Found items
In the early 20th Century many artists used the Found Item in their works of art. Pablo Picasso, George Braque and Kurt Schwitters used the Found Item to create new ways of painting and to express new ideas in art.
Today we seem to still have a insatiable appetite for the found or discarded object, with artists transforming objects & materials into collectable art forms.
The Found Item has also impacted on the internet with sites such as foundmagazine.com, who collect found stuff - love letters, birthday cards, photos, to-do lists, poetry on napkins, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. The site has even expanded into voyeuristic found pervy poloroids.
On a sadder note, Found Item sites relating to the tsunami disaster have set up to help victims' relatives identify deceased loved ones from personal effects found.
Animators such as the Bother Quay and Jan Svankmayer have used the Found Item to create dark and often disturbing animations.
On Svankmayer's use of the Found Item, he states in his interview with Vratislav Effenberger,
“‘For me, objects always were more alive than people. More permanent and also more expressive. They are more exciting for their latent content and for their memories, which far exceed the memories of men. Objects conceal within themselves the events they have witnessed. That's why I surround myself with them and try to uncover these hidden events and experiences. Sometimes objects speak immediately as one looks at them, or touches them; at other times it takes longer, occasionally years, for them to speak out.
People were touching the objects and things in certain situations in life, while experiencing various tensions or moods, and they have deposited their own feelings and emotions in them through their touch. The more an object has been touched, the richer its content. I have always tried in my films to 'excavate' this content from objects, to listen to them, and then illustrate their story. In my opinion, this should be the purpose of any animation: to let objects speak for themselves. This creates a meaningful relationship between man and things, founded on a dialogue, not on consumer principles. This way the objects free themselves of their utilitarian function and return to their primeval, magical meaning. The first things man created were indeed alive and it was possible to converse with them’’.
| Svankmayer is indeed a prolific animator and image maker who has spent all his working life in his home city of Prague. His work is partly influenced by the repressive regimes he has worked under and many of his works were banned in his native country. It is worth mentioning George Melie as one of Svankmayer influences, although Melie did not use the Found Item - he is famous as the inventor of Stop Motion Animation. Melie, whilst film making on the streets of Paris, found that his camera kept jamming. When Melie played the footage back he found objects appearing, disapearing and turning into other items. The whole genre of Stop Motion Animation was found by accident. If you are interested in contributing to this or any other section please contact the editor. |
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