A digital fairground from Finland is coming to Birmingham, featuring a ‘zoetrope’ carousel, fortune teller and cutting edge animation at Birmingham City University.
Nine installations make up the Amusement Park exhibition, which explores the relationship between animation and interactivity. The show, by Finnish collective Animation Crank Handle, arrives in the UK for the first time fresh from Finland and Estonia.
Visitors can become part of a human-sized pin cushion by leaving their face print in Elli Vuorinen’s ‘Memory Trace’ and take a spin in Kaisa Penttila’s ‘Garbage Whirl’ zoetrope.
Viewers of Joni Männistö and Lucas Pedersen’s Electric Soul can create their own electronic soundtrack to a short film, and Aiju Salminen’s Fortune Teller will monitor its audience and spit out prophecies.
And for one night only on March 24 a multi-projector installation ‘Elemental’ - by Birmingham City University’s Visual Communication student William Marler - will fuse the four elements with advanced technologies to create an immersive projection-mapping experience.
Sam Goves, Programmer for the Flatpack Film Festival said: “It’s terrific that we’re building on the foundations that were laid last year for the inaugural Swipeside, and that our partnership with the university is continuing to blossom. With even more international artists, UK premieres, activities, and screenings. The Parkside building will once again be illuminated with a unique and exciting programme exploring the magic of the moving image.”
Amusement Park forms part of Swipeside, a strand of the Flatpack Film Festival. An accompanying short film programme ‘The Finnish Line’ will showcase shorts by the artists in the exhibition, and there is also an evening of live animation and performance, Time + Motion.
The Amusement Park exhibition runs to March 28 at Birmingham City University’s Parkside Building. The Garbage Whirl will be based on the second floor in Millennium Point.
An opening will be held on Tuesday March 24.
