There is without doubt within the breadth and scope of animation as a medium, there can be found a great range of motivations and sensibilities that drive the Animator/Creative.
From the highly commercial (TV Advertising, Digital VFX for Film, Disney), through to the Avant-Garde or the Experimental, “Art” Animation.
The Experimental or “art” animation may have at their centre a theme, a discussion point or pivotal ideology.
They may also be performed/exhibited/shown in none traditional environments (i.e. not on TV/Youtube or in a theatre/cinema), outside for example, on the sides of buildings, projected into swimming pools, shown in Art Galleries etc.
The animation will be artist led, and may often be “difficult” in terms of visual language and interpretable content, by which I mean, relying on conventions and tropes that are perhaps closer to those dealt with in philosophy, fine art, politics etc. including the full range of “isms”, they may eschew narrative in favour of symbolism and not follow conventions such as “beginning, middle, end“, instead opting for looped performances.
Themes under discussion in these films might include:
Gender issues, Socialism, Fascism, Motherhood, Anarchism, Death, Capitalism, Abandonment, Surrealism, The Motion of Water, Abuse, Consumerism, Semantics, Race, “The Church” etc.
These videos below may be seen to fall into below fall into some of the above catagories:
Kayla Parka (UK) – Cage of Flame – 1992, 9mins 35. – [artists site]
Jan Svankmejer (Czech) – Meat Love – 1989, 1min 7. – [about]
hesiranimation 