Shift

2012

Experimental Film

Shift

Using the New Age idea of a 'dimensional shift' as inspiration, Shift combines science fiction themes through abstract, stop motion animation of objects and colour.

Awards

Third Prize, Reykjavík Visual Music – Punto y Raya Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2014
First Prize, Prize Simona Gesmundo for Animated Short Films, Cetraro, Italy, 2012
Best Experimental Film, TOFUZI, Batumi, Georgia, 2012
Vimeo Staff Pick, 2012

Credits

A film by Max Hattler.
Sound	David Kamp
Additional Animation	Mavis Chen, Mia Hattler, Kami Hattler
An Animate Projects production in association with Lupus Films for Channel 4.
Versions (HD digital files)	3’00” festival and broadcast version Installation version: 2’50” loop + several subsidiary silent loops of variable lengths on additional projectors or monitors
Year	2012

Still Images

PressKit

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Screenings & Exhibitions

2015-2023

Relentless Melt No. 30, Clockenflap Festival, 1-3 Dec 2023 (programme of experimental animation co-curated by Max Hattler and Jay Hofmann-Forster)
Beyond the Space, Art Gwangmyeong, Gwangmyeong-si, South Korea, 21 Oct – 10 Nov 2022 (public screen exhibition curated by Shirley Sehee Kim. Artists included: Max Hattler, Ina Conradi, Mark Chavez, Tate Egon Chavez, Shirley Sehee Kim)
AV: Artist Videos at the Drive-In, Westwind Capitol Drive-In, San Jose, CA, US, 1 Nov 2020, (screening presented by Exploratorium San Francisco and San José Museum of Art)
Strangelove Festival, Folkestone, UK, 20 Mar 2020 (POSTPONED) (Animate Projects screening)
Taichung International Animation Festival, Taichung, Taiwan, 11-20 Oct 2019 (Director in Focus 1)
Anifilm, Trebon, Czech Republic, 7-12 May 2019 (Max Hattler Retrospective)
26th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, Metropol 3, Stuttgart, Germany, 17:00 Fri 3 May 2019 (In Persona: Max Hattler screening)
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, 13 and 14 Apr 2019 (Punto y Raya Junior screening)
100 Years Bauhaus: Designing the Future, The Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, 12 Apr 2019 (paper: ‘Experimental Animation Film: The Bauhaus and its Legacy’)
CREATE! MakerSpace, CityU Library, City University of Hong Kong, 3 Dec 2018 (Guest Lecture 5.0: Max Hattler: Audio-Visual Abstraction: Animation as Fine Art Practice)
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Australia, 16 Jun 2018 (‘Dan Torre: Process, Cognition And Actuality’ screening)
Animation x Experimental: International Experimental Animation Exhibition 2018, Fuzhong 15 Animation and Story Gallery, New Taipei City, Taiwan, 2 Jun – 11 Nov 2018 (Shift multi-screen + object installation)
KLEX, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 25 Nov 2017 (Max Hattler Retrospective)
EXiM Experimental Animation Festival, Macao Museum of Art, Macao, 18 Nov 2017
Western Universities Students Animation Festival Academic Proseminar, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China, 12 Nov 2017 (lecture: ‘Materiality and Representation in Animation: Approaches to Abstraction’)
56 Moon Animation Festival, Chengdu, China, 11 Nov 2017 (Max Hattler solo screening)
36th Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden, 23-29 Oct 2017
Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, 7-11 Sep 2017 (Max Hattler: In Persona screening)
Expo 2017, Astana, Kazakhstan, 14 Jul 2017 (Max Hattler Retrospective presented by Visual Music Award and German Pavilion)
Anifilm, Trebon, Czech Republic, 2-7 May 2017
Filmfest Dresden International Short Film Festival, Dresden, Germany, 4-9 Apr 2017 (Animated: Max Hattler Retrospective)
Ciné Tambour, Rennes University, Rennes, France, 8 Mar 2017 (Oodaaq screening)
Institute for Media and Communication Studies, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany, 24 Oct 2016 (‘Animation Art and Video Activism’ lecture)
Punto y Raya Festival, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, 23 Oct 2016 (masterclass)
Secret Monsters, Grenland filmklubb, Spriten Kunsthall, Skien, Norway, 9 Sep 2016
Mini Block Community Art Festival, Findars, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 20 Aug 2016 (KLEX screening)
Bellevue College Animation and Film Festival, Seattle, WA, 12 May 2016
Imagine Science Film Festival, New York City, NY, USA, 16-24 Oct 2015
Indie-Anifest, Seoul, Korea, 17-21 Sep 2015 (Max Hattler screening)
Friends of Volda, Norwegian Animation Center, Volda, Norway, 17-19 Sep 2015
visionXsound 2015, GRAF+ZYX TANK 203.3040.AT, Neulengbach, Austria, 5 + 20 Sep 2015
on top. 21. Triennale Ulmer Kunst, Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm, Germany, 24 Jul – 20 Sep 2015
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Australia, 24 Jun 2015 (Max Hattler screening)
FILE – Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 16 Jun – Aug 2015
Hongik University, Seoul, Korea, 19 May 2015 (lecture)
Open Source Art Forum, WCO Korea, Seoul, Korea, 17 May 2015 (lecture)
Resonate, Belgrade, Serbia, 17 Apr 2015 (lecture)
27th Festival Les Instants Video, Videodrome 2, Marseille, France, 8 Apr 2015
DAF – Deviant Art Festival, La Reliure, Geneva, Switzerland, 1-5 Apr 2015 (Festival Miden screening curated by Ioanna Dimitrakopoulou-Koutava & Terpsi Kontargyri)
Mid-America Science Museum, Hot Springs, AR, USA, since March 2015 (‘Animation Theatre’ permanent exhibition)
Tehran International Animation Festival, Tehran, Iran, 8-12 Mar 2015
Adelaide Festival, Australia, 27-28 Feb 2015 (Animate Projects screening)
Animac, Lleida, Spain, 19-22 Feb 2015
DongTaiDu Music Festival ‘AUTONOMOUS’, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18 Jan 2015 (KLEX screening)

