Sync A circular looping animation projection installation. "(...) the film is based on the idea that there is an underlying unchanging synchronisation at the centre of everything; a sync that was decided at the very beginning of time. Everything follows from it, everything is ruled by it: all time, all physics, all life. And all animation." (Max Hattler)***
AWARDS - MuVi5 Artecittà Award, MuVi5 - International Exhibition of Video and Moving Image on Synesthesia and Visual Music, Spain, 2018 - Best Video Installation, Multivision, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2011 - Special Prize, Visual Music Award, Frankfurt, Germany, 2011 - Special Mention (for "A work of a remarkable artistic importance and a high technical level"), Prize Simona Gesmundo for Animated Short Films, Cetraro, Italy, 2011 - Vimeo Staff Pick, 2011 SCREENINGS AND EXHIBITIONS 2018-2024 - After Dark: Pi Night, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, USA, 143 Mar 2024 - 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) - Sports, Sports, Sports, Deptford Contemporary, London, UK, 17 Jun 2022 (screening curated by Karolina Glusiec) - EXiS: Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, South Korea, 1-15 Aug 2020 (Indi-Visual: Max Hattler Artist Spotlight) - AV Experimental (Online Edition), presented by Analog Room and Goethe-Institut, Dubai, UAE, Wed 10 Jun 2020 (curated by Gabriel Soucheyre / Videoformes) - 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) - Prisme 1, Cosmopolis, Nantes, France, 6 Dec 2018 (Fireworks Indoors screening curated by Scott Fitzpatrick) - Museum of Digital Art (MuDA), Zurich, Switzerland, Thu 5 Jul 2018 (Metaz series Max Hattler artist talk) - MuVi5, Palacio Abacial y Convento de Capuchinos, Alcala la Real, Jaen, Spain, 18-22 May 2018 - MuVi5, Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica Victoria Eugenia, Granada, Spain, 18-22 May 2018 2017 - Abstract Heterotopias, Melbourne Planetarium, Melbourne, Australia, 29 Nov (fulldome screening curated by Dirk de Bruyn and Paul Fletcher) - Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 27 Nov (Oblique Narrative and Synaesthetic Experience - The Abstract Animations of Max Hattler) - KLEX, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 25 Nov (Max Hattler Retrospective) - Antimatter, Victoria, BC, Canada, 14 Oct (Fireworks Indoors, curated by Scott Fitzpatrick) - Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, 7-11 Sep (Max Hattler: In Persona screening) - San Diego Underground Film Festival, San Diego, CA, USA, 26 Aug (Fireworks Indoors, curated by Scott Fitzpatrick) - Expo 2017, Astana, Kazakhstan, 14 Jul (Max Hattler Retrospective presented by Visual Music Award and German Pavilion) - 29th Society for Animation Studies Conference, University of Padova, Padua, Italy, 4 Jul (presentation: ‘Expanded Abstractions: From Fake Holography to Broken Stereoscopy’) - Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 2-4 Jun - Filmfest Dresden International Short Film Festival, Dresden, Germany, 4-9 Apr (Animated: Max Hattler Retrospective) - Anima Festival, Brussels, Belgium, 24 Feb - 5 Mar 2016 - Annual China Animation Studies Conference, Sichuan Animation Research Centre, Academy of Art and Film, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China, 19 Nov ('Experiential Abstractions' lecture) - Punto y Raya Festival, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, 23 Oct (masterclass) - Centro Jose Guerrero, Granada, Spain, 10 Oct (screening curated by Pablo Iglesias Algora) - After Dark: Spin, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1 Sep - Fest Anca, Zilina, Slovakia, 29 Jun - 3 Jul - Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore, 30 Jun (guest lecture) - Internationales Kurz Film Festival, Hamburg, Germany, 31 May - 6 Jun (screening curated by Rainer Kohlberger) - Saturday Cinema: Circular Logic, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, USA, 19 Mar - California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA, 10 Feb (visiting artist lecture) 2015 - Summit At Sea, Miami and International Waters, 13-16 Nov - INSC KORT: LICHT, Lux, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 8 Nov - Foaje cinema, Stefanikova 16, Bratislava, Slovakia, 14 Oct (Fest Anca screening) - Indie-Anifest, Seoul, Korea, 