Naomi, you are an internationally established animation filmmaker and very successful in the field of artistic short films. Why is it that art and animation intermingle in your work?

I have an interdisciplinary background in both film and visual arts and studied Dramatic Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. When I think about my journey, it was during these four years of study in Johannesburg that I laid the foundations in my approach to art making. The university campus is situated in the heart of the city in the middle of a melting pot of the different languages and cultures of South Africa. I took pleasure in walking the streets of the inner city of Johannesburg and since it was an interdisciplinary programme, I experimented with different mediums; from doing classes in film studies, literature and physical theatre to designing large sets for stage productions.

This widespread background obviously made your films stand out due to a very personal and sometimes political approach.

I started my tertiary studies less than ten years after the first democratical elections that happened in 1994, and I think we were all riding a wave of optimism in a country and in a city where everything felt possible. As students we wrestled with questions from the past and our place in it in the present. Johannesburg, or Jo’burg, was everything and the energy of those years remains unforgettable.

Also the films have a strong connection to literature.

The texts I have chosen up until now are poems by South African authors and all written from the first person based on personal experiences of the writers. I enjoy working with texts that  convey a certain emotion and  even though I don’t live there anymore, I still feel deeply connected to the landscape of South Africa.

Can you give us a short example of one of these texts, a sentence maybe that was specially inspiring for animated visualisation?

My last film "Box Cutters" start with the phrase: “I can’t remember the exact details of what happened that day, it was morning, I was alone”.  This opening line inspired me to explore on how to portray memory on screen working with ‘scratch-on-film’, an animation technique that implies making marks with sand-paper and etching needles on 35mm film. The visual result is very uneven animation that corresponds with the protagonist searching to recall the details of an event.

You use a very distinct and recognisable animation technique. Can you describe your working process?

I work with fine sand on a light table that I use to create shapes and characters that are then animated in a stop-motion animation technique. The set-up is quite simple, I work on a light table with a camera fixed above. I love the texture of the fine sand - when it is backlit it looks a lot like charcoal or ink, and I love transforming landscapes into one another meaning that I will mostly plan my films backwards and shoot the first shots last.  My process is very intuitive and often relies on improvisation allowing for scenes to emerge unexpectedly. The process is very slow, but working with sand on glass is a very calming process in itself so one rarely feels the hours pass by.

Artistic creation with such a basic material like sand implies the mythological aspect of breathing life into anorganic matter - also a strong reference to animation that has its verbal roots in the Latin word anima, the soul.

Yes indeed. I have always been drawn to animating the inanimate, which probably explains why I started my career as a puppeteer. Giving life to the inanimate involves a lot of listening and adapting, I try to always be aware on what the material proposes and then work with that as a starting point.

You will create an installation at ASIFAKEIL, a small showroom in the public area MQ Showrooms of the MuseumsQuartier, dedicated exclusively to art in connection with animation.  What can we expect here?

I recently discovered a series of animated fragments which were parts of tests that I did when developing my last film. I would like to show some of them and develop an installation that evokes the studio space, or the thinking space of the animator. I have brought some small prints and I look forward to test some ideas in the showroom itself. I really enjoyed looking at the new book “Animating Art”* when thinking about ideas for the installation. The book gives an overview of more than 130 exhibitions that happened in ASIFAKEIL and it was very inspiring to see how other artists used the exhibition space in different ways.

Apart from this installation what are your plans for your stay in Vienna?

During my residency at MQ I plan to do visual development for a next animated short film that will materialise in the form of an exhibition in January 2025. I will make a series of charcoal drawings and prepare a series of printing plates to explore the key narrative ideas of the film. It is about the mystery of my grandfather who was mysteriously killed by the South African security police in 1966. This is my first time in Vienna and I look forward to walking in a lot in the city. Discovering a new city is like reading a book for the first time and I am excited to discover which new ideas will emerge from my daily wanderings.

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Naomi van Niekerk is Artist in Residence at the MuseumsQuartier Vienna by invitation of ASIFA Austria in August 2024.
On Fri 23.08, 19.30h, the artist will present selected works and arrange a film screening at MQ Room D.

Stefan Stratil is animation artist, chairman of ASIFA Austria and part of the Executive Board of ASIFA, the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation.

*The book „Animating Art -130 Exhibitions of Contemporary Animated Installations“ can be seen and ordered here: www.asifa.at/animating-art

Interview: Stefan Stratil
Concept: Magdalena Winkelhofer, MQ Wien
Videos/Images: © Naomi van Niekerk