The ASIFAKEIL, Vienna
2/12/2021 – 30/2/2022
Birgitta Hosea has turned The ASIFAKEIL arts centre in Vienna into a giant peepshow where abstract animation hints at a visceral journey through the female body. The project was originally inspired by archival research in the Bill Douglas Cinema museum’s collection of pre-cinematic toys: the result of a long-standing interest in moving image devices from before cinema was invented that might herald new ways to display and experiment with moving images in our post-cinematic, digital era of expanded animation.
The abstract animation that can be seen through the peepholes was made by hand under strict conditions of lockdown during the global pandemic of 2020/21, when time stood still and the future was momentarily cancelled. Cut off from other humans, longing for physical contact yet terrified of getting infected, Hosea returned to traditional methods of making animation, using oil pastels, milk, ink, lipstick, pomegranates and animating these different substances under the rostrum camera. Processes included hand drawing, finger painting, After Effects and a microscopic camera. Shut up alone in the studio, she was able to touch and make contact with the paper and materials as she created the images. I imagined going on a journey through a human body. In the finished installation the viewer is invited to identify with her desire and to follow the journey of her hand drawing, touching, caressing and travelling deep inside a female body.
The exhibition has just been extended until the end of February and updated with new film content.
Hosea is a time-based media artist working with experimental drawing, performance and expanded animation to create durational images, live events, experiential installations and short films that expand the concept of the moving image out of the screen and into the present moment.
The exhibition is supported by University for the Creative Arts with sound design by Anat Ben-David.
