Alla Gadassik is a media scholar and curator, whose work investigates the history and philosophy of different filmmaking methods. Alla’s main area of expertise is animation, covering a wide range of historical, geographic, and production contexts. Additionally, she also researches and writes about histories of cinematography, film editing, and experimental cinema. Much of her writing is linked on her publication page. Alla currently lives and works in Vancouver on the unceded territory of Coast Salish people: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Stó:lō (Stolo). She is an Associate Professor of Media History and Theory at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECUAD), where she founded the Animate Materials Workshop.

In the image above you can see Alla’s contribution to the 2020 Faculty Show The Work of the Work at Emily Carr University. In one area of the exhibition, the university’s academic faculty — whose work is often more solitary and institutionally invisible relative to their studio artist peers– were invited to perform their work on public display. Alla’s contribution was a workstation titled “The Academic Start-Up,” where she publicly worked on a grant application. A month after this photo was taken, the university was shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven months after that, Alla received the grant for what would become the foundation of the Animate Materials Workshop.

Below you can see documentation of her parallel pursuits beyond academic and professional spheres, which include raising a person, engaging with contemporary moving-image art, and reflecting on the transformative potential of experimental media.