films but also the people and what makes each festival unique.
What is it like to travel to China, Beirut, or Kosovo for an animation festival? Spend a week on a boat with 200 animators from around the world or be thrown off of a train in Belarus? All of this and much, much more has happened to me in my many years as an animation journalist.
If you are a young animator and want to know what festival life is like, this is the book for you. If you are a seasoned veteran and want to bring back some memories of festivals past, this book should bring some smiles to your face.