17-21 Sep (Max Hattler screening) - Synesthesia Festival, Portland, OR, USA, 14-16 Aug - Melbourne International Animation Festival, Australia, 24 Jun (Max Hattler screening) - UEL Shorts, Arcola Theatre, Dalston, London, UK, 7 Jun - Vienna Independent Shorts, Vienna, Austria, 26-31 May - Multiplace, Bratislava, Slovakia, 26 May, 20:00 - Hongik University, Seoul, Korea, 19 May (lecture) - Open Source Art Forum, WCO Korea, Seoul, Korea, 17 May (lecture) - Lumen Prize Exhibition, Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, London, 14-22 May - Resonate, Kinoteka Cinema, Belgrade, Serbia, 16 Apr - Monstra Animated Film Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, 17 Mar (masterclass) - Tehran International Animation Festival, Tehran, Iran, 8-12 Mar - Lumen Prize Exhibition, Art'otel, Amsterdam, Holland, 9-31 Jan - After Dark: In With the New, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1 Jan 2014 - IMM - Institut für Musik und Medien, Düsseldorf, Germany, 11 Dec (lecture) - Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK, 9 Dec (lecture) - Lumen Prize Exhibition, New York Institute of Technology, New York City, USA 1-5 Dec - University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, 3 Dec (lecture) - Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 21 Nov (retrospective) - Plums Fest 6, Moscow, Russia, 18-22 Nov (fulldome projection) - CalArts, Valencia, California, USA, 17 Nov (lecture) - Lumen Prize Exhibition, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece, 31 Oct - 30 Nov - Lumen Prize Exhibition, Cardiff, UK, 7-8 Oct - visionXsound:[KV-N] 2014, GRAF+ZYX TANK, Neulengbach, Austria, 6 + 20 Sep - Imagina Festival, Espacio Fundacion Telefonica, Lima, Peru, 22-29 Aug (installation as part of exhibition RENDER - ANIMACIÓN DIGITAL: MUTACIONES) - 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) - Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Caracas, Venezuela, 14 May (lecture) - School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 28 Apr (lecture) - Tate Britain, London, UK, Mon 10 Mar (Assembly: Composite II screening, part of Assembly: A Survey of Recent Artists’ Film and Video in Britain 2008–2013, curated by Stuart Comer, George Clark, Tate Modern and Melissa Blanchflower, Tate Britain with independent curators Simon Payne and Andrew Vallance) - After Dark: Extended Cinemas, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, USA, 6 Mar (installation) - KASKcinema, Ghent, Belgium, 20 Feb (lecture) - Sint-Lucas, Ghent, Belgium, 18 Feb (lecture at Digital Design International Day) Sync installation view at 'Time, What Makes Us Tick?', Noorderzon Festival. Photo: Roelof Bos 2013 - DOTMOV Festival, Japan + world tour, throughout 2013 - International Festival of Fulldome Arts 'Dimension', Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, Kaluga, Russia, 16 Nov (artist talk) - Animatou Festival, Geneva, Switzerland, 11 Oct (masterclass) - Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts - HSLU, Switzerland, 9 Oct (lecture) - Videoholica, Varna, Bulgaria, 4 Aug (artist talk) - Nozstock Festival, Bromyard, Herefordshire, Fri 26 Jul (Max Hattler Retrospective) - Schaustelle, Munich, Germany, 15+16 Jun (Max Hattler: Selected Works) - Schaustelle, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany, 15 Jun (artist talk) - AniFest, Teplice, Czech Republic, 26 Apr - 1 May (lecture) - Around the World, Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK, 21 Apr - London College of Communication, London, UK, 17 Apr (lecture) - Skepto International Film Festival, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, 10-13 Apr - Byron Bay Film Festival, Australia, 1-10 Mar - Animac, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain, 28 Feb - 3 Mar - Videowall, Stadsschouwburg Theatre, Utrecht, Holland, 17 Jan - 16 Feb 2012 - Digital Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco, 6-8 Dec - Oldenburg Short Film Days, Cine K, Oldenburg, Germany, Sat 24 Nov - HEAD - Geneva University of Art and Design, Switzerland, 22 Nov (artist talk) - St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, USA, 8-18 Nov - Utopiales, Nantes, France, 7-12 Nov - DOTMOV Festival, Japan + world tour, 1 Nov - through 2013 - Multivision Festival, Pro Arte Foundation, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1 