The Cafe Church animation project CD rom
Psalm 27 is a prayer of praise. It begins: “You, Lord, are the light that keeps me safe. I am not afraid of anyone. You protect me, and I have no fears.”
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To read this is comforting. But to see it — creatively expressed in rich visual form — is something else.
The
animation of this verse, included on a CD-ROM launched in April by Café
Church in Glebe, Sydney, shows a man hidden under piles of rubble and debris.
His
bleak surroundings give the impression of hopelessness. However, the words “wait
for the Lord ... be at peace” echo the verses of Psalm 27, inspiring a sense
of hope and faith.
The Animation Project CD-ROM is packed with prayers, scripture passages and visualised themes. The animation of Psalm 27 is just one example of the 160 animations included.
“Think of it as stained glass windows in motion,” says Rob Thwaites, one of the Café Church artists who produced the CD. “They’re contemporary visual illustrations of biblical passages and biblical themes.”
In 2002 and 2003, Café Church employed Rick Bull, a digital artist who produced animations of prayers, scripture passages, verses and visualised themes as a way of enriching gatherings for worship.
In 2004, theatrical practitioner and digital artist, Rob Thwaites, performance poet and wordsmith, Cameron Semmens, and musician and digital artist, Pete Harding, as artists in residence, created more. Now, all the animations are on one disk.
“I’ve often found that a lot of church art seeks to be prescriptive and easily digestible. I’m not sure if this is always appropriate given the parabolic and culturally-rich nature of the scripture,” says Mr Bull. “The animations I create are largely an exercise in stretching out new metaphors, forcing a space for reflection in an unorthodox manner, and sometimes ‘knocking about’ text.”
One of the mission priorities of the highly experimental Café Church is to use arts, music and multimedia to support gatherings.
Artists in residence are a rare initiative found among congregations that wish to use the artistic talent of a few people to help serve their community in an artistic and creative way.
The Café Church’s CD-ROM is a way of continuing to provide creative expression. Already, it has been gaining wide interest.
“The response has been very positive,” says Mr Thwaites. “We’ve had requests from people in America, the UK and South Africa.”
The success of the CD-ROM could be attributed to the engaging and even entertaining way it deals with scripture.
Mr Semmens says, “I would let the verses inspire me on to new thoughts and new places; I loved extrapolating its ancient words into modern parlance ... I loved playing with it — being silly and strange; and, with Peter Harding’s rich visual artistry, adding rich vision to its visionary words.”
The Animation Project not only puts the Bible’s words in a contemporary context, but it also seeks to make it meaningful to others in some way.
The CD-ROM is selling for $30 including postage and handling and can be purchased by post or online by going to www.cafechurch.org.au.
There are also free samples of animations provided on the website for a glimpse of what the CD-ROM has to offer.
“I would hope that, through these animations, we’ve been able to provide others with equally challenging, stimulating and enjoyable experiences,” says Mr Harding.
Maria Dominguez was an Insights intern.