Malt Adult - A Subversive Dive Into The Mind of Modern Animators

In the current age of technology, where exposure is everything and derivative creation is encouraged (if not necessary), it is rare to experience art that feels truly novel.  Despite the supposed increased reach of digital distribution and its supposed ability to touch the masses, original ideas that come across as subversive or projects with opaque commercialization potential are often suppressed by the churn of the art industrial complex.  If it doesn’t please the algorithm, things can easily get lost in the shuffle, creating a relationship akin to an abusive partner.  In other words, work that cannot be easily and instantly commoditized rarely gets seen, much less appreciated.

This harsh reality belies the power of curators in the modern age – people who not only spend the time to ingest, evaluate, and share less mainstream projects, but also understand how to build a community that is open to eccentric experiences.  With this in mind, I’d like to spend a moment speaking on the Malt Adult animation series.

The stated mission of the series is as follows: “Malt Adult” is a free, curated screening series showcasing animation artists pushing the medium.  Currently based out of Chicago, the goal is to bring contemporary, independent animation to the Midwest.  I stumbled upon the affair through my awareness of the recently opened Public Works Gallery, but I walked into the event with little concept of the event series itself.  Upon traversing the interweb, I was taken to Malt Adult’s Instagram and was instantly enamored with the iconography combining classic cartoon characters and various malt liquor intoxicants.  The juxtaposition between childhood icons and alcohol was an interesting amalgamation of the things that stimulated many of us as children contrasted with what stimulates (or more accurately depresses) us as adults and is a great conceptual representation of the abstract animation projects that often use bright colors and humor to touch upon more mature topics like finding one’s place in the world, accepting the loss that comes with change, and the sometimes difficult process of reconciling what we want to be in life to what we can truly actualize.

The crowd of approximately 200 people – an impressive number given the plethora of options during EXPO Chicago - collected their complementary beverages (malted or otherwise) and quickly filled the seats.  The theme of this edition of the event was “Space” but not so much the celestial realm where stars exist but more so the contemplation of what it means to have a place to be one’s true self and what home truly means.  Accompanying the viewing was a zine that highlighted the films shown and also including a comic and poem exploring the general motif of the evening.

Over the approximately two hours, 9 short films were shown, all ruminating on the theme of Space from numerous different perspectives, geographies, and animation styles.  You can find more in depth descriptions of each film (and eventually the films themselves) on “past screenings/zines” section of the Malt Adult website so what follows is just a brief impression of each film, in the hopes you’re inspired to check them out yourself:

First was Eva Darabos’ “Bye Little Block!” a film exploring the melancholy feeling of leaving home and all the characters that exist within it – even if, or maybe especially if, that community is a little strange. 

Constant Yen’s “LOOK” was a frenetic and surrealistic multimedia observation of the modes of transportation across timelines both, personal and existential, to liberate one from one’s current space…. I think, as this may have been the most thematically abstract film, to me at least.

Miranda Javid’s “What Humans Do” was a deep introspection into the space we inhabit within our own bodies, how we use those bodies, and why we do what we do. The concept was presented in a raw black and white animation akin to a chalkboard being constantly erased and redrawn – potentially representing how humans are in a constant state of reinvention. 

“Now I’m In The Kitchen” by Yana Pan explored the space we make for ourselves under the shadow of our ancestry, and how consciously rejecting the space society puts us in sometimes ends up being a rejection of both ourselves and a rejection of our cultural or familial legacy. 

The next film, “Chroma Wheel” by Zenchen Lee was highlighted both by an interview within the zine and by a brief Q&A session following the screening.  This short explored creativity, in that capturing the zeitgeist that is a creative endeavor requires both the taming of a spontaneous creative beast and the necessity of intentional space making to physically conjure the eventual output.     

After a brief intermission, where I was personally handed a fresh Le Croix from the gracious host while she endearing said something like “I’m just trying to…. I don’t know” (my interpretation was she was just trying to be as accommodating as possible to her guests!), the screening took a more jovial and light hearted turn. 

It began with another crude Claymation style animation, “Tony’s Dilemma” by Nate Sonenfeld featuring a bar saxophone player who is called to leave his life behind to save the world in an off the wall, high stakes action comedy.  Despite its surface level ridiculousness, it invoked deep ruminations on obligation, sacrifice, the fragility of the spaces/identities we can make for ourselves – especially when called to act for the greater good.

Terril Calder’s “A Bear Named Jesus” is a deeply personal dive into the space remaining when losing a relative as an ideological casualty with allegories revolving around the effect of religious infiltrators and who is to blame (i.e. is it the sleeper agents or those asleep to their ulterior motives) if or when they eventually usurp the existing dogma. 

“Mountain Lodge” was a hilarious fever dream of found footage - images, reviews, tweets and memes (“fever memes”?) surrounding the real life frenzy created when the tumbler and the internet at large discovered the Yankee Candle scent “Mountain Lodge”.  Jordan Wong created a hectic and disorienting film which considers the space we make for our ideal situations, partners, and realities and if anything in the real world can ever truly live up to these lofty expectations.

The final screening was very aligned with the prior film – The apptly named “Bug Diner” - a hilarious and horny crescendo of the evening featuring a cadre of sexed up bugs spending time in a diner where there presumably is some sort of love pheromone in the food or air.  The animation by Phoebe Jane Hart was particularly impressive, with the accompanying zine highlighting the painstaking detail that went into creating the Styrofoam carved, 3d printed, sculpted and plastered sets and characters featured in the film.  It was a fitting climax (pun intended) as it explored the buildup of desire until and the release (okay, I promise to stop with the puns) that comes from fantasies realized.    

Overall, it was a fun and subversive excursion that allowed the audience to rummage through the mind of independent animators balancing art with entertainment, humor with grief, and to a degree, sanity with freedom of expression (which is meant as a compliment).  The simplest way I can describe it would be watching a block of programming from a deeper and more introspective adult swim for the first time… after microdosing some potent mushrooms. 

My understanding is the series will continue forward with at least a few more screenings in Chicago, but their website is home to a cornucopia of media in the form of films from past screenings and zines for each showing.  Keep an eye out on their social media for upcoming events to truly take in the organized chaos that is “Malt Adult”. 

Images from the screening taken from Malt Adults IG page

Images from the zine Malt Adult #29