Workshop

Animating Together: A Participatory Animation Workshop

by Nairy Eivazy, PhD in the Arts, LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven, Belgium

Animation is an art form that brings life to the inanimate and the unliving through the transformation of reality. Infusing life and soul into inanimate things is central to animated film, and especially evident in stop-motion animation, which opens up new possibilities for imagination and alternative ways of seeing physical materials.

This participatory stop-motion workshop explores how the process of animation-making can uncover narratives not yet known to us, stories embedded in tangible objects, materials, and environments. It approaches animation as a participatory and collaborative process, where meaning emerged through making, engagement with materials, interactions, dialogue, and co-creation. 

Starting from found objects and everyday materials, participants will explore simple stop-motion techniques in a collaborative setting. No prior experience is needed. The focus is on animation thinking, storytelling through objects, and hands-on making with accessible tools. Most importantly, participants will work together to bring diverse perspectives into dialogue through the making process.

The workshop will result in a series of collaborative animated pieces that reflect the stories embedded in material things and the new connections formed between them.

Nairy Eivazy

is an animation artist and design researcher specializing in animated film with a participatory approach. She received her PhD in the Arts from LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven, where her research focused on expanding animation film into a socially engaged art practice using methodological tools of participatory design. Her short films and animation installations have been presented internationally, with exhibitions in cities including Barcelona, Ghent, Leuven, Vienna, Yerevan, Tehran, and Isfahan. Nairy’s research has been published in international peer-reviewed conference proceedings, with a focus on participatory design and animation film. Nairy is a member of Animating Together, a FilmEU dynamic cluster that explores the potentials of collective storytelling through participatory animation.