Thomson & Craighead
We dip into the Animate Collection this month to connect with the work of Thomson & Craighead. Commissioned in 2007 for AnimateTV, Flat Earth is the first film in the artists’ desktop documentary trilogy. Flat Earth weaves together material found online, taking us on an extraordinary seven-minute journey around the world as seen through the eyes of bloggers.
Animate Projects then exhibited the follow up to Flat Earth, A Short Film about War in 2010. In ten minutes this two screen movie takes viewers around the world to a variety of war zones as though the collective eyes of the online photo sharing community Flickr, and as witnessed by a variety of existing military and civilian bloggers. A Short Film about War was developed with help from New Media Scotland and Alt-w.
Thomson and Craighead have just finished the third part of the trilogy and will be premiering new film, Belief, at Inspace, Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012. Belief is again made from information found entirely on the worldwide web. In fifteen minutes, this two-screen installation presents a series of fragmented broadcasts about belief, all sourced from the video sharing community YouTube. Belief is Supported by Creative Scotland’s Vital Spark programme, New Media Scotland’s Alt-w Fund, ATLAS Arts and Animate Projects.
Flat Earth and A Short Film about War are both available to view online at animateprojects.org.
Animate Projects will present Belief online with a commissioned essay and interview at animateprojects.org from July 2012.
Find out more about Thomson and Craighead here. Watch Animate’s 2007 interview with Thomson and Craighead here.