Mecanismo is an extreme experiment in the use of very simple looping images and sounds to produce complex but basically abstract combinations that play with the pattern-recognition efforts of the brain. It is at the same time an exploration on abstract images and sounds and also on the following of those associations, planned or not, that the composition/animation process evokes in the creator, so it is method and result and art piece and social comment. The soundtrack was created by the animator with sound loops as part of the animation/composition process.

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JOAQUÍN KINO GIL
[Costa Rica 1952]

One of the fortunate alumni of the legendary “Conservatorio Castella” in Costa Rica, Joaquin found himself attracted to art almost as much as technology and science.

With formal studies in biology, fine arts, music, architecture, physics and anthropology he continued his studies at California Institute of the Arts, where he graduated from the Experimental Animation program while also pursuing studies in Electro-Acoustic music composition and the Live Action program of the Film School. After a short run of free-lance animation jobs around Hollywood he worked for animation pioneers Wavefront Tech, and created custom work for Silicon Graphics and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Los Angeles facility.

He currently works in his own production company in California, where he is giving the finishing touches to his new feature “e-Film” THE OUTSIDER.

This work explores the spontaneity of a dot and a line, as well as the variety of images and feelings that can be suggested by such simple elements. Black marker on paper to the rhythm of sound effects also designed by the author.

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DINA CABALL OLIVET
[Girona·Spain 1986]

Born in Alt Empordà, at the age of 15 she decided to move to Barcelona and study arts at l'Escola Massana. Highly motivated by the experience she studies Arts and Design.

Her true passions within the art field are animation, video-art and photography.

One of her most recent works, the series shhhhhhhh features vertical and horizontal lines playing along the screen to the rhythm of Maja Ratkje’s voice edited in four tracks.

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CHIAKI WATANABE
aka c.h.i.a.k.i

This New York-based media artist with minimalist and abstract aesthetics, explores multiple formats including video, motion graphics, installation and live video performance.

Her primary sources of creative inspiration are sound, form, colour and movement. She draws on ideas of neuroscience and psychology to integrate audiovisual media and cross sensory experiences and explore media boundaries.

Her work “One over three” [2006] has been selected for the festival’s Retrospective Section.
www.vusik.net

Experimental work produced with ink spots on toilet paper.

The soundtrack features Death Cab for Cutie’s “A Movie Script Ending”.

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DANIEL SCHULZE
[Berlin·Germany 1981]

Since his youth Schulze has been interested in video and animation, which motivated him to make his own animations and home-made films before beginning his career in Industrial Design at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin, where he’s been studying since 2004.

Since the summer of 2006 he studies video and animation at La Escola Massana in Barcelona. Besides, since 1997 he creates and sells original clothes and objects designed under the trademark toast3d.

Using an experimental technique developed by the author himself, light-beams of different intensities, length and colour are recorded randomly.

The cadence, trajectory and movement on the plane of the dots and lines have inspired the soundtrack design. The result suggests a dance between the two forces that govern the existence of our universe: all which is asymmetrical, disordered, shapeless and unpredictable together with what is ordered, symmetrical and structured.

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CLEMENTE CALVO
[Zaragoza·Spain 1964]

Multidisciplinary and self-taught artist who experiments with the syncretism in his audiovisual creations. Pharmacist by profession, in 2002 he decided to dedicate himself fully to the creative process. He works in experimental cinema since 1984 and founded his own production company in 1986.

In 1994 he directs four pieces at the New York Film Academy, one of which, “The Mutant”, received and award in 1996 at the 6ª Semana de Cine Experimental de Madrid. Another of these films, “The Flame”, has been selected and screened in the “Experimente” section at the Cinema Festival in Dresden 2005.

He is currently working in his project “Multiframe” and creating his own soundtracks.

An abstraction obtained from a video of the same author, where he uses photo-animation, the intromission of chance destroying the image during compression, the selection of abstract sequences and their following modification and edition. The soundtrack features Stéphane Bissières “Pizzicati”, slightly and happily altered by Gustavo Kortsarz.

