Short Film Spotlight: Synesthesia

Edible records, cookable books and a generous serving of delicious art direction.

We wrap up video week with Synesthesia, a stunningly shot high-concept short film by director duo Terri Timely. Enjoy.

via Creativity

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Animation Spotlight: The Chimney Sweep

What a paper airplane has to do with the quiet art of being human.

It’s video week on Brain Pickings, and we’re launching with The Chimney Sweep, a beautiful stop-motion animation in every sense of the word — beautifully written, beautifully art-directed, beautifully shot.

It isn’t flashy. There are no special effects or peppy indie music score. It’s quiet and simple and incredibly, touchingly human.

Put your headphones on to fully experience the subtle yet rich soundscape — it’s part of the film’s quiet magic.

The Chimney Sweep is the final-year work of UK art student Joseph Mann — whose feet are firmly planted in our up-and-coming talent to watch list.

Futility Paints Utility: Wikipedia Reproduced

A 5,000-page homage to the times, or what the Boston Molasses Disaster has to do with digital culture.

Wikipedia is the world’s most glorious case study in crowdsourcing. And its utility isn’t merely in the amount of information available, but also in the incredible accessibility of it — anything from a complete run-down of Seinfeld to the Boston Molasses Disaster is just a search box and a few hits on the keyboard away.

So what happens if the same immense pool of information were available, only in a much less user-friendly format?

That’s exactly what art student Rob Matthews explores in his Wikipedia reproduction project — a 5,000-page tome containing all of Wikipedia’s featured articles, so large and dense that the Gutenberg press would’ve chocked on it.

A completely preposterous proposition, the project is a testament to the digital convenience we’ve come to take for granted. It’s a brilliant homage to Wikipedia’s utility by painting the utter futility of its analog antithesis.

Reproducing Wikipedia in a dysfunctional physical form helps to question its use as an internet resource.

Now, instead of leafing through to page 1,327 of the fully printed Wikipedia, go read all about the Boston Molasses Disaster just by clicking here.

via GOOD

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