Sabrina Schmid's "Interior".
“Interior” by Sabrina Schmid.

In May, an annual festival devoted to abstract film, animation and visual music will present its first international symposium devoted to animated abstract art.

Punto y Raya Academy, a new iteration of the Punto y Raya Festival (“punto y raya” translates as “dot and line“), will take place May 7–10 at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, Spain, with numerous masterclasses, roundtable discussions, daily performances by international guest artists, and children’s workshops. All activities are in English with simultaneous Spanish translation.

Over 15 leading abstract film artists will participate and perform including Paul O’Donoghue, Sabrina Schmid, Robert Seidel, Barbara Doser, Kurt Hofstetter, Johan Rijpma, Józef Robakowski, Chris Casady, Oerd van Cuijlenborg, Marcin Gizycki, Steven Woloshen, Józef Robakowski, Juanjo Fernández (Gnomalab), Matt Abbiss, and Bret Battey.

"Scrape" by Robert Seidel. (Click to enlarge.)
“Scrape” by Robert Seidel. (Click to enlarge.)

Masterclass topics include “From Frequency to Image: Making Visual Music with Voltage Controlled Video Synthesis,” “Recipes for Reconstruction: Abstracting Visual Music from Real Life;” and “On Film, between Painting and Sculpture.” Round table topics include Abstract Film & Animation in Contemporary Society and Abstraction, Science, Art & Nature.

Punto y Raya Festival, which saw its fifth edition in 2014, is a celebration of the intrinsic relationship between sound and abstract imagery.

Tickets to the four-day event cost just 40€. For more info, including a full program, visit the festival’s website and Facebook page.

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