christopher tym
macarrão
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By chance i ended up in Natal, Brazil at the beginning of 2016. This unexpected trip coincided with a shift in my practice; i was wondering if i should pursue ‘art’ or ‘film’ and only later that year did i hear the term ‘artist-filmmaker’ for the first time. i'd been fusing animation and video already for a while but i wanted to see if i could do it in the register of a hybrid-documentary about the forró music and dances of north-east Brazil.
It was pre-carnival and public rehearsals were taking place in the towns and villages as the sounds of brass bands and accordions floated on high. With a fixed lens, a fixed tripod and a borrowed camera, i filmed rehearsals in the streets and asked my friend’s family to be on camera as surrogates for un-staged subjects.
Landing back In London i wondered to myself “How can i create the sense of an ambient memory that might not be mine?” and formally, “What is the minimum that can sustain our attention as a viewer?”. i began by selecting scenes with the feel of a thousand yard stare - like when you find yourself looking at something and not quite daydreaming but snapping back to the moment and you're unsure where you've been. These moments of abstract meditation naturally nestled with each other and i began extrapolating the physical movements of people in each scene and transposing them into animated dots.
At the time i was unable to complete this project because London’s demands were too much to bear but looking back at it now there are qualities i love; there is a sensitivity to both the subject and the viewer, there is space to breathe both inside and outside the frame. This quality of breathing beyond the frame is something i’d like to re-employ in future projects, to embrace a a conscientiousness for both the viewer and the subject to be able to develop their own relationship with each other.
christopher tym
31/12/23
christopher tym (UK) is an artist-filmmaker based in The Netherlands.
Combining animation and film using traditional and digital techniques
ct creates unstable hybrid spaces in which humxns attempt to navigate and find solace within their virtual + natural environments.
ct teaches Animation and is a core tutor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam.
Combining animation and film using traditional and digital techniques
ct creates unstable hybrid spaces in which humxns attempt to navigate and find solace within their virtual + natural environments.
ct teaches Animation and is a core tutor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam.