New festival in two creative hotspots: London and Rotterdam

In an ever-changing media landscape, constantly moving and dynamic, Playgrounds is also always In Motion. Even more so when chasing the newest creative trends, mind-boggling artists, ambitious innovative projects, and unearthed inspiration that emerged from digital arts in all shapes and forms.

This year Playgrounds wanted to explore more, discover more, enjoy new spaces and connect with new audiences. New adventures. New spaces that capture and ooze exactly what they are aiming for. That is: Playgrounds In Motion. A traveling festival, focusing on different themes in every new location.

In Motion London

The first In Motion festival will bring Playgrounds to the heart of European animation and media production: London. Playgrounds brings In Motion on 8+9 September in the eye candy location Outernet District in London. The focus of In Motion London will be on animation & motion design and will showcase the latest developments in this genre and of course some industry legends in this field. The first confirmed artists are:

James Baxter (GB/USA) – the animation legend who worked as the supervising animator on classic characters like Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Rafiki in The Lion King. Directed the opening credits to Kung Fu Panda, for which he received an Annie Award.

Patrick O’Keefe (CND/USA) – production designer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, visual animation Walhalla feature of 2023. Patrick and some of his team members will talk about the amazing worldbuilding and animation.

Studio AKA (GB) – multi-Bafta winning, multi-Emmy awarded, and Oscar-nominated independent animation studio. Known internationally for their idiosyncratic and innovative work, expressed across an eclectic range of projects.

Borja Montero (ES) – character designer & animation director of the Annie Award Winner short There's a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom. Former character animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation studios, worked on Tarzan, Hercules, and The Jungle Book II. As a freelancer worked as a character designer for Zootopia, Moana, Wreck it Ralph 2, Despicable Me 3 and many more.

BUCK (offices worldwide) - the design-driven production company that views commercial production as a playground. They have a broad range of clients in the advertising, broadcast, film, and entertainment industries, such as Mailchimp, The New Yorker, Apple, Mastercard, IBM, Childline, Cadbury, and Nike among others.

In Motion Rotterdam

Secondly, Playgrounds will set up camp in the incredible Maassilo in Rotterdam one month later on 5+6 October. Different city, different theme! In Motion Rotterdam will contain a catwalk of all liquid, trending, and new visual culture. Expect In Motion Rotterdam to ooze post-digital storytelling, cutting-edge creativity, fluid media, cross-genre projects, innovative works, and artists. Line-up to be announced.

Playgrounds had the pleasure to collaborate with BUCK on the brand identity of In Motion. The festivals are supported by principal sponsor Procreate, Creative Industries Fund NL, Province of Noord-Brabant, and the municipality of Rotterdam.

Playgrounds In Motion

weareplaygrounds.nl / @inmotion.playgrounds