A
The Idiosyncratic Tales of Cosmic Bowling
Navn
Gustav-Emil Kjær Rasmussen
Uddannelsesgrad
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Design
Institut
Visuelt Design
Program
Graphic Communication Design
År
2024
Bowling animations were first incorporated into bowling alleys’ automatic scoring systems in the early 1990s. Their predecessors were static images with bland 2D visuals.
So, when Visual Designer Robert Nagel’s first bowling animations for Brunswick Bowling were introduced, they were a hit. In the years following, the production of bowling animation boomed, and they were all created in the image of Nagel’s original works. These archaic animations, with their quirks and absurdities, still exist in some bowling alleys and remain small pieces of unappreciated visual culture.
As a tribute to the overlooked visual culture of bowling animations, its anachronistic visuals, and idiosyncratic storytelling, this exhibition is an immersive invitation into their cosmos. The layers of the bowling ball are peeled back to reveal what lies beneath the surface of these pieces of visual fast food. Through the lens of absurdity and humor, the exhibition dissects anachronism, anthropomorphism, liminality and incongruity.
This work was made as an exhibition presented in Tofu Space at Læderstræde 15. I would like to thank all members of Tofu Collective and WAAITT for letting me fill the space. The exhibition will come alive again 23-25 Aug. at Prospekt.
AnthroBowl Collectible Cards
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Anthrobowl Collectible Cards
This work explores the theme of anthropomorphisms and the vast and varying degrees of it within the realm of bowling animations. Exploring this idea of giving human-like traits to objects, giving them a role, a character, etc. This collection boasts the creativity and absurdity of this wide variety of anthropomorphism.
The work is presented as collectible cards spread unevenly on the wall. You’re invited to explore them, pick out a favourite character, and bring it home. This is meant as a physical memory of this overlooked piece of visual culture.
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A Liminal Framework
This work emphasises the backgrounds of the visuals and explores the liminality created within this world. The animations are often full of movement and action, leaving limited time for exploring the world created in the visuals. But the atmosphere created by these vague backdrops transports us away, where the imagination will do the rest.
The work itself consists of a minute-long video showing cuts of backgrounds layered increasingly atop one another, flowing together to create new compositions of liminality in every cut. The video and audio are looped to create this sense of stepping outside time, also emphasised by viewing it within a confined space.
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A Flat Deconstruction
This work focuses on the idea of overanalysing, deconstructing and absurdity — this premise of spending so much time investigating, researching, mapping, etc., on a subject so easily digestible, this seemingly awkward application of theory to award something value based on a predetermined absence of value.
The visualisation aims to showcase this awkward application of theory using UV maps. The UV map is a tool used to unwrap a 3D surface, similar to how a world map is an unwrapping of a globe. It refers to the idea of flattening something to make it comprehensible, and jests at the scholastic indoctrination that insists on needing literature to support visuals.
An Anachronistic Array of Animations
This work is an immense collection of animations. The only common denominator is their visual aesthetic. They’re all undoubtedly from a different time, created with different tools, surprising us by being so different from what we’re used to seeing contemporarily.
The output is a video work that presents the animations in an erratic, unpredictable grid. This emphasises the animations’ erratic storytelling and adds another layer of absurdity.
Det Kongelige Akademi understøtter FN’s verdensmål
Siden 2017 har Det Kongelige Akademi arbejdet med FN’s verdensmål. Det afspejler sig i forskning, undervisning og afgangsprojekter. Dette projekt har forholdt sig til følgende FN-mål
