Sometimes we use GIFs for reactions, sometimes they’re a punchline, and sometimes they’re art. The latter is certainly true of the ones made by Istanbul-based artist Erdal Inci, who masterfully creates mesmerising GIFs using cloned pieces of videos.
In many cases, Inci, who usually works alone, is the subject. He takes slices of footage to create the illusion of an endless flock of men siding down a railing or jogging on a path. Speaking over email, Inci told Gizmodo a bit about how he turns one subject into a giant animated army:
In my GIFS the figure is a performer performing with the street itself or the space. He or she will pass in front of the camera for 20 seconds, for example. So what you see in a GIF is made from a 20 second video recording. When you clone that motion at sequence times, it turns out a motion pattern. So you eventually see all that 20 seconds in a single second. Or even shorter like five frames. This idea pops up all these repetitions. I started to think about “time” mainly and how I can perform in the street to make them not only somehow beautiful visual loops but ones that can feel you indescribable or indistinct. I also use different kinds of instruments like flashlights, leds, big portions of styrofoam to vary those feelings.
Inci’s GIFs don’t just exist inside the internet, although you can check out more of them on his blog. They’ll also be on display in real life at Action Gallery in Milan on May 25 and its other location in Naples on May 30.
[Erdal Inci via ThisIsColossal]