INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES

INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES（1995）

35mm, color, sound, 3.5m

“Waves are the layered effects of the evolution of matter and space, the fluctuating surface of the sea, and the ever-extending formations of earth and rock. Music by Tom Farrell.”

 ——David Ehrlich

Duan: Tang, INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES keeps transforming throughout the whole film. There is no story or characters. What is your immediate impression of this non‑stop sense of flow?

(Interviewer / Text Editor: Duan )

Tang: Waves and time. Quadrilaterals multiply and transform constantly within this work. The so‑called endless flow resembles the elusive, recurring form of ocean waves. Its gorgeous colours remind me of neon lights that rose in the United States in the 1920s. These undefinable transformations are the narrative itself.

Duan: Comparing the geometric order of grids, squares and circles in PIXEL, INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES consists entirely of soft, flowing curves. What do you think of these two distinctly different visual languages?

PIXEL （1987）

Tang: You draw a clever analogy between these two works. I believe it emphasizes order and boundaries. David once said: “The color is what is interstitial. First I used color pens to draw out the wavescapes that I describe in my introduction. Then I use color pencils to create a complementary color field between the ink waves.”This sense of interstitial space is precisely what David has always wanted to interpret and shape within his works.

Duan: Waves represent water, and can also symbolize energy and time. Tang, in your opinion, what spiritual core does this short film intend to convey?

Tang: The origins of human civilization are forever linked to water. We live beside water, continuously evolving and developing. Even though I do not wish to fully tie the imagery of this work exclusively to water, water adapts to all forms through its formlessness. It can never disappear from any form of artistic creation. It nourishes humanity and all living creatures in the world, and its wisdom is unfathomable. As for the spiritual core of the work, I believe whatever you perceive is its core, and also your own core.

Duan: Fang, when confronting this kind of abstract animation with no narrative at all, only shifting colours and forms, as a composer, where do you usually find your entry‑point for creation?

【Note】Fang Xin, my dear friend, is the music composer for many of David's works beginning in 2014, and she has agreed to offer her views on his animation as we go forward.

Fang: David and I are cross‑generational friends because we share many similarities and resonances, such as deep‑seated pessimism in our souls and certain perspectives on the world. Respectably, his works always stay true to himself. After I receive the visuals, I watch them repeatedly. Sometimes I perceive them in a trance‑like state, aiming to capture the expressions and hidden emotions conveyed through the colours and rhythms of the images. Music created on this basis, first of all, I can guarantee it is one‑hundred‑percent sincere. (Sincerity is my greatest strength in many things I do.) In recent years, however, I have also deliberately broken through my own musical style. I try sound design, tango, or rhythmic counterpoint to express alternative musical languages. To my surprise, the feedback I have received has been quite positive and encouraging. David draws inspiration from my music, and the music also shapes his brushwork. What moves me most is that despite our different artistic languages, we can jointly complete a work of art. Spreading beauty is the fundamental responsibility of every artist.

Duan: The visuals possess rich, layered colours. The forms in INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES have no clear beginning or end. How should we understand this open‑ended visual rhythm?

Fang: I do not think this work lacks a definite beginning and end at all. Perhaps what your question intends to convey is that the piece breaks away from traditional “structured” features. Yet upon close observation, the work has a highly rigorous structure with synaesthetic qualities. Its fluid, shifting graphic style only superficially softens the overall structure, while the shifts in rhythm themselves shape the work’s integrity. I believe the piece unfolds much like a symphony in sonata form. After the opening serves as an “introduction”, the segment from 21 seconds to 31 seconds resembles music developing a first theme out of short motifs. I am particularly fond of the section from 46 seconds to just over one minute, where a second theme emerges and engages in interplay with the first theme. From around 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes 25 seconds, we clearly perceive natural‑leaning symbolic imagery such as ocean waves, sunset glow and mountain peaks. The visuals shift from interplay toward expressions of harmony and beauty; this constitutes the “movement’s” second section. The third section freely recapitulates the first and second themes while integrating the natural symbols from the second section. Eventually the various motifs and themes dissolve naturally. Therefore, this work does not feature open‑ended visual rhythm. The so‑called openness is merely free association triggered by the painting technique. It belongs to the realm of expressive method, not structural analysis.

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ROBOT RERUN（1996）

35mm, color, sound, 4.5m

“Seeming to move forward in time and space, we exist in perpetual cycles, both creating and being created by our televised environments, which in the end are only reflections of our dreams. Music by Tom Farrell.”

——David Ehrlich

Duan: Tang, what symbolic meaning does the visual form of nested‑frames, pictures within pictures replicating and extending endlessly inward, carry in ROBOT RERUN?