2014

IMM – Institut für Musik und Medien, Düsseldorf, Germany, 11 Dec (lecture)
Cologne Game Lab, University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany, 10 Dec (lecture)
ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, 10 Dec (The Best of Punto y Raya 2014)
Middlesex University, London, 2 Dec (lecture)
Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 21 Nov (retrospective)
27th Festival Les Instants Video, Marseille, France, 7-11 Nov
Aalborg University Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 16 Oct (lecture)
London Animation Club, Green Man, Fitzrovia, London, 7 Oct (artist talk)
Video Art and Experimental Film Festival, New York City, USA, 2-4 Oct
Last Friday Shorts, TAP Gallery, Southend on Sea, UK, 26 Sep (curated by Michaela Freeman)
Angel Canal Festival, London, 7 Sep (Animate Projects screening)
BUSHO, Budapest, Hungary, 2-7 Sep
ChiFouMi & Cie, Saint-Claude, France, 25 Jul
Village Green Festival, Chalkwell Park, Southend on Sea, UK, 12 Jul
Revelation Film Festival, Perth, Australia, 3-13 Jul
Audiovisual Abstractions. Max Hattler’s Doctorate in Fine Art Exhibition, Moving Image Research Centre, University of East London, London, UK, 19-24 Jun
Fest Anca, Zilina, Slovakia, 18-22 Jun (Profile: Max Hattler)
Animafest, Zagreb, Croatia, 3-8 Jun
12th Kinofilm International Short Film Festival, Manchester, UK, 31 May
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Caracas, Venezuela, 14 May (lecture)
Northwest Animation Festival, Portland, Oregon, 12-18 May (EFFPortland screening)
School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 28 Apr (lecture)
Time is Love.7, Pink Gallery, Seoul, Korea, 25-26 Apr (curated by Kisito Assangni)
Jenseits der Sprache – Language and beyond, Galerie B, Stadtbibliothek, Stuttgart, Germany, 4 Apr – 24 May (Thorsten Fleisch, Max Hattler, Michel Kloefkorn, Robert Seidel 4-person ITFS exhibition)
Time is Love.7, Galerie Talmart, Paris, France, Fri 21 Mar (curated by Kisito Assangni)
Monstra Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, 13 – 23 Mar
Kino Muza, Poznan, Poland, 13 Mar (The Best of Punto y Raya 2014)
Anima Festival, Brussels, Belgium, 28 Feb – 9 Mar
Sint-Lucas, Ghent, Belgium, 18 Feb (lecture at Digital Design International Day)
Reykjavík Visual Music – Punto y Raya Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland, 30 Jan – 2 Feb
DASHBOARD – The Wrong Curators Artshow, Kalpany, Milan, Italy, 23 Jan – 21 Feb
Time is Love.7, The Invisible Line Gallery, London, 18 Jan (curated by Kisito Assangni)

