Robert Darroll

Year of birth, place

1946

United Kingdom

Year of death, place

2014

Germany

Role at the ZKM

Guest Artist

Institute / Department

Institute for Visual Media
Institute for Music and Acoustics

Biography

For over 25 years, Robert Darroll has been working in the field of experimental animation. After having studied Fine Arts at the Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town, Robert Darroll turned to experimental film and abstract animation, and has been working with digital technology in this field since 1990. One of the important sources of inspiration for his abstract works, which have often been created in close collaboration with international composers, were visual impressions gathered during his stays abroad, as for example, in Asia. One of the main topics of Darroll's work was the discussion of the construction of reality and meaning in global media society. Since 2001, Robert Darroll has been living in Japan, where he was a professor at the Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music (2001-2002) and the Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences (2003-2014). Darroll's works have been presented worldwide at major museums and in the scope of numerous media art and music festivals [including the Netherlands Film Museum, Amsterdam; the American Film Institute, Los Angeles; the ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; the ISCM World Music Festival, Seoul; Rencontres Internationales Art Cinema, Paris; VIDEOEX, Zurich; the Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA; the Tokyo National University Museum, Tokyo].

1965-1970	studies in Fine Art at the Michaelis School of Art, Capetown [ZA]
1971-1972	studies at the Hamburg Academy of Art [HfbK] with Prof. Kurt Kranz
1972	foundation of the independent animation studio »Animation Design« in Hamburg [D]
1983-1984	resident in Song Kwang Sa in South Korea; studies in Asian Philosphy
1990	animation studio converted to digital technology; first computer animation, »MEMB« [1991-1993]
1993-1996	3D-animations
2001/2002	professor at the Inter-Media Art Department of the Tokyo National University of Art and Music, Japan
2003-2014	professor for Animation and Aesthetics at the Visual Arts Department of Nagoya University of Art and Science, Japan

Residencies and Awards [selected]

2006 Artist-in Residence at the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media, Karlsruhe [D]

2005
Artist-in Residence at the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media and at the ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics, Karlsruhe [D]

2004
Artist-in Residence at the California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA [USA]

1997
Artist-in Residence at the California Institute of the Arts and at the USC, School of Film and TV [USA]

1988
Artist-in Residence at the California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA [USA]

1971/72
DAAD scholarship

2004
Production grant of the competition »Hören und Sehen«, INMM - Institut für Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt [D]

2002
Asolo Art Film Festival, Italy: Award for Computer Animation

2001
Medienpreis des Kulturkreises des BDI [Bund Deutscher Industrie]

2000
CYNETart 2000 - Festival for Computer-based Arts: 1st Price category computer graphics/computer animation for »Stele«

Works [selected]

· »Oracle« [2006-]; interactive installation
in collaboration with Sean Reed [composition]

· »Bedlam« [2001-2005]; 5-channel video installation [loop - 36min.]
in collaboration with Sean Reed [composition]

· »Stele« [1996-1999]; animation [11min.]
composition: Kyoshi Furukawa

· »Noemata No. 2« [2000-2001]; animation [5min.]
composition: Shigenobu Nakamura

· »Noemata No. 1« [1999-2000]; Videoanimation [5 Min.]
composition: Sean Reed

· Kiyoshi Furukawa: »Den ungeborenen GÃ¶ttern« [1997]
computer graphics: Robert Darroll
[premiere: 31 October 2007, ZKM | Karlsruhe]

· »Moe's Field« [1993-1996]; animation [10min.]
composition: Kyoshi Furukawa
composition version 2 1998: Manfred Stahnke

· »Memb« [1990-1993]; computer animation [9min.]
composition: Kyoshi Furukawa

· »The Korean Trilogy« [1984-1993]:
· »Stone Lion« [1988-1990]; animation [10min.]
· »Feng Huang« [1986-1988]; animation [10min.]
· »Lung« [1984-1986]; animation [10min.]

· »Zeit« [1982]; animation [10min.]
in collaboration with Kurt Kranz/ music: Ernst Sauter
commssioned by German Public television, ZDF

· »Spiegelung« [1980]; animation [10min.]
in collaboration with Kurt Kranz/ music: Ernst Sauter
commssioned by German Public television, ZDF

· »Cenit« [1974]; [animation]

Exhibitions/ Presentations [selected]

2008
»Oracle« , »produced@: Current Productions for the PanoramaScreen of the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media, ZKM | Karlsruhe [D]

»Oracle« , »KAMUNA« ZKM | Karlsruhe [D]

2007
»Oracle« , »PanoramaFestival« ZKM | Karlsruhe [D]

2005
»Bedlam«, Hamburg Academy of Arts [D]/ ZKM | Karlsruhe [D]

2003
VIDEOEX, Zurich [CH]

2002
»Kyoto Media Art Weeks«, Goethe Institute Kansai, Kyoto [J]
»Kinetica 4 - Contemporaray Animation«, venues incl. Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA/ Anthology Film Archive, New York/ Los Angeles County Museum of Art [USA]/ Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto [CDN]
ICMA - Asia Media Festival, Keihanna [J]
ISCM World New Music Festival, Florida [USA]
»Tribute to Oskar Fischinger«, Museum of Modern Art, New York/ National Gallery of Art, Washington/ Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, MA / Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA [USA]

2000
»Stele«, ZKM | Karlsruhe [D]

1999
»El Cine Calculado«, Museo Nacional, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid [E]

1998
»Rencontres Internationales Art CinÃ©ma«, Paris [F]

1997
ISCM World Music Festival, Seoul [South Korea] - restrospective

1996
»Music and Light«, Podewil, Berlin [D] - solo show

1994
»Muzyki Koreankiej«, Krakow [PL]
»Multimediale«, ZKM | Karlsruhe [D]

1993
»Interface«, Hamburg [D]

1992 »Is there computer art?«, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris [F]

1990
»Visual Music«, American Film Institute, Los Angeles [USA]

1990
»Muzyki Wspolezesnj«, Warsaw [PL]
»Videogalleriet«, Copenhagen [DK]

1989
ISCM Music Festival, Amsterdam [NL]

1988
»Infermental«, Tokyo [J]