Dimensions of Animation

In Cooperation with the MA Film of the Lucerne Universtiy of Applied Science and Arts, Dimensions of Animation hosts a Master Class with Ed Atkins.

Rigid bodies: Realism and Impoverishment in the Videos of Ed Atkins

Ed Atkins is an artist who uses computer-generated animation as a way to speak of loss. For Atkins, animation is fundamentally post-mortem — its effect is inherently uncanny, insofar as it burlesques life. Atkins’ videos emphasise this quality by drawing attention to their failure to sufficiently represent life, while explicitly attempting to do just that. Ironically, this failure is what makes them so poignant, so melancholy. Their failure is recognisable and empathetic, redolent of our own inability to articulate our condition. Alongside animation, Atkins writes, draws, and makes music, each of which is at the service of this inarticulacy. Atkins’ works propose a way to access otherwise unavailable compassion.

In much of his animated work, Atkins used objects gleaned from Turbosquid, staging them for his purposes. He is interested in contemporary technology, he says, in large part to trace its obsolescence. Atkins is not an animator, but he is certainly one of the most interesting and best-known artist filmmakers working with animation today.

Recent institutional solo exhibitions include ‘Refuse’ at Tank, Shanghai (2022); ‘Get Life / Love’s Work’ at the New Museum, New York (2021); Kunsthaus Bregenz and K21 Düsseldorf (both 2019); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; MMK Frankfurt; DHC/ART, Montréal (all 2017); Castello di Rivoli and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; The Kitchen, New York; SMK, Copenhagen (all 2016); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2015), The Serpentine Gallery, London (2014); Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2013); and MoMA PS1 (2012). Atkins was included in the 56th and 58th Venice Biennales, the 13th Lyon Biennial, and Performa 13 and 19.

The Master Class will take place on November 10, 2022, 9:30–17:00

We accept a limited number of applications. The deadline for applications is October 10. If you are interested in taking part, please write to: email hidden; JavaScript is required