Director: Gerd Gockell Run Time: 3 minutes Country: Switzerland/Germany

Synopsis: Tiles on a wall reveal the elephant in the room, among other things, in this fast-paced animation that plays with perspective and abstractions.

Where did the idea for this film come from?
The main idea behind Patch is to explore the border between abstraction and recognition; to find the point where one recognizes something out of an abstract chaos. Patch started as a 45-second loop intended to be shown in an exhibition, but after realizing that the effect worked better on a big screen, we decided to realize it as a film.

What forms of animation were used in making the film?
Mainly StopMotion.

What animators inspire and influence you?
It isn't so much other animators who inspire me but abstract painters from the period of "Modern Art." For example: Robert Delaunay, Kurt Schwitters, Walter Ruttmann (the early paintings), and Fernand Léger, as well as contemporary artists like Willem de Kooning or Mark Rothko. And, of course, John Cage, who believes that there should be a dialogue between artistic disciplines. But most inspiring for me is the work of the abstract painter Ute Heuer with whom I made a few films. She is a so-called "color field" painter. Besides the effect of color itself, Heuer's work deals with the structure and appearance of the brush stroke and the paint as a material.

How long did it take for you to make this film?
About nine months.

What does this film say about human perception?
It's human nature to try to recognize any known pattern in order to judge ones surroundings. That means: There isn't any real abstraction. Even in a totally abstract painting like Rothkos, the beholder immediately tries to identify the horizontal border between two color fields as a horizon.

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