Given that mosaic typically requires a cement base to secure the individual fragments, it’s unusual to find the medium in stop-motion animation, a technique requiring that components move a microscopic distance in each frame.
But during a 10-day residency in Tarusa, Russia, a group of artists working with the collaborative Invisible Friends decided to try their hands at the unconventional approach. The result? “The sky has no edge,” a poetic narrative about looking up that’s crafted almost entirely from mosaic.
Conceived in five days and filmed in the same amount of time, the dreamlike animation flows through a patchwork of scenes devised by individual artists, all of which are then stitched together. There’s a crow perched on a powerline that promptly chomps a fly, red and orange fireworks bursting in the distance, and a bee buzzing high above a train as it races by.
To create the film, artist Ilya Yudovich concocted a plasticine mixture with sand and other materials. The resulting substance retained the texture and consistency of cement without hardening. Invisible Friends shares an in-depth look behind the scenes on its website and adds:
The animation process was highly labor-intensive. In some instances, it resembled cut-out animation, with a large pre-prepared mosaic picture being moved beneath the camera, undergoing slight alterations. At times, it involved intricate work with the entire picture – a form of total animation. Each frame required meticulous attention to detail, as if reconstructing the mosaic anew.
There’s a helpful translation of the film’s narrative on YouTube, but you can find more experimental techniques and collaborations from Invisible Friends on Vimeo.
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