Jan 26, 2011

The Automatic Moving Company: An Exploration of Anthropomorphism


While watching The Automatic Moving Company, an animation by Émile Cohl circa 1910, I was immediately reminded of the anthropomorphism found in contemporary artists' work such as Peter Fischli's and David Weiss' The Way Things Go. The main connection was Cohl's utilization of anthropomorphism as a means of creating relationships between the chairs, tables, stools and varied furnishings. The whimsy and fantastical tendencies of this animation are only enhanced by the discovery that these objects are all miniatures of a real world where they would be characterized not by their ability to move, but to be still and stagnant--existing within the banal and mundane. It is because these delightful furnishings have character that we watch and are intrigued, despite that in our lives they exist as static structures that we rarely give a second thought.


|| Post by: Stephanie Clark ||

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