Every Painting in the MoMA in 2 minutes

If you’ve every been to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC you know how overwhelming it can be to take in their entire collection. This video posted by chrspck takes an interesting approach to the museum experience. He photographed every piece on display and compiled them into this 2 minute video. It’s pretty lo-fi but done well enough, with the aid of an airy piano soundtrack, to make you experience the art a little differently. Instead of slowly, thoughtfully meandering through gallery after gallery you are forced to react to each piece much more quickly, until they all begin to merge into a new work entirely. I found my thoughts weren’t directed toward any one piece in particular, like while standing in front of the piece, instead I was thinking of how the collection worked as a whole. It was almost a study on MoMA’s curation. Which made me wonder why the MoMA hasn’t already done something like this. Something more deliberate, more designed, more MoMA.

via flavorwire

REVISION: This video only contains paintings on MoMA’s 4th and 5th floors, not the museum’s entire collection.

The Flats: Cleveland through a Hipstamatic

It should come as no surprise that I have a fondness of both vintage and technology. I love the nostalgia of  something that’s been seasoned by time, so when I found the Hipstamatic app for the iPhone I was all over it. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been snapping photos left and right with this thing, my cats, my office, pretty much anything. It’s even replaced the standard iPhone camera in the dock, it’s become my go to camera. It does a really nice job of replicating the unpredictability of vintage toy cameras, making everything look like a 1970 print you found in your grandparents attic. The only downfall is that most subjects you point your iPhone at aren’t that old, there’s always going to be a disconnect if you try to turn a Prius vintage.

Today while deliberately trying to get lost in the west bank of Cleveland’s Flats I realized how perfect the atmosphere was for some Hipstamatic faux vintage. The Flats are essentially abandoned and have been since the steel industry took a hit, but all the infrastructure still exist… the skeletal remains of an industry. As I was going through the photos I realized I was taking a look back forty years. They felt genuine. The way Hipstamatic processed the images combined with the aging bridges and factories, these, to me, look exactly like something you would find while going through your grandparents old snapshots. The Flats are great for this. It’s urban decay at its finest. I love wandering around just imagining what it once was, getting lost in beauty of how its aged. Some find it depressing but looking at it through a historic lens seems to make you think of it a little differently.

Strangeloop: 2010 [or] How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Technological Singularity

2010 [or] How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Technological Singularity is a pretty intense audio/visual set from Brainfeeder’s Strangeloop. Here’s the quick synopsis, “2010 is about a dystopian alternate universe where an A.I. Deity has become imprisoned within its own Ego. It discovers a transcendental media living within an archaic laptop, which upon viewing, facilitates its spiritual evolution.” Chew on that for a few minutes.

Aside from being a total mindfuck, Strangeloop has earned a reputation for pushing live sets to the next level and what makes 2010 next level shit is that its a “completed work in progress, meaning that it is meant to change, in a live-environment, and in different re-contextualizations,” so this clip is only one of an infinite possible renditions. I love how this format really opens it up for a interpretation. If you were to see it live five times I think you would have five different experiences, not just seeing it in different arrangements but how you mentally try to make sense of it all. It’s intense though, after watching it I paused  for a second and realized it was okay to breathe again. I’m not sure I could handle a full length version, or even live, but if your up for it he’s producing 300 limited edition copies which you can try to grab here.

He’s also set to release an LP through Brainfeeder later this year called “Easy Listening for our Future Children” [below] which is much lighter than 2010 so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of evolving visual experience comes out of that. Or if they co-evolve into something entirely different.

Pixels: 8-bit takes over the world

I love seeing new technology affected by the old. PIXELS is a new digital short from onemoreproduction’s Patrick Jean. It’s high tech 8-bit animation meets live action New York City, a 2-minute assault on the city by your favorite 8-bit characters. Space Invaders, Tetris blocks, brick breakers, Pac Man and Donkey Kong wreak havoc on the city, eventually culminating with a bomb explosion that converts the Earth into a pixel. Yes, 8-bit destroys or reality, but it’s done so well that you can’t not smile. Props to Patrick for making us think about nostalgic video games in whole new way. Here’s hoping for a longer sequel.

Responsible packaging: Coke bottle redesign

This packaging redesign for Coke has gained a lot of attention recently, not just because it looks cool, because it’s extremely smart and it was created by a freshman at CCS in Detroit for his midterm project! His name is Andrew Kim and he’s managed to put together a thought through responsible package set, according to his blog “quickly.” After browsing the hundreds of comments on his original post I found the range of responses interesting. Mostly, people love it and stop there, but there are many who take the idea and run. It’s the latter that validates the project. People are chiming in to expose it’s flaws, saying that the shape won’t withstand the pressure of carbonation, while others are offering counters, suggesting he look at Japan’s manufacturing process since they have been using square bottles for years. What I enjoy most is the creative dialogue sparked by the start of a great idea. All it takes is one person to initiate it and others will flock, hopefully helping make it better. Needless to say, this freshman has a lot ahead of him. Check out his blog to see loads of sketches for ideas on everything from shoes to headphones to concept cars. I’m sure this is only the first in long career of good design we’ll see from him.