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GUSTAVO KORTSARZ
[Buenos Aires·Argentina 1955]

He drops the career of Medicine in 1976 to study at Escuela de Bellas Artes, where he obtains his diplomas in Painting, Engraving and Set Design. Thanks to a scholarship of the French Embassy in 1998, he travels to Paris to pursue his career in set-design; his also takes several formation courses in cinema and animation.

He directs his first film in 1991 and since then he alternates his artistic activities between still and moving images.

“Imagine a blackboard full of words written in chalk. The blackboard represents the inner emptiness and the written words are your thoughts. We have to keep the blackboard clear of any kind of structure, thus obtaining an inner emptiness”.

This series of works have been created through the ON/OFF switch of the DC adapter, taping the luma signal in a S·VHS recorder and then reproducing the obtained signal in a VHS recorder to get RANDOM distortions.

For the soundtrack design the author gathers sources from different authors, sampling the sounds and correcting their frequencies according to the image.


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XAVIER GUIX BONÁS
[Barcelona·Spain 1952]

After studying Computer Science he undertakes various studies ranging from Psychology and Musical Pedagogy and Dalcroze Rhythmic, sound recording, cinema direction and Image Synthesis. Since 1987 he’s an audiovisual director at multinational SOLVAY.

In the artistic domain he’s author and director of different artistic projects, ranging from theatre-dance performances and multimedia installations to short·films. He’s collaborated among many others with Ooff Company, designing the visual band for Jessica Walter’s “No Hamlet” and directing Enric Casasses’ video-promo “Monòleg del perdó”.

A translation of sound into colour that could be played. The Ghost of John is part of a series of short-films based on traditional round songs.

The soundtrack was programmed by Luke Herrine.

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NANCY HERMAN
[USA 1939]

Artist interested in creating an instrument that plays colours in time.

Lines representing the cosmic forces to which the whole planet is submitted, feeding the celestial bodies with our organic matter and influencing greatly on all of us.

Soundtrack by the author himself.

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MATEO MARIN aka IAMBLICHI
[Berlin·Germany 1977]

Multidisciplinary artist working since his tender youth in project development regarding graphic design and visual and sound installations.

He takes part in several music projects and in the production and direction of video-art pieces.

Experimental video created using a geometrical figure representation software, but entering wrong parameters.

The soundtrack is “Walking on Air” by MATKA.

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CALPURNIO
[Zaragoza·Spain 1959]

Calpurnio is a cartoonist, illustrator, VJ, screenwriter and director of animated films.

http://www.calpurnio.com

Finnished right on time for this competition, this dot·line piece was based on “Ritmo Propio”, a song by Alta Infidelidad.

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TRYAND
[Germany 1974]

Tryand lives in Germany, where he works as a graphic designer.

SIGN: In the creation of moving images, one’s job is not to write signs/words in a sequence, but to colour a wall with a sequence of lights.
LIVE: Video generates live images by means of electronic signals. However, almost all moving images are the offspring of film medium.
SIGNAL: Video is a signal translated into light that can be used for a dialogue, as you can reflect light on a mirror. The video dialogue creates rhythms of lights composed into scenes.
NOISE: Of course, a noise is considered as a signal as well.

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Katsuyuki Hattori & Yusuke Shinmura a.k.a Goldenshit
[Tokyo·Japan 1973]

Katsuyuki Hattori began using video as an art medium when he was studying at the Nippon Engineering College, Image Making Department. After graduation, he further studied video-art at San Francisco Art Institute, where he met and studied with Doug Hall, one of the pioneers of video-art.

Since his return to Japan, he has been involved in founding and organizing seminal video-art activities. His video artworks have been screened in many venues and festivals around the world.


Since 2002, the band Goldenshit has been experimenting with the various aspects and possibilities the video as a medium can offer, both recording and live performing.