Laura Fiori

Interview

• "The horizons of computer animation" (Milan, 01/10/99)

Biography

Laura Fiori (lfiori@domino.it) was born in Casale Monferrato in 1949. Currently art director and lecturer at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, she began working as a freelance in 1975. From 1980 to 89 she worked for in Turin "La Lanterna Magica", a company specialising in TV and cinema animation, where she was in charge of the artistic direction of TV, video and film animation. She also carried out teaching activities for the same company, being particularly interested in training for teachers in the field of visual communication for various bodies and associations, particularly in Turin, Milan, Genoa and Mantova.

In 1986 she carried out research and experimentation on computer animation. In 1988 she lectured at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and in 1989, was co-ordinator of its Computer Graphic Department and IT Area. In 1990-91 she worked for RAI in Milan as graphics and animation consultant on the programme "L'Albero Azzurro", and was responsible for the post-production and images and animation connected to new technologies. In 1992 her project for the production of 3 pilot episodes of "Racconti Zen" (a TV series in 26 episodes) was accepted and financed by the CARTOON Association, part of the EEC's Media Plan (C.E.E.). The programme was created entirely with computer animation, using the first two-dimensional software animation created in Italy: SURF. The first episodes were acquired by Rai Sat.

In 1994 she followed the evolution and development of new communication media and created animations for interactive supports: CDI, CD-Rom and the Internet. Her most recent productions include: Trash Story (animation for "ERRE", an exhibition on scrap collection and recycling at the Turin Automobile Museum - 1997: short films and animation for interactive supports) and "Il mito dell'androgino", a short animation for Mondo 3 - Rai Sat (1998), selected by the '99 Annecy Festival. Since July '98 she has been president of Asifa Italia (Italian Cinema and Animation Association). She is a member of the Scientific Committee of Mediatech/IBTS, and of the Italian Professional Chapter of SIGGRAPH (ACM).