Tang: This is not the first time David has employed this layered “picture‑within‑a‑picture” composition. In DISSIPATIVE DIALOGUES, he used this device to place himself outside the frame, like a viewer intently observing the work. This reminds me of Osamu Dazai’s Flowers of Buffoonery. Still, David’s works hardly contain jarring, forced surprises. His pieces remain gentle and logically consistent. Within these repeating images, I perceive struggle and exchange between the ego and memory. Textures and colours reminiscent of X‑rays and photographic negatives create a powerful sense of immersion. The music restates the opening melody at the ending; everything returns to its starting point, ready for another cycle. All transformations stem from one underlying source.

Duan: Tang, this film carries forward the block‑shaped robot figures from David’s early works ROBOT and ROBOT TWO. What do you make of the continuity between these pieces?

Tang: David’s ROBOT dates from 1977, ROBOT TWO from 1978, and ROBOT RERUN from 1996. There is roughly an eighteen‑to‑nineteen‑year gap between them. It can be described as a return and transcendence. The central robot figure reappears within David’s work in a renewed, far richer form, and I believe it functions as a self‑portrait of the artist himself. Starting with ROBOT, the figure is repeatedly shattered, decomposed and reassembled. ROBOT TWO opens with the deconstruction of the brain, accompanied by music bearing distinct characteristics of Japanese Noh theatre, which undoubtedly served as his source of inspiration. This resembles transformation and awakening from the physical body to the spirit. By the time the computer imagery appears in ROBOT RERUN, it expresses both soul and flesh, while also depicting the characteristics of its era.

Duan: Fang, PIXEL leans toward meditative, static beauty, while ROBOT RERUN creates dramatic tension through cyclic narrative. What challenges does this difference bring to composition?

Fang: There is no essential difference. On the surface, works such as ROBOT feature concrete figures instead of shifting lines and colours. Nevertheless, in terms of overall structure, narrative is still not the core. Therefore for musical creation, when working on highly dramatic narrative‑driven works, the music must serve primarily the plot and character states. This is where knowledge of sound‑image relationships from FILM AND TELEVISION AUDIO‑VISUAL LANGUAGE comes into play. Naturally, music fulfils universal functions such as setting moods, foreshadowing plot developments and building atmosphere. Still, ROBOT RERUN remains fundamentally a stream‑of‑consciousness piece, so there is no drastic shift in my approach to composing its music. If you wish to experience David’s relatively narrative‑oriented work, I would recommend RATI TATI, a stop‑motion animation built with building blocks. It is a highly dramatic, playful piece full of childlike charm. My daughter used to watch it every night before going to bed and never grew tired of it.

RATI TATI (1993‑2023)

Directed by David Ehrlich.Color, sound, 3 min 52 sec, stop‑motion animation with toy building blocks.

Completed in 1993 and remastered in 2023. Shot frame‑by‑frame with colourful toy blocks, its characters are assembled from geometric building blocks. The film has a full‑fledged narrative with dramatic tension. It is created for children, and also for audiences who keep a child‑like spirit.

Duan:Fang, the psychedelic colours burst forth abruptly in the latter half of Robot Rerun.Is this a mental hallucination generated by the robot itself?

Fang: I do not think so. I usually examine details in the context of the work as a whole. For me, the shifts in the latter half represent a change in expressive technique, yet the core figure in ROBOT undergoes no essential transformation.

The interview centering on David’s INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES and ROBOT RERUN comes to a close.The conversation unfolded alongside imagery from the two short films. Tang explored visual language and creative context, interpreting the fluid, abstract formal order in INTERSTITIAL WAVESCAPES and unpacking the self-reflexive metaphor embodied by the looping visuals in ROBOT RERUN. She traced the spiritual transformation undergone by the robot figure across decades of David’s filmography. Drawing on her own collaborative creative experience, Fang explained the symphony-like rigorous inner architecture of abstract animation, shared how sound and visuals inspire and co-create with one another, and also highlighted RATI TATI, a playful narrative toy-block stop-motion animation within David’s body of works.We are grateful to Tang and Fang for their perceptive insights and sincere commentary. They guide us past the surface of abstract imagery to grasp the profound emotions and philosophical reflections embedded within David’s experimental animations. We look forward to our next gathering to continue exploring the art of animation.

If you would like to further discuss these works, raise questions, or connect directly with the artists, you are welcome to get in touch via email. We greatly appreciate all work-related inquiries, personal perspectives and artistic insights, and encourage open dialogue with the artists.

Email:town425hall@gmail.com