Volume

A festival of sound and vision
Art Gallery of New South Wales
22 Sep – 8 Oct 2023

Norman McLaren

Volume

A festival of sound and vision
Art Gallery of New South Wales
22 Sep – 8 Oct 2023

Norman McLaren

A person with dark, short hair and light skin painting on strips of celluloid film. In front of the person are many open bottles of ink.

Norman McLaren, photo: National Film Board Canada

Norman McLaren’s (1914–87) pioneering, synaesthetic cinema combines handmade animation and electronic music. Drawing, scratching and photographing patterns directly onto the film strip and its soundtrack, McLaren created, in his own words, ‘a small orchestra of clicking, thudding, buzzing and drumlike timbres’.