Nov (artist talk) - Impakt Festival: DEUS, Dutch Experiments on Urban Screens, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Breda, Eindhoven, Amersfoort and The Hague, Holland, 24-28 Oct - Tindirindis Int'l Animation Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, 22-28 Oct - Animatou, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-14 Oct - Tehran International Short Film Festival, Iran, 1-7 Oct - Sho-Zyg, St. James Hatcham Church, New Cross, London, 21-27 Sep - Étrange Festival, Paris, France, 6-16 Sep - Silhouette Festival, Paris, France, 1-9 Sep - Max Hattler Presents..., Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, UK, 23 Aug, 18:30 - Premio Cinematografico Palena, Palena, Italy, 14 Aug - Open-Air Filmfest Weiterstadt, Germany, 9-13 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) - FILE - Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 16 Jul - 19 Aug - Anima Mundi, Rio de Janeiro, 13-22 Jul + Sao Paulo, Brazil, 25-29 Jul - San Gio Video Festival, Verona, Italy, 23-27 Jul - UCD Imagine Science Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland, 5-14 Jul - Fest Anca, Zilina, Slovakia, 28 Jun - 1 Jul - Golden Kuker Animation Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria, 12 Jun (Max Hattler Panorama) - Expopromenade Frontiere(s), Pau, France, 7-10 Jun - ISFF Detmold, Germany, 8 Jun (Zwischenbilanz: Max Hattler Retrospective) - Vienna Independent Shorts, Vienna, Austria, 6-10 Jun - AnimaBasauri AnimaBasque, Bilbao, Spain, 25-31 May - Athens Video Art Festival, Greece, 18-20 May - Backup Festival, Weimar, Germany, 12 May (lecture) - FMX, Stuttgart, Germany, 11 May (lecture) - Backup Festival, Weimar, Germany, 10-13 May - AniFest, Teplice, Czech Republic, 26 Apr - 1 May - Magma Short Film Festival, Rotorua, New Zealand, 24-29 Apr - Filmfest Dresden, Dresden, Germany, 17-22 Apr - REEL, Lincoln, UK, Mon 26 Mar - Gulbenkian Foundation, as part of Monstra Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, 19-25 Mar - Bart kunst in huis, as part of Go Short, Nijmegen, Holland, 14-18 Mar - Go Short, Nijmegen, Holland, Sun 18 Mar, 16:00 (Max Hattler Special Screening) - Animac, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain, 1-4 Mar (Max Hattler Special Screening) - 7th Annual Music Video Showcase, Memphis, TN, USA, 1-4 Mar - 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge, Berlin, 9-19 Feb - London Short Film Festival, London, 8 Jan *** Max Hattler (2011) Sync: Circular Adventures in Animation in Virginie Selavy (ed.) The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology, London: Strange Attractor Press 2011 - Festival Tous Courts, Aix-en-Provence, France, 29 Nov - 4 Dec - Anilogue, Budapest, Hungary + Vienna, Austria, 23 Nov - 1 Dec - Max Hattler Special Screening, Off and Free Film Festival, Seoul, Korea, 17-23 Nov - Fredrikstad Animation Festival, Fredrikstad, Norway, 9-13 Nov - Multivision, St. Petersburg, Russia, 3-15 Nov (installation at AL Gallery) - Animae Caribe Festival, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 30 Oct - 6 Nov - Visual Music Award, Frankfurt, Germany, 1 Nov - Premio Simona Gesmundo, Cetraro, Italy, 29 Oct - Kinofest, Bucharest, Romania, 28-30 Oct - Un festival c'est trop court - 11th Nice short film festival, Nice, France, 18–23 Oct - Ulm Szenen - Szene Ulm, Stadthaus, Ulm, Germany, 11 Oct - SIMULTAN Festival, Timisoara, Romania, 6-8 Oct - East Pop West, London, 30 Sep - 2 Oct (group exhibition; Max Hattler solo screen) - Video Dumbo, New York City, NY, USA, 23-25 Sep - Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 21-25 Sep - The People Pile: The Studio Event, London Studio Centre, London, Sat 10 Sep - Fantoche, Baden, Switzerland, 6-11 Sep - Hackney Film Festival launch event, The Others, London, 19 Aug - Secret Garden Party, Mill Hill Field, Abbots Ripton, UK, 24 Jul - FILE - Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 19 Jul - 21 Aug - Time, What Makes Us Tick?, Nacht van Kunst & Wetenschap, Groningen, NL, 4 Jun - Festival les Uns chez les Autres, Hôtel le Canal, Paris, 19 May, 18:00 - Transform, Asifakeil, quartier21, Vienna, 6 May - 2 June (2-person exhibition) - Transform: Max Hattler + Noriko Okaku, Raum D, quartier21, Vienna, 5 May - San Francisco Int'l Film Festival, San Francisco, CA, USA, 25 