Experimental Animation: From Analogue to Digital proposes some ways of distinguishing and defining both historical and contemporary experimental animation (see Paul Taberham’s chapter in particular); however, the collection’s approach is not intended to be delimiting. In the contemporary context especially, identifying experimental animation as a coherent category entails the semi-contradictory task of signalling the art form as distinct whilst also acknowledging its interconnectedness with and inseparability from other forms of moving image
art and animation. One of the primary aims of Experimental Animation: From
Analogue to Digital is to investigate some of the aesthetic and cultural territories that experimental animation occupies in the current multimedia landscape. Across the chapters, authors adopt diverse methods to explore various instantiations of experimental animation, from more traditional forms such as abstract
visual music, hand drawn and collage animation to 3D animation, web-based
projects, multi-channel installations and data visualisation. The collection’s 14
interviews with contemporary experimental animators who are situated in different parts of the globe provide revealing details about their individual artistic
processes, offering insights as to the forces at work that differentiate experimental animation from mainstream modes and even other forms of experimental
filmmaking