Under the heading Dessiner - Tracer, Le Fresnoy presents an exhibition of animation works. Demonstrating the range of technical evolution in this area, the show centers on the theme of the fleeting vision. Animating a drawing does not mean simply introducing the visual effect of movement through a succession of images: it means showing the emergence, alteration, or disappearance of a form. The domain of the trace and of evanescence, animation can convey the changes wrought by the passing of time; lend itself to the evocation of subjective visions or mental projections; or to memory, or rather to the processes of recollection between obliteration and resurgence; or summon up phantasms, dreams, and nightmares. This group show will present the animated film City of Progress by Justin Bennett. The video traces the growth of an imaginary city as it expands from a single dot into a proliferation of lines and geometric forms, representing the physical development of a city. As Bennett points out in the accompanying voice-over commentary, organic urban growth is soon curbed by laws and regulations, reshaped by project developers or armed conflicts. The creative act of drawing, as well as that of founding a city, is put under the magnifying glass - resulting in a reflection on the inexorable expansion of our urban areas. ’City of Progress’ embodies our quest for utopia, while attesting to the difficulty of attaining it.

Justin Bennett - City of progress.
2008-2010, 11’, b&w, English spoken.