Rival Consoles 'Soft Gradient Beckons' by Anthony Dickenson

Promonews - 10th July 2025
Anthony Dickenson's video for electronic musician Rival Consoles is a months-in-the-making marvel, a personal experiment that has evolved into a large-scale installation, a blurring of the lines between moving image and fine art.
The film to accompany Soft Gradient Beckons is a frame-by-frame animation of Dickenson's hand-painted monoprints. It's a meditative, analogue response to an electronic composition which resulted from the director's diligent repetition of the creative act of painting - and a total of over 5000 frames painted.
Each frame was transferred onto tracing paper, building a rhythmic visual language that mirrors the emotional shifts in the track. The film’s quiet pulse and slow unfolding invite the viewer into a space where rhythm, decay, and memory take on physical form.
Ultimately as the film shows, it results in 11 painted rolls, each 20 metres long, laid out in sequence to reveal the full timeline of the piece.
“The process became its own kind of ritual," says Anthony Dickenson. "Painting each frame by hand over months gave me space to reflect. The piece grew out of a changing period in my life, and somehow it absorbed that energy. It became less about animation, and more about presence.”
Promonews - 10th July 2025
Tags
Popular content
Feedback
Problem with this page? Let us know
Featured here in the credits?
Credits
Production/Creative
- Director
- Anthony Dickenson
- Producer
- Milly Upton
- Production Company
- 1st Ave Machine
Camera
- Shoot install
- Jessica Luostarinen, Louis Grzimek
- BTS
- Dan Lowe
Animation
- Animator
- Anthony Dickenson
Editorial
- Editor
- Anthony Dickenson
- Post
- Dan Lowe
- Additional post
- Will Samuel
Grading
- Colourist
- Dan Lowe
Misc
- Drone Operator
- James Weller
Other credits
Special thanks
The Beams
Promonews - 10th July 2025