The Stop Motion Animation Commission has become an integral part of the Newcastle Puppetry Festival recipe, made possible thanks to Arts Council England. The commission challenges artists to create a piece of stop motion animation in their own style using our cast of characters designed by Rachael Horner.
We received lots of amazing applications from all over the UK and it was very difficult to make a shortlist. After careful consideration we chose Hugo Docking / Space Flesh as the commissioned artist.
Hugo takes the story...
I’m a Bristol-based stop motion director running a start-up studio called Spare Flesh. I work with other collaborators to produce twisted and anarchic animations, using a blend of dark comedy, body horror and musical theatre. I enjoy using found objects and unusual materials to create unsettling characters and unconventional visual effects.
My most recent film “To the Brink” has won awards and nominations at film festivals - screening in the UK, Europe and Asia. I like to bombastically describe the film as “a violent stop motion cabaret for the cynical and depraved.” Guilt, alcoholic apathy and the inevitable, looming apocalypse threaten to push a young man to the brink.
My first film, “Gagging for it”, is available to watch online. It’s about nicotine cravings and features a randy monologuing cigarette.
My work is often influenced by theatre and performance-based live action puppetry, so it’s particularly exciting for me to be working for Moving Parts. I’ve also been impressed by the work previous recipients of this commission have produced so it’s an honour to be entrusted with it.
My take on the brief will be a Tom Waits inspired musical number about a bedraggled travelling salesman who encounters a grotesque, singing behemoth. This towering monstrosity tempts him with a terrifying, but lucrative, proposition. I apologise in advance to Rachel Horner for the sadistic theatrics her characters will soon endure.
