PAF 2015: 14h PAF - Festival of Film Animation and Contemporary Art, Olomouc, Czech Republic

The Festival of Film animation (PAF) is the festival of film animation and contemporary art – it is the only festival in the Czech Republic which deals with a wider concept of the animation phenomena, in the context of cinematography and visual arts. The key word and leading topics for the festival are: animation, archiving, media archaeology, audiovisual art, database, digital culture, experimental cinema, intermediality, cinematography, net art, presentation, moving image, remediation, video art. Thematic programme sections, which are always a concentrated probe into the sphere of visual culture as well as an independent response to the PAF subtitle – What is Animation? are presented every year at PAF. The 14th year of the Festival of Film Animation (PAF) will take place from Thursday, 3rd of December to Sunday, 6th of December 2015 in the Art Centre of Palacký University (Konvikt) and other festival venues around Olomouc. PAF 2015 programme sections: Other Visions | Wild ‘60 | Animation beyond Animation | Aport Animation | PAF Art Some of the almost 100 guests of the PAF programme are: Lars "TCF" Holdhuss (NO), Greg Pope (GB), Takashi Makino (JP), Michal Pustějovský (CZ), Tomáš Javůrek (CZ), Samson Kambalu (MW/UK), Lotic (US), Matěj Strnad (CZ), Tomáš Pospiszyl (CZ), Pedro Maia (PT), TCF (NO), Vessel (UK), Matyáš Trnka (CZ), Katarína Gatialová (SK), Pavel Ryška (CZ),Josef Bolf (CZ), Marek Delong (CZ), David Možný (CZ), Jonathan Monaghan (US), Vladimír Havlík (CZ), Blue Daisy (GB), Lotic (US), Alexander Campaz (CO/US), PLAIN (SK) and many others. http://www.pifpaf.cz/en/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animation on the boundaries of space and light The Animation beyond Animation section explores animation as a unifying principle of human experience while presenting moving images through exhibitions and unique audio-visual performances; many of which are prepared exclusively for PAF. They often include international cooperation between Czech and foreign artists initiated by the festival. In many cases they are presented as world premieres. It will be the first time that the artistic cooperation produced by PAF within the international project called Festivals of Live Cinema will be introduced to Olomouc. The British visual artist Greg Pope has prepared a common cinematographic performance with Czech visual artists and musicians Veronika Vlková and Kateřina Koutná. The joint project of Slovak musician Pjoni and visual artist Ján Šicko – Plain – will use a newly developed mapping system composed of dozens of animated strings structuring the space into a theatre hall. The incoming generation of globally connected artists often achieves unexpected results due to the interest in the moving image. The Norwegian artist Lars Holdhus, aka TCF, explores a coded world of computer algorithms through music and image, and at PAF his vision will be transformed into a technically demanding live performance. The Japanese author Takashi Makino combines sound noise and analogue resources of images in his performance Space Noise 3D and thus he follows the expanded cinema tradition. The American visual artist Jonathan Monaghan works with the visual form of computer games as material for the creation of 3D printed objects. The significant personality of the section is conceptual artist, performer and situationist from Malawi – Samson Kambalu. His installation at this year’s Biennale in Venice resulted in a legal dispute. “He is most famous for his own religious philosophy – Hollybalism –, and Nyau Cinema – short audio-visual video clips (or rather film performances) that break down the stereotypes of temporal and spatial experience through film”, said the curator of Kambalu’s exhibition at PAF, Marie Meixnerová. Samson Kambalu’s individual exhibition will take place in the U Mloka Gallery from the 3rd of December to 11th of January. The relationship between music and image will be explored by a series of concerts linked to the moving image. The futuristic musician from Berlin – Lotic – will appear on Friday, 4th of December with a site specific installation by the visual artist Michal Pustějovský. The Saturday concert of Bristol post-industrial one-member project Vesel will be accompanied by Pedro Maia, the Portuguese filmmaker. The final concert on Sunday will be conveyed by the British Blue Daisy. Concerts, installation and performances will follow the series of authorial presentations and lectures during which the individual artists umělci (Lars