The Definition

Published 28.04.2026

Animation is here understood as manual, gradual, and piece-by-piece practice (using material and technology) to achieve representation illusively in motion. Few examples of purely animated artifacts exist, and there exist many examples of artifacts made from both animation and automation (machinic and digital). Animated film is made from animation combined with film-technology. Digital animation is made from manual inputs on complex electronic and magnetic machinery, meaning that the amount of actual animating is tiny, the automation does most of the work, and the abstract thinking while animating is similar to the thinking done with other types of animating. To use digital programs which automatically generate video-files is not considered animation.

The abstract realm of animation involves creating changing things in space and time, from towards creating realism to creating representations of purely instinctual meaning. It contains ideologies, ranging from disneyism to experimentalism, and motivations ranging from animating for yourself to animating for socially established events (such as film screenings).