The animation film Lesbian Space Princess (2025, Hobbs & Varghese) is a radical counter-utopian experiment in animated worldbuilding. It utilizes animation’s capacity to re:imagine and re:configure without an indexical link[1] to construct a homonormative society while avoiding the trap of…
One of the characteristics of animation is that it offers the illusion of life, in which passive materials are transformed into living entities with agency of their own. A range of animated films from Bambi (Hand, 1942) to The Jungle…
The idea that midcentury modern design is the foundation of the aesthetic style prevalent in films produced by United Productions of America (UPA) studio is not a novel concept. Several books explore the connection between UPA films and other design…
In one of the most iconic idle animations, if the player does not interact with Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1991), he will tap his foot and look annoyed at the player expecting to move (see Fig. 1). When the player releases…
This post looks at examples of work from the Royal College of Art’s (thereafter RCA) animation archive, to highlight ways in which distributed agency has been embraced in the production of experimental student films and suggest links between these approaches…
This text presents the 2023/24 research project Picturing Security, which was funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) to explore experiences of security, risk and threat using collaborative arts practice as a tool for conversation. What follows are reflections…
This short text is a continuation of the reflections developed in my doctoral research, which presents an artistic research inquiry into how animation under the camera (a form of stop-motion animation) not only acknowledges the materials of animation as co-creators…
Over the past thirty years, the concept of agency as the ability and power to act has sparked engaging discussions across fields like Gender Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Philosophy, and Media Studies, offering unique insights for animation research. Agency…
This text is about the animation of Higher Education learning, and the learning of animation in Higher Education. I have been pulled into writing the text by footnote 21 of renowned animation theorist and ‘poststructuralist’ thinker Alan Cholodenko’s “Computer Says…
GREENBERG, SLAVA. Animated Film and Disability: Cripping Spectatorship. Indiana University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv3142v9x. Image description: The book cover is mostly white with a black, scribbled spiral dominating the center of the cover. A red-haired drawn figure, wearing brown slippers, a light-purple…
