Collage offers the opportunity to mix up our shared culture, to create improbable and magical combinations. The results may look forward to new ways of speaking or hark back, perhaps nostalgically, to childhood memories and half-forgotten stories. The artists in tonight's program are masters of the form. They share a low-tech, handmade aesthetic, yet their approaches range from elusive, ambiguous tales to haunting dreamscapes and subversive pranks. Working on an intimate scale, they construct cryptic messages and fragmented narratives using antique dolls and toys or cut-outs from magazines, comic strips, and picture books. Lewis Klahr's films share a history with the cut-out animations of Harry Smith and Joseph Cornell; Janie Geiser also creates puppet theater. Eric Saks's work draws on outmoded and futuristic technologies. In animating inanimate objects, these artists bring new life to life's puzzle.

Daylight Moon (Lewis Klahr, 2002, 13 mins, 16mm). Pony Glass (Lewis Klahr, 1997, 14.5 mins, 16mm). Gun Talk (Eric Saks, 1991, 14 mins, Beta SP). You Talk/I Buy (Eric Saks, 1990, 10 mins, Beta SP). Lost Motion (Janie Geiser, 2000, 11 mins, 16mm). Secret Story (Janie Geiser, 1996, 8.5 mins, 16mm)