Apr - 5 May - NOVA Contemporary Culture, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April (group show) - University of East London, London, 23-25 Mar (Doctorate in Fine Art Interim Show) - Max Hattler Masterclass, Anima Festival, Brussels, Belgium, 11 Mar - Video Is The Only Constant, Corsica Studios, London, 16 Jan - Body Transformation, MOCA Taipei, Taiwan, 15 Jan - 15 Feb (3-person show) - Relations & Abstractions, Directors Lounge, Berlin, Sat 8 Jan (solo screening) 2010 - Videomedeja Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia, 17-19 Dec - Goethe-Institut, Ankara, Turkey, Wed 13 Oct - TAW Talk, The Animation Workshop, Viborg, Denmark, Mon 20 Sep - Noorderzon Festival, Groningen, NL, 25-29 Aug (exhibition Time, What Makes Us Tick?) ONLINE SCREENINGS - Instant Cinema, 2011 (curated by Center for Visual Music) CREDITS Director: Max Hattler Production: Pavlov E-Lab, Nathalie Beekman, Max Hattler Scientific Advisors: Eric Bergshoeff, Martha Merrow Animation: Andreas Thomsen Music: Dennis van Tilburg Supported by: Open Workshop dept. of The Animation Workshop, Viborg, DK Year: 2010 Versions: - 9'15" 1080p HD festival screening version, stereo sound - forever-looping 9'00" circular projection installation, quadrophonic sound FURTHER INFORMATION Sync premiered in 2010 as part of 'Time, What Makes Us Tick?', an exhibition by artists Max Hattler and Nelleke Koop and scientists Prof. Dr. Eric Bergshoeff and Prof. Dr. Martha Merrow, conceptualised by Nathalie Beekman, produced by Pavlov E-Lab as part of their 'Open Mind' series of sci-art collaborations, and supported by the Open Workshop department at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. "Cinematic meeting of science and art: This year Pavlov E-lab again presents Open Mind, a project in which art and science encounter one another in an adventurous way. This year's theme is TIME. You are carried off on a journey through various time scales in an exciting audiovisual installation. Chronobiologist Martha Merrow, a specialist in the field of the biological clock, and theoretical physician Eric Bergshoeff, specialized in the String Theory, are linked to cinematographer Nelleke Koop and animator Max Hattler." Noorderzon Festival, 2010		WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT SYNC "Sync is modelled on a zoetrope ('wheel of life' in Greek), an optical device that produces the illusion of movement from a rapid circular succession of static images. The narrative and animation of the whole film are produced by one single image, a gigantic virtual disc spinning at 7400 degrees per second, which a virtual camera continuously zooms out of and which serves to encapsulate the central premise of the film, that there is an underlying unchanging synchronisation at the centre of everything, a sync that was decided at the beginning of everything, the Big Bang. The sound is derived from a continuous modulation of frequencies, corresponding to the progression of time scales that the image plane describes." Lumen Prize 2014 Catalogue "A centripetal force - suggesting both biological organisms and synthetic creations - oscillate hypnotically on an axis in this animated projection." Tate Britain, 2014 (Assembly: Composite II screening programme notes) "A work of remarkable artistic importance and a high technical level." Special Mention, Prize Simona Gesmundo for Animated Short Films, 2011 "Animated film as a never-ending, animated mandala pattern rotating around its central axis. In 'Sync', originally devised as an installation piece, Max Hattler begins a quest to discover the unchanging origin of all things. He finds this in an endless spiral and circular motion." Fantoche Int'l Animation Film Festival 2011 "In this film, the rotation produced intentionally, continues to repeat in the dark background by the computer-based program. It shows the circulation of the universe and life. Also, it depicts the rotational motion in the social and economic cycle, and history. We can also see, the presence of the central axis and rotation of a planet. The centripetal force trying to move to the center and the centrifugal force trying to move away from the center. Born, grow, and disappear then reappear, disappear. It is a great video to act in perfect harmony of the visual elements." DOTMOV 