Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation

Doors Open at 4pm; First Program 5pm, Second Program 8pm
$15 Admission, Tickets available at the door

The Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation returns to Pioneer Works for the second year on Saturday, November 22, 2014. The Chicago-based festival will screen two programs of classic and contemporary short animation work, including a live performance using 16mm and modular synthesizer from Brooklyn filmmaker Rose Kallal. Blending an appreciation of classical animation with the sensibilities of avant-garde cinema and the visual culture of alternative comics, the Eyeworks programs showcase abstract animation, surreal narratives, and unconventional character animation. Festival directors Lilli Carré and Alexander Stewart will introduce the festival in person.

Shorts programs will feature nearly 30 films from around the world, including pieces from Japan, Canada, the UK, Croatia, France, Korea, the Netherlands, Australia, Hungary, Switzerland and the US. Highlights include the classic “69�? by avant-garde master Robert Breer, “Jeu de Paume�? by Joshua Mosley, which was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, “Eager�? by Allison Schulnick, which was awarded Best Experimental Animation at Ottawa in 2014, and “Jeu,�? a masterpiece of hand-painted cycles by Swiss filmmaker Georges Schwizgebel that is mind-bending in its Escher-like recursivity. Notable in the Eyeworks lineup this year are films by Australian artist Neil Taylor. Though best known for his work as a sculptor, Taylor’s animation experiments from the mid-80’s through the early 90’s are a unique and fascinating body of work. His films utilize basic principles of animation in ingenious ways to explore repetition, automatic writing, human-machine collaboration, and the straying line.

Eyeworks was founded in 2010 by artists Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carré. Celebrating its fifth annual festival in Chicago this fall, Eyeworks has also presented programs in the US in Minneapolis, Brooklyn, Richmond, and Dartmouth College; and internationally in Stockholm, Helsinki, Rijeka (Croatia) and Amiens (France). Chicago’s Cine-File called Eyeworks “a world-class, exceptionally curated showcase,�? and the Chicagoist praised Eyeworks for presenting “magical programs from the newest territories and the most overlooked corners of the animation universe.�?

PROGRAM 1:
Total Run Time 81 min.
Nicole Hewitt, In/Dividu, 1998, 7:33
Robert Breer, 69, 1968, 5:30
Sarina Nihei, Trifling Habits, 2013, 3:26
Karolina Glusiec, Velocity, 2013, 5:53
Laszlo Csaki, Days That Were Filled With Sense of Fear, 2002-03, 9:00
Nick Butcher, Sidewalk, 2014, 1:54
Daniel Barrow, Advanced Search Terms, 2012-13, 4:00
Sandra Desmazieres, Sans Queue Ni Tete, 2001, 6:41
Allison Schulnick, Eager, 2014, 8:30
Larry Cuba, 3/78, 1978, 3:00
Chris Sullivan, The Beholder, 1983, 8:30
Neil Taylor, Copy Copy, 1999, 2:30
Joung Yumi, Love Games, 2013, 15:00

PROGRAM 2:
Total Run Time 80 min.
Georges Schwizgebel, Jeu, 2006, 4:00
Yoriko Mizushiri, Snow Hut, 2014, 5:22
Jake Fried, Headspace, 2014, 1:00
Eri Kawaguchi, Flower and Steam, 2013, 4:05
Joshua Mosley, Jeu de Paume, 2014, 2:50
Florence Miailhe, Hammam, 1992, 8:37
Johan Rijpma, Descent, 2014, 1:24
Zeitguised, Birds, 2014, 1:30
Marjorie Caup, Transhumance, 2012, 4:00
Hoji Tsuchiya, Black Long Skirt, 2010, 8:58
John Whitney Jr, Terminal Self, 1971, 8:00
Doris Chase, Circles I, 1971, 6:45
Rose Kallal, performance with multiple 16mm projection and modular synthesizer, approx. 20 mins