2013

Curtocircuito Festival, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 9-14 Dec
Middlesex University (Animation Dept), London, 9 Dec (lecture)
Salon Papier(s), EESAB, Rennes, France, 7-8 Dec (Selection Oodaaq)
Galerie A, Angers, France, 7 Dec (Selection Oodaaq)
University of East London, London, UK, 22 Nov (artist talk)
St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, USA, 14-24 Nov
Bradford Animation Festival, Bradford, UK, 12-16 Nov (Animate Projects screening)
London Int’l Animation Festival, London, UK, 25 Oct – 3 Nov
Bunter Hund Int’l Short Film Festival, Munich, Germany, 17-20 Oct
Un Festival C’est Trop Court, Nice, France, 15-20 Oct
Animatou Festival, Geneva, Switzerland, 11 Oct (masterclass)
Anima Festival, Cordoba, Argentina, 10-12 Oct
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – HSLU, Switzerland, 9 Oct (lecture)
TOFUZI, Batumi, Georgia, 3 Oct
Kinofest, Bucharest, Romania, 27-29 Sep
ANIMATE EXPERIMENT at Brighton Digital Festival, projected onto the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill On Sea, UK, Fri 27 Sep, 19:30 (curated by Kim Stewart)
Naoussa International Film Festival, Naoussa, Greece, 25-29 Sep
Etrange Festival, Paris, France, 5-15 Sep
Golden Diana Int. Filmfestival, Klopeiner See, Austria, 1-6 Sep
Anifest India, Mumbai, India, 23-24 Aug (Finalist, TASI Viewers Choice Awards)
Open-Air Filmfest Weiterstadt, Germany, 15-19 Aug
Videoholica, Varna, Bulgaria, 4 Aug (artist talk)
Penryn Arts Festival, Cornwall, UK, 26 Jul (‘InterAnima’ curated by Becalelis Brodskis)
Nozstock Festival, Bromyard, Herefordshire, 26 Jul (Max Hattler Retrospective)
FILE – Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 23 Jul – 1 Sep
SICAF, Seoul, Korea, 23-28 Jul (MIAF screening)
Best of Oodaaq 2013, VisualContainer, 11 Jul – 10 Sep
San Gio Video Festival, Verona, Italy, 23-27 Jul
Festival Miden, Kalamata, Greece, 4-6 Jul
Frederick Film Festival, Frederick, Maryland, USA, 28-30 Jun
Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 22 Jun (KLEX screening ‘See the Sound, Hear the Image’, curated by Kok Siew Wai)
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 20-30 Jun
Festival Alto Vicentino, Santorso, Italy, 20-23 Jun (finalist)
[.BOX] Videoart Project Space, Milan, Italy, 19-28 Jun (Selection Oodaaq)
Schaustelle, Munich, Germany, 15+16 Jun (Max Hattler: Selected Works)
Salle Saint Anne, Saint Malo, France, 8 Jun (Selection Oodaaq)
Les Yeux La Nuit, La Nuit de la Video, Nancy, France, 7 Jun (Selection Oodaaq)
Caostica Festival, Bilbao, Spain, 1-15 Jun
International Short Film Festival Detmold, Detmold, Germany, 31 May – 9 Jun
Vienna Independent Shorts, Vienna, Austria, 28 May – 2 Jun
Science Friction, Copenhagen, Denmark, 28 May (artist talk)
Backup Festival, Weimar, Germany, 22-26 May
Experimental Film Festival Portland, Portland, Oregon, USA, 20-26 May
Festival Oodaaq, Rennes, France, 16-26 May
Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark, 9 May (artist talk)
AniFest, Teplice, Czech Republic, 27 Apr (lecture)
European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany, 24-28 Apr
London College of Communication, London, UK, 17 Apr (lecture)
Frenz: Art in April, Strongroom, London, UK, 17 Apr (screening/talk)
Filmfest Dresden International Short Film Festival, Dresden, Germany, 16-21 Apr
Mecal, Barcelona, Spain, 4-28 Apr
Videoformes Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 20-23 Mar
Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth, UK, 8 Mar (lecture)
Byron Bay Film Festival, Australia, 1-10 Mar
Animated Exeter, Exeter, UK, 18-23 Feb
Chinese Open: Year of the Snake, Q Park, Chinatown, London, Sun 10 Feb (curated by Vanya Balogh & Cedric Christie)
Berlin International Directors Lounge, Berlin, 7-17 Feb
SWITCH, Nenagh, Tipperary, Ireland, 3-10 Feb
Royal College of Art, London, 31 Jan (talk)
British Shorts, Berlin, 11-14 Jan
London Short Film Festival, London, 3-14 Jan

