Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The Animated GIF: Still Looping After All These Years

The Animated GIF: Still Looping After All These Years - By Clive Thompson 01.03.13
In this Wired article Thompson discusses the Gif's unwillingness to die and the fact the platforms like Tumblr and Twitter has made them even more popular than before. Thompson states that even the Oxford Dictionary chose GIF as its Word of the Year for 2012.
He implies with current technology and the internet that the amount of moving images to look at is quite overwhelming. That is why the GIF stands out as it gives us time to consider and reflect on a single moment. Some other articles on GIFs suggest it is our need to see and consume more but I like Thompson's definition as it relates more to a Buddhist   meditative awareness. It it totally in the moment and captures exactly what is quite fascinating about that moment. 
Thompson says that in a sense, the animated GIF illustrates what sharp viewers we're becoming.
The above statement leads me to my belief that GIFs have the ability to reach the fine art arena. After all are not artists the sharp viewers of society and aesthetics?
I like the idea of making animated GIFs that have a meditative quality to them. Perhaps yoga poses?
Taken from Giphy

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