***Nov. 7 update: Animation of the Unconsciousness, which screened at REDCAT earlier this fall, will be presented during CalArts’ Structuring Strategies series in the Bijou Theater on Tuesday (Nov. 8th) at 7 pm. Curator Christine Panushka will be in attendance.
Pacific Standard Time, the six-month exploration of the Los Angeles art scene, continues on Monday night (Oct. 10) with a film screening at REDCAT of Animation of the Unconsciousness: CalArts and the Teachings of Jules Engel.
The late Engel (1909-2003), who founded and directed CalArts Film Graphics Program (later renamed Experimental Animation), sought to push the boundaries of animation.
The evening celebrates Engel’s ideas through screenings of his and his students’ films. In-person guests include event curator Christine Panushka (Film/Video MFA 83), and filmmakers Dennis Pies (now known as Sky-David, Film/Video BFA 74) and Lisze Bechtold (Film/Video MFA 76).
From REDCAT:
Through his teaching, and the example of his own work, Engel fostered the emergence of a new form of animation—freewheeling, transgressive and imaginative. What happens when an animator follows a line, a patch of color, or a shape into the unconscious? What wild images would emerge; how could one image lead to another? What can we learn about art and the human condition from these brave forays into the unknown depths of the mind?
Those questions were posed by Engel’s films—Shapes and Gestures (1976), Wet Paint (1977), Hors d’oeuvres (1978)—and by CalArts’ students who carried on his legacy: Kathy Rose (Mirror People, 1974), Adam Beckett (Flesh Flows, 1974), Henry Selick (Phases, 1978), Pies (Aura-Corona, 1974), Bechtold (Moon Breath Beat, 1980) and others.
Download the Advanced Curator’s Notes and screening program.
The video above contains excerpts from Jules Engel Selected Works Volume 1.
Animation of the Unconsciousness:
CalArts and the Teachings of Jules Engel
REDCAT
Oct. 10 at 8:30 pm
Tickets: $10 general, students $8, CalArts community $5