2012

Filmski Front, NFC Kino Klub, Novi Sad, Serbia, 20-22 Dec
Videomedeja, Novi Sad, Serbia, 14-16 Dec
Les Nuits Magiques, Bègles, Bordeaux, Haillan and Canéjan, France, 5-18 Dec
Tblisi International Film Festival, Tblisi, Georgia, 3-9 Dec (best of TOFUZI screening)
Animax, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, 28-30 Nov
– HEAD – Geneva University of Art and Design, Switzerland, 22 Nov (artist talk)
Istanbul Animation Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, 20-25 Nov
L’Alternativa, Barcelona, Spain, 20-25 Nov
Euroshorts, Gdansk, Poland, 19-25 Nov
KLEX – Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film & Video Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 16-20 Nov
Freie Kunstakademie Baden-Württemberg, Fellbach, Germany, 15 Nov (artist talk)
Animated Dreams, Tallinn, Estonia, 14-18 Nov
Erarta Contemporary Art Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, 4-18 Nov (Multivision installation)
Flip Animation Festival, Wolverhampton, UK, 1-3 Nov
CutOut Fest, Queretaro, Mexico, 1-3 Nov
Multivision Festival, Pro Arte Foundation, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1 Nov (artist talk)
DOK Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, 29 Oct – 4 Nov
Impakt Festival: DEUS, Dutch Experiments on Urban Screens, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Breda, Eindhoven, Amersfoort and The Hague, Holland, 24-28 Oct
Collab, Lauba, Zagreb, Croatia, 13-17 Oct
Simultan Festival, Timisoara, Romania, 11-13 Oct
Ce qui nous lie: soirees courts-metrages, Besancon, France, 11 Oct
anim’est, Bucharest, Romania, 5-14 Oct
TOFUZI, Batumi, Georgia, 3-6 Oct
Sho-Zyg, St. James Hatcham Church, New Cross, London, 21-27 Sep
Zeitguised, Max Hattler, Android Jones & PES, San Francisco State University, CA, USA, 21 Sep, 19:30 (ASIFA Lecture by Ben Ridgway)
Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, 18-23 Sep (Random Acts screening)
Bornshorts Film Festival, Bornholm, Denmark, 14 Sep
Hackney Film Festival, Rio Cinema, Dalston, London, Sat 8 Sep, 16:00
art:gwangju:12, Gwangju, Korea, 5-9 Sep (via Animate Projects)
Walthamstow International Film Festival, London, UK, 3-11 Sep
Abandon Normal Devices, Manchester, UK, 31 Aug
Darklight Festival, Dublin, Ireland, 23-26 Aug
Max Hattler Presents…, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, UK, 23 Aug, 18:30
DINCA Vision Quest, Chicago, USA, 16-18 Aug (curated by Andrew Rosinski)
Welcome to the Treasuredome, ICCI 360 Arena, Weymouth, UK, 11-12 Aug (curated by Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore)
Videoholica Int’l Video Art Festival, Varna, Bulgaria, 30 Jul – 3 Aug
C the Film, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh, UK, 27 Jul – 27 Aug
Lago Film Fest, Revine Lago, Italy, 20-28 Jul (Max Hattler retrospective)
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, London, 11-20 Jul
University of East London, London, 21-29 Jun (Doctorate in Fine Art Show)
Golden Kuker Animation Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria, 12 Jun (Max Hattler Panorama)
ISFF Detmold, Germany, 8 Jun (Zwischenbilanz: Max Hattler Retrospective)
Royal College of Art, London, 30 May (presentation/workshop)
Backup Festival, Weimar, Germany, 12 May (“Collisions, Kaleidobooths, Hattlerizers” talk)
FMX, Stuttgart, Germany, 11 May (lecture)
– Apocalyptic Shift, Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, New York City, NY, USA, 26 April
randomacts.channel4.com, since 24 April (online premiere)
Max Hattler: Audiovisual Abstractions, Vilnius Art Academy, Vilnius, Lithuania, 27 Mar
Max Hattler: Shift (solo show), Tenderpixel Gallery, London, 9 March – 28 April

More Here

IdN Magazine Motion Gallery, 2014
Turbulences Video (interview, issue 76, July 2012)
Stash (feature, issue 93, June 2012)
Art Monthly (review, issue 356, May 2012)
Dazed Digital (interview, March 2012)
Imperica (interview)
Journal (interview)
The Double Negative
Design Week
Page Magazine
Cent Magazine
Directors Notes
File Magazine
Electric Sheep Magazine
Animate Projects
Animate Projects Observer
University of East London
Art Rabbit
Art Licks
Tenderpixel Gallery (or press release PDF)

