John Butler Interview: Inaugural Festival 2016
By Ivar Zeile
Image from print material, Supernova, 2016
UK based artist John Butler is a pioneer of what he calls "Solid State Cinema," utilizing 3D animation, motion capture, digital audio and text to speech applications for a digital moving image form that is native to the web. His vision of a NeoFeudal age is singular and entrancing, fully propelled by by computational speed and his own sophisticated use of technology. Supernova presents seven cohesive works from his ongoing series spanning 2004-2016 in a mesmerizing hour-long presentation.
………the novelty has worn off the medium
Your work seems to have an air of societal caution, techno-currency, advanced robotics, potential revolt as well as acquiescence. Can you speak to the nature that seems to frame your oeuvre?
I try to make my own version of the future. I'm more interested in capitulation than revolt, and how we come to terms with being driven by technological change rather than driving change ourselves.
You use cutting edge technology to create your work and yet within you seem to also critique technology as a whole. Can you comment on this? Is it meaningful to you to both utilize and critique technology simultaneously?
I don't critique technology itself, just it's motives. Human utility is the recurring theme in all of my work. We're creating a world that no longer needs our input.
You mentioned on Vimeo that you find your work to be “halfway between film and animation.” Can you further elaborate on that statement?
I'm not really an animator, more of a simulator. I use motion capture and physical simulation as much as possible, so there is actually very little animation in my work. I like to think of the 3d system as a visualizer, something that allows me to compose images, sounds and words. It's essentially characterless, I don't breathe life into things. Quite the opposite.
It is obvious that there is a narrative quality to your work as well as some sequential flow, though maybe not entirely in an “ordered fashion.” How do you determine where one piece begins, where it ends and what’s next?
I just make it up as I go along, following my interests. I don't write scripts beforehand, I just compose on the timeline, and write dialogue directly into the text-to-speech programme. The next piece always seems to suggest itself, and I have to go along with that to see what it looks like.
I think that if you have a life long argument with your medium, you may eventually win on your own terms.
Can you describe a little bit of your process and work flow? Feel free to get as technical as you’d like or are comfortable with.
Lately I've got a lot of inspiration from DARPA YouTube clips. I love the way they always take their robot pack mule into the woods, the perfect setting for a futuristic fable.
I regard DARPA as the most exciting arts commissioning agency in the world.
When it comes to making the work, I will usually knock something up as quickly as possible to see if it works. It's a bit like previz that never goes to production. I like to put image against sound as soon as possible, to see what mood it generates. I like to do the two things concurrently.
I use standard 3d tools such as 3d’s Max and Vray. There is nothing fancy going on. I'm more interested in the What and Why rather than the How. Process based art is of no interest to me.
What is your background in art making and/or animation? How did you come to your current focus on the “Orders of Merit” or what is your primary motivation in making this type of work today?
I studied drawing and painting and then eventually, electronic imaging when that came within my grasp. I worked for many years as a TV graphic designer in the pre-desktop days. I started using 3d systems on the Amiga in the late 80s, as a way of making images without a camera.
"Orders of Merit" started when I read the USAF was considering a medal for drone pilots. I designed one straight away, and made a metal 3D print. I'd worked on a couple of heritage projects and was interested in the neofeudal, ceremonial society that is springing up. I decided we needed an updated honours system.
Jaded academics, corrupt bureaucrats, failed artists and defrocked administrators will finally get the recognition they deserve.
I'm not sure what the final form will be, but at the moment, I'm making animations to accompany each one. A VR diorama is a thought.
You had mentioned that “Children of the Null” was inspired by Joseph Losey’s film “The Damned” and that much like this film, children today are being prepared to survive a new world, one that is “completely financialized”. Can you expand on that? What sparked this particular evolution both in narrative context as well as animation style?
It just grew itself as I put some birdsong recordings I'd made against these children in hazmat suits that I'd been toying with as a fashion design thing. There has been a lot of hazmat fashion in my work lately, and the children's line seemed to be a natural extension. I then remembered some very good mocap of two children playing tag that had been done for a real project a couple of years ago. These elements, along with the synthetic landscapes just suggested their own narrative when put together on the timeline. The gated village, armoured SUV and hazmat suit are strong symbols of the isolationist sentiment seeping throughout the UK. This was made on the eve of the Brexit vote, and I wanted to evoke the national mood. In "The Damned", an enclave of irradiated children are being prepared to survive a post apocalyptic world. I was wondering what would be an appropriate child rearing strategy today. Do you teach them kindness and empathy, or do you toughen them up for a new financialized world, the "World of Numbers"?
Has a block of your work ever been presented in a festival or other context before?
I've screened work plenty of times, mostly in media art or film festivals, or on television, but this is the first time anyone has put on a block of work. I like the idea that the novelty has worn off the medium, and you can just use it in your own way.