Max Hattler

Max Hattler is the son of Helmut Hattler from the Krautrock band Kraan. He studied at Goldsmiths and makes gorgeously kaleidoscopic animated film work that would perhaps fit rather well with his Dad’s music (I’m sure they’ve tried that out at some point).

I came across Max’s work  from the cover of Design Week in early January and quickly followed it up with repeated viewings of his surreal 1925 aka heaven/1925 aka hell films. These are my favourite and there is something unnervingly cognitive about these films. I’m not sure whether it’s the dynamic of the camera movements that give the films a heavy 1st-person feel or whether it is the intrinsic details, colours and layers that remind me of some magic mushroom-induced visual trip. Apparently, this series was based on the work of French Artist called Augustin Lesage who probably warrants a post all to himself for his complicated symbolic paintings.

Check some of these immersive films out on his vimeo channel or visit his completely mental website for more info – not necessarily useful info, just more of it. Incidentally, I tried replacing the sound score with other music to see what the effect would be. I can quite heartily recommend some bubbly Japanese techno (Maybe a classic like Overlap by Ken Ishii?) to give the films a sort of Neo-Tokyo edge.