The Circle Experiment is a new crowd funded film project made by our frien Guillaume Wolf, a French-born artist based in Los Angeles, California. With dark imagery and an eerie atmosphere, The Circle Experiment only uses animated photographs to tell the story.

We spoke with Wolf to find out what is the experiment all about…

Watch The Circle Experiment trailer:

What’s The Circle Experiment?

The Circle Experiment is a film adaptation of my indie concept book You Are A Circle (a selection of the TED Conference bookstore 2013). The story begins when a woman wakes up in the middle of the desert, wearing a strange astronaut outfit. In her mind, she thinks she’s a simple housewife; but as she tries to find out what happened to her, she slowly realizes that everything she knew about her life is now gone.

Can you tell us more about the book?

You Are A Circle is a book about creativity and life. It’s is a bit of an exercise in minimalism. Visually, there are aphorisms on the left pages that are echoed by repeating handmade black circles on the right page (that are always different). Quotes plus circle, quotes plus circle, etc. What happens with this book is that, as the reader flips through it, the relationship between the images and the text creates a third narrative that’s unique to each reader.

What inspired you to develop the book into a film?

It’s about pushing myself and see how far I can take my creative process. I see creative life as being an adventure: you never stop growing.

For the film, in terms of visual aesthetic and narrative, where do you draw inspiration from?

The Circle Experiment is an homage to Chris Marker La Jetée, a film that had a huge impact on me. I’m using a similar technique of animating still photographs together to tell the story. It’s a process I find really mesmerizing. It’s quite the opposite of the 3D-cinema-junkfood we see everywhere these days. It’s a very zen-like process.

Why did you choose crowd funding through Kickstarter for this project?

Kickstarter is an experiment in itself! [laughs] For me, crowd funding is a way to connect directly with an audience, but also a way to create something together. Being an independent artist, it’s a perfect venue for what I do. So far the response has been fantastic.

What are the themes you’re exploring in this project?

I’m exploring themes that have to do with reality, identity and loss. I find these themes fascinating. For example: Would your identity change if you lived in a entirely different world? I think these ideas interest me because, as an immigrant, living in a really different world, I’m confronted with them everyday.

We’ve read that in your film, you describe a new frontier you call “the Trinary Field.” What is that exactly?

I see it from a poetic perspective. It’s a space that’s the product of the relationship between our biology and psychology. It’s really curious. You and I may see the same things, but we perceive them completely differently according to this relationship. It’s interesting because this relationship is not static, it evolves all the time—and this forces us to ask this question: who are we, really? That’s the greatest mystery of human existence: who we are today is not who we will be tomorrow. That’s both interesting and a bit scary at the same time.

Both the book and the film are meant to inspire emotion and thought. What do you hope people will take away from these?

It’s an interesting question. You know, I’ve learned that, in reality, it depends entirely on the person who discovers these projects. It’s a different experience each time. But if I’m able to help someone think about their life in an empowering way, and give him/her something that can uplift his/her spirit a bit; then I’ll be happy with that. Bringing a little bit of thinking, a little bit of hope… that’s all I try to achieve, really.

Is life an experiment?

An experiment? Maybe… An adventure? Absolutely.

Help Gillaume Wolf achieves his plan by donating on Kickstarter.

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