Abstract Articulations
20 Years of Audiovisual Experiments
Max Hattler is a German artist, filmmaker and animator who currently lives and teaches in Hong Kong. His animation work is best described as experimental film or experimental animation, in strong contrast to traditional animation practice. You won't find cartoon characters or even traditional narrative elements in his films. In fact, the term 'animation' is not entirely appropriate for his work, and neither is the German term 'Trickfilm', as both terms derive from mainstream narrative. Hattler often works with abstract shapes and forms that multiply and occupy the screen, turning it into a macrocosm.
In these films, the artist explores a variety of image creation techniques, including analogue and lens-based methods, as well as 3D and 2D digital animation. Each film has its own unique appearance and depth, or tactile quality.
The sound of his films can be described as punchy and highly synchronized to the images. Here it becomes most apparent that Hattler is able to work in an academic and artistic environment where collaboration is a big component of his work. The artist mentions Norman McLaren (Scottish-Canadian artist working from the 1930s to the 1970s) as one of his inspirations. McLaren was already experimenting by drawing ink onto the optical soundtrack. With a similar approach, Hattler generated all the sounds in Norm (2025) by directly reading the film's image as an optical soundtrack, so that “What you hear is what you see.” Other films, such as Shift (2012), are direct collaborations with sound artists.
Two recent films, TWENTYTИƎWT (2023) and Serial Parallels (2019), were photographed in the dense urban environment of Hong Kong. Both films use stop-motion techniques to animate high-rise buildings. Serial Parallels uses the repetition of façade elements of residential and industrial high-risers, making the windows, balconies, and air conditioners structural elements of abstract moving surfaces. Both films seem to comment on how the rapid growth of cities like Hong Kong creates a new kind of modernity that Western viewers may perceive as dystopian or surreal.
We are delighted that Max Hattler will be presenting his films in person and will be available for questions and answers. Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr.
Artist Link:
https://www.maxhattler.com
Links:
Directors Lounge:
http://www.directorslounge.net
Richfilm:
http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/
Z-Bar:
https://zbarberlin.com/kulturprogramm/
Also check out other Entertainment events in Berlin, Arts events in Berlin, Fine Arts events in Berlin.