Broadcast & DVDs

Mon Œil, children’s web series by Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, March-June 2017
Selection Oodaaq DVD, France, 2013
Canal Plus, Spain, since October 2012
Channel 4, UK, 23 April 2012 (TV premiere) + further screenings

What others have said

Max Hattler has produced several abstract stop-motion films, such as AANAATT (2008), Shift (2012) and Model Starship (2012). He too employs various strategies that not only create visually interesting sequences but also ultimately shift the viewer’s attention away from the original context and identity of a single form and towards a purely abstract viewing experience. For example, in his stop-motion piece Shift (2012), the images (even though identifiable as real stop-motion objects) continually change appearance and shape. This kind of developmental movement shifts the emphasis away from particular forms or recognizable characters and instead highlights the dynamic and visually compelling movement of abstract imagery.

Dan Torre, Animation: Process, Cognition and Actuality, 2017

SHIFT solo exhibition at Tenderpixel Gallery, 2012 (installation view).

There are certain moments created by artists where it becomes apparent that they have completed a period and are ready to shift up a gear; challenging themselves, challenging audiences and challenging the body of work that they have already produced. Filmmaker Max Hattler produced in 2010 a piece called Spin. This Busby Berkeley-style dance routine played out by plastic toy soldiers seemed to instigate a slight change in working practice, and he presents his latest work, open now, at Tenderpixel. This new installation of three moving image works is entitled (appropriately enough) SHIFT. Commissioned between Animate Projects and Channel 4, the work is the latest in a series of co-productions between the two organisations, in a strand called Random Acts, bringing the work of film and video artists to terrestrial broadcast television. SHIFT is a very strong work. The three minute animation exhibits influences as disparate as modernist abstraction to industrialisation and German Expressionism. The effect is jarring, and in the Tenderpixel basement a fitting mausoleum for sci-fi exploits played out under factory-esque, conveyor-belt conditions. Hattler’s work has always been exuberant and anticipatory; SHIFT presents an abstract apocalypse, hearkening back to the fears of the modern age. It’s beautiful, and it’s scary, and it’s utterly engrossing.

Because Magazine, 2012

Max Hattlers Geometrie-Comic – die modern klassische Ästhetik seines Videos Shift hat was von einem Oskar-Schlemmer-Ballett, nur dass der Mensch daraus nun ganz entwichen ist.

Südwest Presse, 2015

eine Mischung aus Retro-Flipper und Bauhaus-Ästhetik.

Augsburger Allgemeine, 2015

SHIFT solo exhibition at Tenderpixel Gallery, 2012 (video documentation).

following a strict concept, images of geometric beauty emerge.

Vienna Independent Shorts 2013

Max Hattler tries to visualize higher dimensions and unearthliness based on a turbulent atmosphere caused by a premonition of the end of the world. He uses elements of a complex and endlessly functioning mechanism. The cosmos of its pieces still performs many functions without emotions and retrospect. Partial changes are almost imperceptible.

AniFest 2013

Tiefschwarz als abstrakte Fläche, darauf dreidimensionale Objekte, Formen, Fragmente von Bauteilen aus Metall, Kunststoff, Filz, manchmal gläserne Einsprengsel oder winzige blinkende Lämpchen. Dazu ein Soundtrack, der zwischen spannungsgeladenen Kinofilm-Geräuscheffekten und zeitgenössischer ‘Neuer Musik’ pendelt, eine wogende Bewegungsfolge von immer neuen semi-abstrakt bewegten Kompositionen und rasanten Transformationen. Ein Universum aus konkret beschreibbaren Klängen und Formen, das dennoch auf mysteriöse Weise auf ein größeres, dahinter liegendes Bedeutungsuniversum verweist.

Vienna Independent Shorts 2013

Making of Shift. Photo by Heiko Mozer, 2012.

Max Hattler, jeune artiste allemand installé à londres, réalise des animations expérimentales dans lesquelles il explore l’idée du mouvement dans sa représentation abstraite. Dans Shift, il crée, avec très peu d’effets numériques, un monde d’une autre dimension peuplé d’objets, obéissant à ses propres lois et logiques. L’utilisation d’objets du quotidien et l’anthropomorphisme de certaines compositions permettent cependant un rattachement à une réalité concrète. Ses films, se situant entre abstraction et figuration, établissent ainsi une distance critique et proposent une réflexion sur le milieu dans lequel nous évoluons.

Selection Oodaaq DVD 2013