P.S.1 is pleased to present
Animations, an exhibition exploring the ways in which contemporary
visual artists address animation as a medium and subject. Animations
focuses on the implications of living in an age where visual experience
is informed by new technologies, and where the "reality" of live action
film and the imagined worlds of animation have blurred together. With
works by more than thirty artists, this exhibition addresses the utopian
beginnings of the medium, the relationship between analog and digital,
between graphic form and 3-D animation, and between commercial and
experimental animation. This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of
Juan Munoz, who passed away during the preparation for his installation
"Waiting for Jerry" (1991/2001).

This exhibition includes a number of animation installations by
contemporary artists. New York-based artist Karen Yasinsky's premiers
"Fear" (2001). Her work uses stop-motion animation to tell ambiguous
tales of personal interaction, in which her characters seem to be
hobbled by their own construction, moving in an atmosphere of wistful
emotion. South African artist William Kentridge's "Memo" (1993-94) will
be shown outside of South Africa for the first time. "Memo" combines
live action film with drawing and recalls the beginnings of animation at
the turn of the last century. On the other hand, French artists Pierre
Huyghe and Phillippe Parreno's videos "Two Minutes out of Time" (2000)
and "Anywhere out of the World" (2000) address the contemporary
corporate context of much animation today through the "plight" of
Annlee, a ready-to-use anime character that the artists purchased from a
Japanese cartoon agency for their international project "No Ghost, Just
a Shell," through which the artists have "saved" Annlee from imminent
disposal by the manga comic industry. This exhibition also includes
works by Haluk Akakce, Francis Alys, Peggy Ahwesh, Oladele Bamgboye,
Jeremy Blake, Robert Breer, Angus Fairhurst, David Galbraith, Liam
Gillick, Claudia Hart, Simon Henwood, Alex Ku, Liane Lang, Kristin
Lucas, Christine Mackie, Melissa Marks, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, Jonathan
Monk, Juan Munoz, Damian Ortega, Sven Pahlsson, Jenny Perlin, Liliana
Porter, Possible Worlds, and Teresa Seemann.

Animations also presents an array of artist-designed rooms that offer
unique spaces where visitors can interact with other works. If "to
animate" means to "give a soul," New York-based artist Gareth James
reasons that the Frankenstein monster is the ultimate symbol of
animation, and transforms a room within the exhibition into the
laboratory of a mad doctor. A "folly/arcade" designed by New York-based
artist John Pilson and architect Andrea Mason offers visitors the
opportunity to view works selected from hundreds of international
animated films. Web artist Paul Johnson makes his own working projectors
and computers from the most quotidian of elements. Johnson has designed
a web animation room which features a selection of web-based animation,
from stand-alone applications to interactive games, by artists such as
BASICRAY, Natalie Bookchin, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Mark
Daggett, Joshua Davis, Andy Deck, Xeth Feinberg, Alex and Munro
Galloway, JODI, John Klima, Golan Levin and Casey Reas, Sebastian
Luetgert, Panajotis Mihalatos, Mouchette, Mark Napier, and Eric
Zimmerman and Word.com.

Finally, P.S.1's vault features historical programs and film-based hits
of animations in a room reminiscent of the cinema experience. This
program includes works by early animators such as Winsor McCay, Norman
McLaren and Len Lye.

This exhibition is curated by P.S.1 Senior Curator Carolyn Christov-
Bakargiev with P.S.1 Associate Curator Larissa Harris. Web animation:
Anthony Huberman. Historical and experimental animation consultants:
Giannalberto Bendazzi, John Canemaker, Norman Klein and Karyn Riegel.

This exhibition is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the
Visual Arts, MetLife Foundation, Etant donnes, and the British Council.
Special thanks to Lisson Gallery, London, 3M, The Mexican Cultural
Institute, Sadie Coles HQ, London, The Italian Cultural Institute, New
York, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, and Amit Primor, Nomad
Worldwide LLC.

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For more information, please contact the P.S.1 Press Office: William
Murray or Carolyn Bane T: (718) 784-2084 ext. 27/ F: (718) 482-9454/
e-mail: press@ps1.org.