WHAT IS IT?
ANIMATAZINE is a fanzine *, printed and online, dedicated to the art of animated forms (puppets, shadows...) and to the connections that this art has with all other arts, humanities and scientific disciplines, societies and environment.
ANIMATAZINE explores the animated theater in its most vital, intense and poetic ramifications in connection with the arts and contemporary thought, welcoming artists and researchers from all over the world.
ANIMATAZINE proposes a rhizomatic gaze capable of revealing horizontal, extended and deep connections: from the movement of underground roots, to floating puppets, from the language of birds, to the virtuosity of ventriloquists, from lost and rediscovered rites, to the flight of kites suspended in the sky of the whole planet.
ANIMATAZINE invites you to travel in the eyes of all those who look at the world from another point of view, unexpected, visionary and archaic at the same time: a look of listening and respect for the bonds that unite us to the planet on which we live.
ANIMATAZINE wants to be a platform for exploration, investigation, relationship, in dialogue with its readers: various spaces are dedicated to them to interact with the contents and animate the debate with different points of view.
ANIMATAZINE conducts interviews with artists and researchers from all over the world, in the desire to intercept the widest possible audience, both in terms of nationality and cultural and professional backgrounds.
It is disseminated both digitally on the site www.animatazine.org that in paper version to all supporters of the project, and is currently trilingual (Italian, French, English).
The two versions, paper and digital, want to be two different possible accesses to the contents, in dialogue with each other: in the paper version you can find the heart of the interviews and columns and through QR codes you can directly access the online version to use the different in-depth multimedia content (video, audio, photos).
By accessing the digital version only, you will find some excerpts from the interviews that refer to the in-depth study of the paper, multimedia contents and “linkographies” imagined to direct readers to further in-depth studies available on the net.
ANIMATAZINE defines itself as a *magazine of enthusiasts for enthusiasts: the editorial staff is made up of professional puppeteers who have decided to undertake an editorial project for the first time (and therefore not experts in the publishing sector), in order to disseminate and make known the art of puppets in an unusual, accessible and as universal as possible.
The contents do not have an academic and specialized character, but they want, while maintaining the depth and complexity of the topics covered, to be communicated in the simplest and most immediate way possible: the desire is to arouse curiosity and interest around the arts of the puppet, making them (re) -discover outside stereotypes and clichés, in dialogue with the great themes of the contemporary world.
Moved by these reasons, the editorial staff chose to set up the editorial project around four macro-themes inspired by natural elements, corresponding to the four issues of the fanzine, currently scheduled with annual release: One / WATER (March-June 2022), Two / EARTH
(June 2023), Three / AIR (June 2024), Four / FIRE (June 2025).
Natural elements are universals linked to the origins, development and transformation of life and it is on them that we wanted to base the investigation on the relationship of connections and meanings that humanity intertwines with the arts of animated forms in all ages and styles.
For each issue, the contents (texts, videos, podcasts) are organized through four chapters:
ANIMATED LEVEL: collects interviews with puppeteers chosen from among the emerging and the masters of the national and international scene who have encountered, or placed at the center of their artistic research, the natural element to which the issue is dedicated.
DRIFT LEVEL: offers interviews and insights with artists (musicians, sculptors, dancers, painters, photographers, filmmakers) and researchers (scholars of humanities or scientific subjects) of the national and international scene, who have carried out research in connection with the natural element to which it is dedicated number.
CONTINENT LEVEL: offers an insight into a continent other than ours, through interviews and testimonies of puppeteers and scholars (anthropologists, historians, sociologists) always in connection with the proposed natural element.
HEADINGS LEVEL: a real meeting place with readers through contents elaborated by the collaborators of the enlarged editorial staff.
In addition to the editorial part, the project also includes a series of meetings and workshops with the most diverse audiences and of all ages, in order to both raise awareness of the initiative and collect elements of reflection, expression and creation around the proposed theme. for each number. The materials developed during the workshops are published online.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN ANIMATAZINE
ANIMATED LEVEL, DRIFT LEVEL, CONTINENT LEVEL
For each guest of levels ANIMATED, DRIFT, CONTINENT a page is created on the site with:
-A short presentation text.
-A POM (for the animated level), a PODCAST (for the drift level).
-The complete transcription of the interview carried out.
-A linkography: links to the website, to materials available online such as conferences, videos, etc.
The POM (Small Multimedia Object) is a short video in which mainly still images (photographs, drawings) flow slowly against a background of sounds, audio tracks of interviews, short phrases that highlight the artist's poetics. It will be created based on what each guest can provide: stock material, rehearsal / construction photos, behind the scenes, drawings, sounds or other elements.
HEADINGS LEVEL
This is the level that hosts the sections created by the ANIMATAZINE editorial staff and the interaction spaces for readers.
Editorial by Alessandra Amicarelli and Valeria Sacco: a presentation of the topics covered with an overview of the contents.
Constellations by Cristina Grazioli: a look with closed eyes on the possible views, interior and exterior, which open from the relationships between animations and drifts, words of the arts and criticism, sounds and images in motion.
Animated criticism by Angela Forti: a critique that connects different possible readings of animated plays and more.
Animated word by Beatrice Baruffini: a section on the meanings and hidden stories of words that in one way or another refer to notions of "puppetization".
Imagination re-animated by Marco Ferro: a collective creation designed from the scraps, sketches and abandoned prototypes of artists who will want to play the game.
Animated cinema by Alessandro Palmeri: a journey through the maze of cinema in search of the puppet where you least expect it.
Animated music by Alessandra Amicarelli with the participation of readers: a collection of music videos in which the puppet is the protagonist.
Animated advice by the readers: a space to report unknown or forgotten projects that our readers associate with the theme of the fanzine.
Animated debate by the readers: a subject launched, we will collect the letters with the thoughts of the readers.
Animated laboratory by readers: live meetings to experiment, reflect, create.
The editorial staff is accompanied by Mariano Dolci.
HOW DOES IT WORK
ANIMATAZINE spreads thanks to the free distribution of crumpled sheets of recycled paper.
A natural origami, never the same, always unique, made by two hands and which is symbolically thrown to be grabbed by other hands.
A paper bullet that could be thrown away and instead becomes something to keep, to keep in your pocket.
The choice of the natural fold, created by the force of the hands on the surface of a sheet is not accidental: the fold is a fundamental structure of the organization of natural, organic and inorganic forms, ANIMATAZINE uses this principle also in its internal structure.
The bullet of paper, once opened and unfolded, reveals a dotted map of QR codes, a sort of constellation useful for orientation, which gives access to the various multimedia contents of the ANIMATAZINE site, guiding the reader on his journey that changes according to of the navigation choices it will adopt.
Search and collect ANIMATAZINE origami bullets!
Access to the site is free and open!
BECOME A FAN SUPPORTER AND RECEIVE YOUR ANIMATAZINE IN PAPER FORMAT AT HOME!
Readers who decide to support the project with a DONATION, will receive a version of ANIMATAZINE printed on paper, to browse and collect, on which they will find, among texts and drawings, several QR codes to access various bonuses to be discovered on the site.