2012, selected and commented by Hideki Inaba "Max Hattler decided to portray‚ in a stunningly abstracted manner‚ the whole universe on ONE huge disk that is rotating at the same speed throughout ... Best watched in full screen with the lights off and your headphones on." Human Resources "Reminiscent of John Whitney's famous animated mandalas, Max Hattler's work presents a hypnotic, ever-expanding and -contracting series of concentric circles." Sean Uyehara, San Francisco International Film Festival 2011 "Some really beautiful patterns, great sound design, and probable dizziness." thekidshouldseethis.com "... reminds me of an abstract interpretation of Charles and Ray Eames Powers of Ten ... It's staggeringly hypnotic." Visual Documentary "Another recent creation is Sync, a 2010 collaboration with a physicist and a chronobiologist that visualises ideas about time and the universe, starting with the Big Bang. 'Physics was created at that moment [the Big Bang]. Time was created at that moment. To try and visualise that, I created this massive spinning disk, Sync, that we're zooming out of continually until the end of time.'" Design Week (6 Jan 2011) "The underlying "sync" at the center of everything is a very interesting concept which can be found in the Tao (The Lo Shu square and the Dance of Yu), in the contraction of God as described by Kabbalist under the Term of TzimTzum of En Soph, or maybe also in the Ensō in Zen. It can also be found in an overtone and therfore in the holy Syllable Aum." Lifestyle Magick, Mar 2011 "Little did The Mamas and The Papas know when penning the words, 'To everything (turn, turn, turn). There is a season (turn, turn, turn)', that they very well could have been talking about Max Hattler's future piece of work Sync in which he sets his canvas to the celestial scale by representing the life of the universe, from big bang to present day, as a constantly evolving spinning disk. Max's work often has a hypnotic quality, but Sync holds your attention tighter than Kaa from the Jungle Book ever could. As used to watching shorts on the small screen as I've become, I'm tempted to hire a projector, a massive screen and throw a party just to do Sync the justice it deserves." Directors Notes "... not to be missed ... Sync is another exercise in periodic movement and relationships between circulating abstract geometric forms." Paul Prudence, dataisnature, 2011 Max Hattler x video_dumbo 2011 limited edition Sync t-shirt "... the short in this set I feel most powerfully demands being seen on the big screen is Max Hattler's Sync, which was not in competition for an award at all. Hattler's had a piece in each of the past five SFIFF editions now, starting with Collision in 2007. Sync is much less overtly political than that piece, and in fact might be argued to be an example of animation completely free of representational attributes. But it's even more beautiful, and in fact hypnotizing in its constantly spiraling, expanding complexity." Hell On Frisco Bay, 2011 "Mental Reconditioning Program / Level VIII : The Underlying Theory of Everything." Joyce Bidouzo-Coudray, 2011 "Max Hattler is becoming a bit of a regular on here but while he keeps producing impressive psychedelic animations like this, it's no wonder." KINO 10, 2011 "Max Hattler parte do princípio de que existe uma sincronização secreta no centro de todas as coisas, algo definido desde os primórdios da existência e que rege o funcionamento e desenvolvimento do todo. Sua animação produz uma sensação hipnotizante de imersão nas entranhas de um coração pulsante feito de luz, para logo se transformar em uma mandala a cada nova sequência de movimentos. Cada segundo nos mantém conectados com a tela em uma atração constante. Trabalho maravilhoso." Urbanik, 2011 "Wirklich abgefahrene Animation von Max Hattler, die zwar erst relativ simpel aussieht, einem aber beim genauen Hinsehen ganz schön die Optik verdrehen kann." Das Kraftfuttermischwerk, 2011 "9 минут абсолютной визуальной синхронизации сознания" Mazzacho, d-ko.ru, 2011 "馬克斯‧哈特勒(Max Hattler)的作品，雖然也在演繹變形，但是藝術家認為，物體在千變萬化之中，仍保有一個不變的核心。作品「同步」呈現的是圍著這個核心同步運轉的小宇宙。這個在宇宙初起時即已存在的核心，主導著萬物的運行。有如萬花筒般流暢運轉的幾何圖形，顯示萬物於變異中仍保有自然的規律與和諧。至於控制同步運轉的核心究竟象徵什麼？是人的自我意志，抑或造物主之手？作品，留下開放式的想像空間。" MOCA Taipei, Taiwan, 2011
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