Redefining Animation through the Perception of Visually Impaired Persons (VIP)
PhD Research by Bharoto Yekti, School of Culture and Creative Arts
In his research, Bharoto Yekti explores the way touch and sound elements can be incorporated in video animation to enhance spectators’ engagement with film work. The aim of the project is to develop a novel approach to animation that challenges the status of visuals as the primary mode of animation.
Based on basic sculpting techniques incorporating various materials, including clay, plaster, and handmade bamboo pin, the work seeks a sensuous approach to immersive spectator experience which juxtaposes tactile quality and personal experience. The project also aims to physically expand the audience’s mode of experience by combining physical objects and textural models with 2D screens.
‘Departing‘ by Bharoto Yekti
2D animation, clay stop-motion animation, pin animation.
Created in April 2021. Duration: 2’:33”. Silent.
Using abstract imagery and 2D animation techniques, through the transformation of colours, rhythm, and shapes, the film reflects on the experience of moving from Indonesia to the UK during the pandemic. The conflicting emotions of excitement, sadness and anxiety inspired a multi-panel animation that juxtapose colourful 2D animations and haptic images that were created in a handmade process with clay and bamboo pins as materials.
‘Walking‘ by Bharoto Yekti
Stop-motion animation, accompanied by an installation of plaster casting.
Created in May 2022. Duration: 1’00”. Soundtrack of street sounds and footsteps on varied surfaces.
‘Walking’ is a multi-sensory installation that combines stop-motion animation with haptic elements to create an inclusive experience beyond the social hierarchy of the senses often found in art and society. Based on the experience of walking the streets of Glasgow, Bharoto Yekti created a textural, non-narrative journey that visitors can explore with their eyes, ears and hands. Cast from objects on the street, the tactile relief installation, in combination with the film material, invites audiences to touch and explore, imagine and create their own journey of walking.
Viewers are actively encouraged to touch the tiles: they follow the frames of the stop-motion animation (12 frames per second) and enable the audience to experience its journey through their fingertips.
‘Walking‘ was exhibited at the TouchTech exhibition in May 2022.
‘Walking (no.2)‘ by Bharoto Yekti
Looped stop-motion animation accompanied by an installation of plaster casting.
Created in August 2022. Duration: 1’00”. Soundtrack of footsteps on varied surfaces in the park, birds, and water.
‘Walking (no.2)’ further develops the concept of the ‘Walking’ animation. In this new multi-sensory installation, Bharoto Yekti combines objects from Glasgow’s parks collected during the summer of 2022 with plaster cast surfaces to create a tactile relief installation. ‘Walking no.2’ also draws attention to the temporal, ephemeral experience of sight and touch. While the objects on screen are vivid in colour and moist texture, their display counterparts have suffered the touch of time, the touch of the animator, and the touch of the viewer.
The work was displayed as part of the ARCadia Festival at the Advanced Research Centre in September 2022.
