The pioneer Oskar Fischinger

Last december I went to the opening of an exhibit about Oskar Fischinger. I didn't really know what to expect but it turned out to be amazing! 

The Exhibition at EYE Film Institute Netherlands 
I didn't know anything about Fischinger when I went to the show, except that he was experimental and a video artist. Which I like. It made me very curious. The website of EYE states that EYE is working together with the Center for Visual Music in L.A. for this exhibition of short films by Fischinger. His work has been of great influence in the development of animated films and his work is still a source of inspiration for artists and designers.

Who is this artist?
The moment I walked into the exhibition room his art reminded me of Fantasia. Turns out, I wasn't that far off. Fischinger (1900-1967) started his career in München (Germany) and went on to work in Berlin. He experimented with projection, color and animation which eventually led to his nickname 'The Wizard of Friedrichstrasse'. He even worked in Hollywood for a bit, but art came first. His work laid the groundwork for computergraphics, animationfilms and visual effects. And as I mentioned, he was part of the creation proces in making Fantasia. 

(a vid of the soundtrack from Fantasia)

There is no better way to describe Oskar Fischinger or his work than to quote John Canemaker (The New York Times) as he is quoted on the EYE website: "Decades before computer graphics, before music videos, even before Fantasia (the 1940 version), there were the abstract animated films of Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), master of 'absolute' or nonobjective filmmaking. He was cinema's Kandinsky, an animator who, beginning in the 1920's in Germany, created exquisite 'visual music' using geometric patterns and shapes choreographed tightly to classical music and jazz."

Just check this vid out on Vimeo. 

On the internet?
One of the things that makes Fischinger's work so special - beside the fact that he's a pioneer - is that it is very well protected from ending up on the internet. You can't see it in many places and that way it stays unique. EYE also shows some of his earliest work and never before shown animated drawings. Now, this is truly interesting. To see how he made his films... It's awesome. Fischinger drew each picture frame by frame and recorded it that way. It goes to show how much work is necessary to make an animated film by making animation drawings frame by frame/picture by picture. I think that's craftmanship at it's best and it's so amazing when you get to see the 'behind-the-scenes' - so to speak - of something as beautiful as this. But that's not the only thing to be seen. There are also paintings, musical scores with annotations, pictures and documents. It gives you a chance to see every step taken to create his movies. 

Extra's
In February there are extra guides through the exhibition and on every Sunday in that month they organize animation workshops for children/families as well as for adults. Another extra thing is a game installation called 'Abstractimation'. In this game geometric figures are the main character. The exhibit Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967): Experiments in Cinematic Abstraction is still open to the public and will last until March 17th 2013 from 11.00-18.00. 

Check a vid and a slideshow from the exhibition here. For more information see the EYE website (same link).