Michael Lyons

An optisonic exploration of a world of primordial shapes created through various chemical treatments of a Super 8 emulsion. The sonic counterpart was made using a generative patch on an analogue synth, with voltage inputs from light sensors on the projection screen – the film itself steering the dynamics of sound synthesis.

Stop motion animation of antique kimono textiles from the Nishijin district in Kyoto. Filmed on super 8 in Kyoto. Soundtrack created in collaboration with Palle Dahlstedt using the Octopus analogue audio-visual interface.

Short film of an infant's first bath based on amateur footage found in an antiques gallery in Japan. The photographer is unknown, but the material is thought to date to the early-to-mid Showa era, a period marked by the disastrous consequences of militarism. Music by Tomoko Sauvage.

Light, time, and landscape in Porto, August 2016. Filmed during the massive forest fires in Northern Portugal, a thick pall of smoke has gathered ominously over the Douro river. Kevin Dong: “As a medium capable of representing time in different ways, cinema is a vital tool which allows us to perceive the Anthropocene differently.

This single reel Super 8 film is my only evidence of a Doppelgänger-filmmaker, whose current whereabouts are completely unknown. Begun in the Tempelhofer Field, Berlin, in August 2013, shooting could finally be completed in August 2015, when the camera and film mysteriously re-surfaced at the Mauerpark Flohmarkt. Sound created optisonically in collaboration with Barcelona-based producer Jon Modular.

This film documents an aimless walk through one of Kyoto's former outcaste neighbourhoods, which continues to exist below normal Japanese living standards. Despite pro-active legislation, people from families associated with such areas can experience discrimination. The soundtrack was created using a self-built apparatus we call "The Octopus". Voltages from light sensors on the projection screen control an analogue modular synthesizer allowing the film itself to act as a score. Soundtrack created in collaboration with Malte Steiner.

Insects in their final moments chatter noisily, displaying extravagant colors and patterns – it is their great feast of love. The work celebrates the 100th anniversary of Norman McLaren’s birth. The film was made by scratching and painting directly on overexposed 8mm film. The soundtrack was created using ‘The Octopus’, which allows the film itself acts as a score.

Stop-motion animation made by photographing and rephotographing antique kimono resist-dyeing stencils in positive and negative. Spatial shifts and variations in the repeating pattern elements generate apparent motion.