Stop & Go Screening
Stop-Motion Techniques by Visual Artists and Filmmakers
Saturday, May 9, 2009

Kissing hats, bouncing bears, a man who turns into the sun, and regurgitating rainbows rarely happen in real life but at the stop-motion film screening called Stop & Go at the Exploratorium’s McBean Theater on May 9, 2009 at 2pm, all of this becomes ordinary. Nationally and internationally known filmmakers and visual artists use stop-motion techniques to tell stories, examine visual phenomena, and make political statements in a collection of short videos, curated by Bay Area artist and animator Sarah Klein. This event is included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium.

The line-up of videos includes intricate paper-cutouts by sculptor Jen Stark in Papermation; comic illustrator Lilli Carré’s high-wire act of sleepy-time bears, black crows, and senior folk in For the Birds; a friendly look at one of life’s little troubles from a mouse’s perspective in Squeak, Chirp, Honk by Lana Kim and Saelee Oh. The complete list of artists includes Tommy Becker, Lilli Carré, Meredith Holch, Lana Kim, Sarah Klein, Saelee Oh, Mel Prest, Judith Selby, Jen Stark, Melinda Stone and Aeneas Wilder.

The program is curated by San Francisco Bay Area artist and animator Sarah Klein. Klein, who uses hand-drawn images and stop-motion animation in her own work, chose pieces that explore the possibilities of stop-motion processes. The animators breathe life into magazine cutouts, homemade drawings, everyday objects, and even the body itself. The result is a selection of videos that are humorous, poignant, and marvelous.