The Bellows March (a.k.a. Bellows), runs anthropomorphized concertinas through a cycle of destroy-create-destroy, contemplating the destructive and expressive potential of humans, and observes these extremes as an eternal cycle.

“…a most unusual and very old 19th century zoetrope cyclical device using 21st Century combined techniques places it in a separate category that may have to be invented....”
Bill Matthews, Disney Features, Head of Training
  • Poetry in Motion at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
    Poetry in Motion at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
    Museum Director Gerfreid Stoker and me at the Bellows installation, which was exhibited as part of the opening of the new Ars Electronica Center, when Linz was the European Capital of Culture (2009).
  • Installation at Avesta Art, Sweden
    Installation at Avesta Art, Sweden
    Children viewing the animation on the zoetropes with liquid crystal shutter glasses.
  • Bellows installation at Siggraph 2008
    Bellows installation at Siggraph 2008
    At the Los Angeles Convention Center. A group from Japan taught me how to build special liquid-crystal shutter glasses, allowing the public to view the zoetrope sculptures without the aid of video cameras or strobe lights.
  • Process still
    Process still
    Shooting The Bellows March video.
  • Bellows Skate
    Bellows Skate
    2009, 16"x10"x16" Zcorp 3D print, acrylics One of 18 zoetrope sculptures from the project.
  • dsc_0037
    dsc_0037
  • Bellows Skate-Helix Transition
    Bellows Skate-Helix Transition
    2009, 8"x10"x8" Zcorp 3D print, acrylics One of 18 zoetrope sculptures from the project.
  • Bellows Rockettes
    Bellows Rockettes
    2009, 16"x4"x16" Zcorp 3D print, acrylics One of 18 zoetrope sculptures from the project.
  • Bellows installation at Siggraph 2008
    Six zoetrope sculptures from the project, Los Angeles Convention Center. "By displaying the concrete machinery of illusion, Dyer fundamentally advances the staid gallery practice of video installation. He delightfully joins the nineteenth century with the twenty-first, and lets the viewer compare self-contained zoetrope space with a video surround." George Griffin, Eric Dyer: Take the B Train, Pervasive Animation, Edited by Suzanne Buchan, AFI Film Reader Series, Routledge
  • The Bellows March (video, 2009)
    Crowds of concertinas live out a cycles of destroy-create-destroy. “…visually and aurally mesmerizing. it is rare to see something this unique and well realized.” Frank Mouris, creator of Frank Film “…one of my top 5 films this year. It captures beautifully so many of the very elemental aspects of what animation is about – it blends some techniques that are as old as the filmmaking with some of the latest technologies…. The devices the filmmaker uses to form these visuals are beautiful sculptures in their own right. It’s the film I wish I’d made.” Malcolm Turner, Co-director; London and Melbourne Int’l Animation Festivals “Hints of old school Fischinger and the Quays in this experimental process, but made Dyer’s own by his narrative engagement with loops and cycles, and play with 3D design and colour forms. Highly pertinent soundtrack, with a range of sinister undercurrents that reinforce the theme of oppression destruction and optimistic creativity.
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