Holdhus, Pedro Maia, Takashi Makino, Jonathan Monaghan, Greg Pope etc.) will present the technological methods and context of their production. The experimental filmmaker from Vienna, Martin Arnold, has prepared a lecture about blinking based on his current research. An expert on experimental film, Martin Čihák will introduce films made by the classic authors of the genre – James and John Whitney. PAF Art – The Artist Has a Price The exhibition programme, which is traditionally accessible to the general public, will take place in several venues around Olomouc (Gallery U Mloka, Art Centre of Palacký University / Konvikt, Vitrina Deniska). It involves exhibitions by Mark Delong, David Možný, Jonathan Monaghan, Samson Kambalu and an international group exhibition by digital internet artists in ScreenSaverGallery. This year will be the first time PAF becomes the location for the ceremonial presentation of the Award intended for artists over 35 years old – Award from Vladimír Havlík, the 2014 laureate; Olomouc performer and pedagogue Vladimír Havlík. The announcement of this prestigious award will take place during the PAF opening ceremony on Thursday, 3rd of December, 7 pm. The Wild Years of Czechoslovak Animation The key section of this year’s PAF is called Wild '60s, and is arranged by the external programme manager and visual artists and pedagogue Pavel Ryška. This section will present a view, which is unique in the Czech context, of Jiří Winter Neprakta’s work, through personalities who directly influenced his creations. Naprakta’s work influenced several generations of Czechoslovak readers of illustrated magazines. Lectures and screening blocks will reveal Neprakta’s controversial work through a contemporary view. “Our aim is to present unexpected connections in the field of Czech animation, illustrations, television and film multimedia production. It is a unique project which we try to implement within PAF, i.e. to map out little-known as well as yet unrevealed connections in the history of the Czech art and animation,” summarizes Martin Mazanec, the main programme manager of the festival. The outstanding guest of this section is the assistant animator Edita Plicková, who worked for Krátký Film Praha for many years, and who closely cooperated with the legendary author of animated films, Zdeněk Miler. Edita Plicková will personally introduce Miler’s films and she will lead a workshop for children. Other Visions 2015 – almost the jubilee year of the competition and questions of copyright The Other Visions section has been mapping out the most interesting examples of the Czech moving image, and oscillating between the boundaries of video art, animation and visual art, for the last nine years. The top ten selection is presented every year in many places all over the Czech Republic and abroad (New York, Texas, Iceland, Slovakia etc. in 2015, more details in the attachment). This year’s competition selection has been chosen by the curator and film theorist Lenka Střeláková. She has decided to emphasize the format of the works and to focus on PAF’s sustained efforts to make Other Visions more accessible to the general public. Her intention to display all works in a spatially demanding and inventive form according to the authors’ intentions means that the Other Visions exhibition has been shifted to the Atrium of Konvikt, which offers more possibilities with respect to space. The exhibition will be freely accessible to the public for the whole period of the festival. The videos will also be screened in a film auditorium. The announcement of the Main Award and the Audience Award will take place during the PAF closing ceremony on Sunday, 6th of December. The content of the individual programme section, mapping the issues of archiving and the distribution of similar works are aspects that have emerged over time. This year includes round tables and discussions by experts concerning copyright and databases. The lecture called Copyright and Film Author will be given by a lawyer specialising in issues of copyright – Ivan David. PAF Fashion – Alexander Campaz’s exclusive design project Since 2012 PAF has been in cooperation with the New York fashion designer Alexander Campaz. He has made designer T-shirts (2012) and scarves (2013) for PAF; in both cases the designs were developed from the graphics of the current year of the festival. This year Campaz has prepared a new and unique artistic project – an exclusive collection of designer T-shirts Infinity + 1 in a limited edition. 14th Festival of Film Animation in Olomouc - PAF 3–6 December 2015 Olomouc, Czech Republic