Animation: Masson Range

The animation, Masson Range, is now made. Fred Elliott annotated a coy of a drawing he made of Masson Range, to explain how he altered what he saw in this Antarctic mountain to match how he felt about it.

I have animated the thoughts and feelings, as I read them in this image, with the movement of the climber, Josef Goding.

My aim is to connect you with Antarctica by combining human gestures with the insights of Antarctic expeditioners.

What symbols and gestures can you see in this animation that work to connect you with the Antarctica scene?

Can you describe your experience of climbing, or of watching other climbers, that relates to this animation?

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5 Replies to “Animation: Masson Range”

  1. I cannot see anything connecting to Anactiaca, but I have not been there.

    I can see the dot figure traversing and also the stick and dot firgure traversing.

    I don’t understand what rock climbers have to do with Antarctica, I think I am totally missing the point.

  2. Hi Jane,

    Thanks for responding to the animation.

    I am glad you recognised the climbing figure in the simple dots and lines.

    That you cannot see the connection with Antarctica helps me realize that the website is not as self-evident as I’d like.

    Context is really important, so I have been combining short animations including this one into longer sequences to make their connection to Antarctica clear. The best example so far is Energies. It takes a tad long to upload unfortunately. I made a more developed version on DVD.

    On the website, I do provide an Information screen behind each animation. These are accessible
    through the “i” icons at the top right hand corners.

    Behind this particular animation is information about Fred Elliott, a veteran rock climber and artist. He is describing how he saw a mountain that he climbed in Antarctica.

    Fred was one of the first to climb Federation Peak, with John Bechervaise.

    I asked for your response because the rock climbers I know seem to have a natural connection with the environment.

    I am trying to connect the general public with the environment of Antarctica. I felt that the climbing figure helps achieve that. We all climbed as children. I have strong body memories of climbing, even though I do not climb now.

    I was interested to know if connecting with the climber in this animation would lead you to the Antarctic connection.

    Thanks, Jane.

    You have given me food for thought.

  3. Hi Lisa,

    I don’t know if this would help, but I tend to put rock climbers and mountaineers in seperate catagories, how ever of corse they do cross to some extent. From the reading I have done on adventurers in Antarctica, it has all been about incredibly hard slogs across tracks of the continent, hence rock climbing does not come into it. But as you know folk do climb peaks down there.

    Have you checked out the differences between “rock climbing”, “mixed climbing” and “mountaineering”? I don’t know if that would help. Perhaps as a climber I am getting too fixated on the topic.

    Best of luck Lisa,

    Cheers,
    Jane

  4. Hi Jane,

    Thanks for reminding me of the different cultures of rock climbing and mountaineering.

    From my observations, rock climbers seem more interested in the art and exploration of vertical features.

    Mountaineers seem more interested in wider terrains.

    Or is the difference generational?

    People I know who did mountaineering are all over 60.

    Did rock climbing evolve from mountaineering?

    Cheers,

    Lisa

  5. Hi Lisa,

    The following would be my definitions of the various ways of scaling bits of earth that stick up!

    Rock climbing is scaling rock faces, either slabs, vertical or overhanging.

    Mountaineering is scaling mountains; often walking, sometimes using ice axes and at times rock climbing.

    As I understand it, modern rock climbing is claimed to have been started as a sport in it’s own right, by the Brits, originally used a summer training for Mountaineering.

    Cheers,
    Jane

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Posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008