Farsh-e-Parandeh: Animated Mandalic Carpet Projection: Exploring the Links between Proto-Animation Techniques in Persian Traditional Arts and the Foundation of Animation and Cinema

Abstract

This thesis probes associations between ancient Persian arts, which have a circular or mandalic structure, and the various nineteenth-century optical toys that were vital stages in bringing movement to cinema; and examines if the aesthetic links between them are coincidental or may be the result of a discontinuous historical trajectory. Research findings indicates that ancient items that have been found in archaeological digs from Persia hold a significant clue and may be an important piece of the jigsaw of understanding the antecedents of film and moving image—in particular, animation. This thesis builds on an iconographic analysis of a selection of historical artefacts from Persia and compares and contrasts them with the nineteenth century optical toys such as the zoetrope and phenakistoscope. These theoretical and historical dimensions have been incorporated into the creative practice exploring the above associations creatively and affectively. Farsh-e-Parandeh (roughly translated as ‘Flying Carpet’ from Farsi), as an animated aerial-projected installation —a moving-image version of a traditional Persian carpet— reflects renowned philosopher Attar’s Conference of the Birds (AD 1177) as a reference point for mandalic structures of Persian and Sufi mystical stories. Farsh-e-Parandeh challenges the notion of moving-image production history as a necessarily linear projection. This installation instead constructs an immersive, holistic engagement based on cyclic patterned arrangements that harken back to nineteenthcentury moving image forms of early animations.