Animation today seems to be everywhere.
All the more so because modern computers can generate tailor-made images for any purpose and every occasion – in advertising, entertainment, or children's media. The DIAF's permanent exhibition takes visitors back to a time when it was still human hands that moved puppets, shifted silhouettes, and placed countless drawings onto the animation table. Through selected exhibits, it demonstrates how animated films were created using classic techniques such as puppet animation, cut-out animation, silhouette animation, and traditional hand-drawn animation.
Most of the objects on display originate from the DEFA Studio for Animated Films in Dresden, whose artistic legacy the DIAF preserves and shares. In the exhibition, visitors encounter many familiar figures – such as The Christmas Goose Auguste, Heinrich the Stag, or the little devil from Alarm in the Puppet Theatre. Among the archival treasures on show are also items from other German studios – including original characters from both East and West German versions of The Sandman.
The compact display is further enriched by equipment that once ensured high-quality image and sound in animated films.
In regular special exhibitions held at the same venue, the DIAF also presents perspectives on both historical and contemporary national and international animation.
