Memories of Materiality:

Animation and Nostalgia

Erwin Feyersinger (University of Innsbruck)

Animation has been changing drastically since the 1980s. The direct manipulation of materials is displaced by

computer-aided and computer-generated animation (CGI). This paper will discuss how animation complexly and

nostalgically reflects on these historical changes and the loss of haptic qualities caused by them.

Older animation techniques such as puppet animation or hand-drawn animation are strongly rooted in reality: a real

object (a puppet or paint on an animation cel) is recorded by a real object (a camera) on a real object (the film

stock). The puppet can be physically moved or exchanged. An animation cel features pigments, which have to be

applied and manipulated with a brush. The camera can be physically moved and its lens system is bound to the laws

of optics. The film stock can be chemically and mechanically altered.

Newer, computer-based techniques are not physically rooted in reality: virtual objects are recorded by virtual

cameras as digital information. These techniques simulate a reality that not necessarily complies with the laws of

physics of our actual world. However, computer-based animation often strives for hyperrealism. To make virtual

images look as real as indexical images, CGI even emulates accidental traces of reality

found in material-based animation such as optical flaws (e.g. lens flare) or the

damage of the film stock (e.g. scratches, hair, or dust).

The paper will focus on the emulation of these flaws as they are not only used to

enhance the mimetic illusion of the virtual imagery, but also as a nostalgic and

sometimes ironic reminiscence about the materiality of older animation techniques.