Stop! Motion! Die Illusion der Bewegung

In the organizer's words:

From February 29, 2024, it's "...and action!", because with our new special exhibition "Stop! Motion! The illusion of movement", we will be taking museum visitors young and old on a journey into the fascinating world of animated film.

Experience in the Augsburg Puppet Theater Museum "die Kiste" how the animation technique stop motion is used to create an illusion of movement and thus create fantastic stories. By moving a figure minimally and continuously capturing each snapshot, the impression of movement is created when the sequence of frames is played back quickly. This also reflects the tradition of puppet theater: animators, like puppeteers, bring the inanimate to life. Let yourself be enchanted by the magic of the stop-motion technique in puppet animation or clay animation!

Using loans from animators and production companies, the exhibition focuses on the contemporary stop-motion scene in Germany. But the historical development of stop-motion technology and some pioneers of German and international stop-motion film are also presented.

The precursor and starting point of stop motion is the stop trick, one of the oldest special effects in film history, with which the pioneering French filmmaker Georges Méliès experimented from the 1890s onwards. The stop trick was also used as a special effect in the puppet films of the Augsburger Puppenkiste. For example, the "castle ghost Lülü" and the "museum rats" make an appearance in the museum.

In the accompanying program, Mo Spann alias "Professor Sperrmüller" invites visitors to embark on a journey to the beginnings of animation with a self-built zoetrope. A workshop in cooperation with the Augsburg City Library teaches children how they can produce their own stop-motion film with simple means. Further information on the supporting program can be found here.