Jamie Beck is a photographer based in NYC who in collaboration with animator Kevin Burg produced animated gifs. Although an animated gif is not necessarily a very advanced thing to do, the way these pictures are animated is really good and it gives them a feeling of an in-between still picture and a movie. It is very similar to the paintings that you see in the Hogwarts school in Harry Potter. The website where the collection of these pictures can be found is cinemagraph.com. Looking at the picture for the first time, you see everything still and then suddenly you see a slight change in the picture which makes you feel surprised.

I saw this a couple of years ago and I found it really interesting. Although it is not real, it is designed to seem like it is. Genpets are supposed to be genetically engineered pets which are hibernating until you buy them and open their package. In reality, they are actually “robots” although they are not autonomous. There are a couple of videos online where you can see them moving inside of their boxes. This pets are also supposed to have different personalities and actually depending on the color of the package’s top, you can get for example an athletic and energetic genpet if you get the package with the red top. The artist is called Adam Brandejs and his website is http://www.brandejs.ca

What I found really interesting about this piece, more than the shapes it created, is the size of the display and the effect that has on the work. Being a computer program, if the resolution is very good, it should be scalable to any size. Seeing the person walking in the video, it is interesting to me the feeling that the color combination and the shapes drawn in that size create on the person. To me, watching it in my computer monitor, it was a very immersive experience. I imagine how it would feel if you put those same images in a spherical screen and place a person inside of it. I think for a while, being in that place makes you feel transported to a different universe. That idea of completely immersive art I find fascinating.