Abstract:
Animation has long had a constitutive role in disseminating ideologies with a mind to shaping public attitudes and is increasingly ubiquitous in both moving image culture and working environments. The notion of blending media (a creative form of convergence) is one that has always been a predominant definition of animation operating outside conventional hegemonic commercial entertainment canons, and materially defined and redefined through established media and art forms. The paper outlines the intellectual genesis of the 'Pervasive Animation' collective interdisciplinary research programme that explores its use in fine art practice, design, architecture and the sciences.Biographical statement: Suzanne Buchan is Professor of Animation Aesthetics and Director of the Animation Research Centre at the University for the Creative Arts, UK, and Founding Editor of animation: an interdisciplinary journal (Sage). Her research aims to embed animation theory in philosophical, scientific, architectural, art economical and spatio-political discourses. The Quay Brothers: Into the Metaphysical Playroom is currently in production, and she is developing an AFI Film Reader of new animation theory. She was a founding member of the Fantoche International Animation Film Festival, Switzerland and its Co-Director between 1995–2003. She has been a guest professor, exhibition curator, festival advisor and juror internationally.