Makers’ Residency

Stop-Motion Director Matte Cooper took part in Wieden+Kennedy’s Makers’ Residency.

About Maker’s Residency:
Every year, Wieden+Kennedy collaborate with 6 local makers, providing a work space for them to create and exhibit, as well as celebrating and sharing their talent with the public.

Tucked away behind Old Spitalfields Market, and only a swift meander from Brick Lane, W+K’s public facing window continuously transformed from one creative workspace to another over the course of six weeks.

Matte's focus was non-stop stop-motion animation. Throughout the week, he sat at his desk avidly making small clay models for an animated encyclopaedia, with each shape representing a letter of the alphabet. Matte created a visual progression to the final shape, and the sequence exhibited small and singular differences, so that when photographed one by one, they appear to move, and evolve into the next.

The space was split into two, with half of it entirely blacked out for the stop-motion animation to be shot. There were however two small peepholes, where viewers could catch a glimpse at the process. Onlookers could also be kept updated with a loop of the animation developing shown outside that gradually lengthened as each day passed.

Matte gave himself only 15 minutes to mould each form before the timer went off and he had to move on. As the week progressed, so did the space, and by the end of his residency, Matt was surrounded by all his own creations. The concept was to play with the idea of recreating his real studio space artificially by designing his maker’s window to be exaggerated and factory-like.

Matte captured the essence of his own studio space, and transformed his work into a performance, giving a glimpse into his creative process. The encouraged interaction with spectators created an experience that was part live-art, part work-in-progress and part exhibition.