Last friday there was a show titled Cartune Xpress – Wandering Landscapes + Trash at a local art cinema organized by Artists Unlimited. Peter Burr who's an artist from North America presented a screening of experimental animation combined with a literally animating performance.

Screenshot of the Cartune Xprez' website, October 2009.

This year's programme features artists such as Shana Moulton, Takeshi Murata, Martha Colburn, Bruce Bickford, Jacob Ciocci, Amy Lockhart, Taras Hrabowsky, Yoshi Sodeoka, Francine Spiegel, Barry Doupe, Adrian Freeman, and Jeff Kriksciun. I would't link them all but you could find links to the artists's websites on the Cartune Xprez' homepage. Especially the films of Bruce Bickford (Prometheus' Garden, 1987 and The Comic That Frenches Your Mind, 2008) and Martha Colburn (Meet Me In Wichita, 2006) caught my eye.

I hadn't seen any of Bruce Bickford's films on a big screen before and it was great to watch them that way. It's always amazing how movies transform as soon as they were screened at theatres instead of small displays. His films are pretty disturbing and it was interesting to see how the audience react on them after watching several funny pieces. It's a rare opportunity to see Bruce Bickford's films screened and I pretty much appreciated it.

Martha Colburn employs cut out and painted animation in her film collages. Have a look at her website, too. Especially the Making Of page is both, interesting and helpful at the same time. She offers pictures of her working environment there.

Complimenting my films, I create elaborately layered collages, paintings, and installations that incorporate transparencies, recordings, and live performances. As my conceptual process grows, so follows advances in my already detailed and labor-intensive animating process. Technically, I am expanding my technique into working with multi-plane glass animation which represents a physical manifestation of my conceptually layered ideas,

she states about her work.

Her films reminded me of another project of mine which already laid storyboarded and planned in my drawer since I had been to Vienna. I wasn't sure how to realize it but after studying her pictures I now have a much clearer idea of how I'd like to do it. It's always great to spy over other artist's shoulders to learn from them and to see how they'd already solved problems and how they design their work space.

But anyway, I absolutely recommend this programme if you're interested in either experimental animation or Bruce Bickford or any of the other artists. I had a nice chat to Peter and it's great to see how much he's dedicated to arts and animation. Luckily, he's on a tour across Europe, so it's still possible to watch the programme at one of the following occasions:

October 28: Berlin, Germany – Image Movement
October 29: Kiel, Germany – KOKI Kiel
October 30: Copenhagen, Denmark – Husets Teater
October 31: Malmo, Sweden – Loyal Gallery
November 5: Oslo, Norway - Freddy Knox Projectspace
November 6: Gothenburg, Sweden - Koloni
November 7: Stockholm, Sweden - Galleri Jonas Kleerup
November 11: Helsinki, Finland - Ptarmigan
November 20: Glasgow, Scotland - CCA
November 21: Aberdeen, Scotland - Peacock
November 23: Edinburgh, Scotland - GRV
November 24: Manchester, England – Islington Mill
November 27: London, England –The Old Police Station
November 29: London, England – House Party

I took those dates from their website. Make sure you'd check it out for any changes. Oh, and I found this youtube clip below so you'll get a tiny impression of what might expect you there.