This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/may/23/gifs-the-rebellious-adolescent-of-art-everything-all-at-once

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Teenage clicks: how gifs became the rebellious adolescent of the art world Teenage clicks: how gifs became the rebellious adolescent of the art world
(3 months later)
Lolling Lolling tongues and squirming bodily orifices loom out from one wall of the former White Cube gallery in London's Hoxton Square, while across the room a gigantic floating screen is flashing with psychedelic interference as small birds fly startled from an adjacent telephone line. There are screens of marching Chinese soldiers, gyrating blobs, and a mysterious swimming eye. Yet if you walk into the gallery without a smartphone or iPad, you'll get none of this – merely a stark white box plastered with oversized QR codes.
tongues and squirming bodily orifices loom out from one wall of the This beguiling show, which looks a bit like the internet has been smashed open and its contents splattered across the walls, is the work of 15Folds, an online gallery dedicated to the humble gif. Developed by CompuServe in 1987, the lo-fi file format has enjoyed a cultish resurgence as a new generation has cottoned on to its potential for sharing snippets of cats and celebrities in an endlessly hysterical loop. But the people at 15Folds see it as much more than that.
former White Cube gallery in London's Hoxton Square, while across the room a “The gif has allowed a whole new outsider art movement to develop online,” says Margot Bowman, 25, who founded the site two years ago with fellow art college graduate Sean Frank, also 25, and digital media designer Jolyon Varley, 30. “It's so easy for anyone to do, and the limits on the number of frames and colours make it perfect for succinct story-telling.” Uploaded and shared on Tumblr, which allows a maximum 1MB file size, no more than 500 pixels wide, the animated gif format forces a certain discipline. As Bowman puts it: “It's like saying to an artist, 'You've got an A5 piece of paper – go and make something good.'”
gigantic floating screen is flashing with psychedelic interference as small birds fly startled from an adjacent telephone line. There The best gifs here, which are viewed by scanning the QR codes on an augmented reality app, exploit those restrictions to their advantage, playing with rhythm and repetition to craft bite-sized visual poems. Adam Ferris has created a hypnotic square of white noise that cycles through a swarm of colours, like a fizzing glitch rainbow. Nearby, Laurent Segretier has sampled snippets of selfie porn videos from swinger websites, filmed and remixed on a broken screen to form a smeary loop of writhing body parts.
are screens of marching Chinese soldiers, gyrating blobs, and a mysterious swimming eye. Yet if you walk into the Kim Asendorf – who had the honour of having the first animated gif sent into space last year – has conjured a clone army of Chinese women soldiers, their faces inverted in a frightening sea of screaming mouths. “NSA bots have to flip the faces of all female Chinese soldiers to prevent agents from falling in love,” reads the caption, accessible by flipping the image on your phone. “The NSA hates love.”
gallery without a smartphone or iPad, you'll get none of this – Other works seem more like snappy fashion promos, betraying the format's allure to the world of branding and advertising – through which many of the artists and illustrators on show make their living.
merely a stark white box plastered with oversized QR codes. For an artform born and propagated on the internet, it might seem strange to show it in a gallery context, but Bowman says this is precisely the point. “It's about providing a pause and a moment of isolation,” she says. “We wanted to take the gifs out of the context of having 15 tabs open on your browser with all your favourite Tumblr feeds, and make people look more closely.”
This The augmented reality app, developed for the show by Plague Projects, also allows you to see the gifs in a whole new light. They become floating, physical objects with a defined dimension and presence in the space, behind which people can walk – an effect that is particularly successful with Matthew Stone's disembodied eye, that appears to swim around the room on a little rippling square.
beguiling show, which looks a bit like the internet has been smashed The exhibition purports to be “a documentation of an explosive artform in its rebellious adolescence,” but this 27-year-old adolescent has clearly come of age. It was even named word of the year by the US branch of the Oxford University Press two years ago.
open and its contents splattered across the walls, is the work of “Gif celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb, not just a noun,” declared the OUP. “The gif has evolved from a medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace.”
15Folds, an online gallery dedicated to the humble gif. Developed by The Guardian has embraced the format as well, live-giffing the US Presidential elections and featuring a regular series of sporting “gifs that keep on giving” – meaning it's clearly time for hipster-gallerists to move on to the next thing. Anyone for .doc art?
CompuServe in 1987, the lo-fi file format has enjoyed a cultish
resurgence as a new generation has cottoned on to its
potential for sharing snippets of cats and celebrities in an
endlessly hysterical loop. But the people at 15Folds see it as much
more than that.
“The
gif has allowed a whole new outsider art movement to develop online,”
says Margot Bowman, 25, who founded the site two years ago with
fellow art college graduate Sean Frank, also 25, and digital media
designer Jolyon Varley, 30. “It's so easy for anyone to do, and the
limits on the number of frames and colours make it perfect for
succinct story-telling.” Uploaded and shared on Tumblr, which
allows a maximum 1MB file size, no more than 500 pixels wide, the
animated gif format forces a certain discipline. As Bowman puts it:
“It's like saying to an artist, 'You've got an A5 piece of paper –
go and make something good.'”
The
best gifs here, which are viewed by scanning the
QR codes on an augmented reality app, exploit those
restrictions to their advantage, playing with rhythm and repetition
to craft bite-sized visual poems. Adam Ferris has created a hypnotic
square of white noise that cycles through a swarm of colours, like a
fizzing glitch rainbow. Nearby, Laurent Segretier has sampled
snippets of selfie porn videos from swinger websites, filmed and
remixed on a broken screen to form a smeary loop of writhing body
parts.
Kim
Asendorf – who had the honour of having the first animated gif sent
into space last year – has conjured a clone army of Chinese women soldiers, their faces
inverted in a frightening sea of screaming mouths. “NSA bots have
to flip the faces of all female Chinese soldiers to prevent agents
from falling in love,” reads the caption, accessible by flipping
the image on your phone. “The NSA hates love.”
Other
works seem more like snappy fashion promos, betraying the format's
allure to the world of branding and advertising – through which
many of the artists and illustrators on show make their living.
For
an artform born and propagated on the internet, it might seem
strange to show it in a gallery context, but Bowman says
this is precisely the point. “It's about providing a pause and a
moment of isolation,” she says. “We wanted to take the gifs out
of the context of having 15 tabs open on your browser with all your
favourite Tumblr feeds, and make people look more
closely.”
The
augmented reality app, developed for the show by Plague Projects,
also allows you to see the gifs in a whole new light. They become
floating, physical objects with a defined dimension and presence in
the space, behind which people can walk – an effect that is
particularly successful with Matthew Stone's disembodied eye, that
appears to swim around the room on a little rippling square.
The
exhibition purports to be “a documentation of an explosive artform
in its rebellious adolescence,” but this 27-year-old adolescent has
clearly come of age. It was even named word of the year by the US
branch of the Oxford University Press two years ago.
“Gif
celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb,
not just a noun,” declared the OUP. “The gif has evolved from a
medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications
including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is
transforming to keep pace.”
The Guardian has embraced the format as well, live-giffing the US
Presidential elections and featuring a regular series of sporting
“gifs that keep on giving” – meaning it's clearly time for
hipster-gallerists to move on to the next thing. Anyone for .doc art?
• Everything All at Once is at Lyst Studios, 48 Hoxton Square, London N1, 22-29 May.• Everything All at Once is at Lyst Studios, 48 Hoxton Square, London N1, 22-29 May.