Mind Candy

The Mind Candy program showcases the mind-bending range of Small Files, from cat and dog videos, near-biblical animated GIF epics and face-melting glitch art meditations on narrative, experience and perception. Appealing for kids! JM

Darcie DeAngelo, How does she do that?
(Lowell, MA, 1:34, 4.4 MB, few seconds processing time)

Sumptuously shot outdoor landscapes with crunchy audio evoke the crispness of nature. DeAngelo enchants with the finest in Small File internet pup videos. Zorza, a dog, wows with her seemingly impossible acrobatics. JM

New Beginnings
(created for GameBoy cartridge) (2020)
Nathan Wyatt Kiesman

An arcade-type video game. I loved watching the Gameboy logo and listening to the music at the beginning, which sounds like if it was created in the 80s. The video transported me to my childhood, playing Gameboy with my brother. ARS

Ashley Blewer, Throttled
(Brooklyn, 2020, 5:00 of 13:00 work, <2 MB)

Part one of Ashley Blewer’s future-perfect abstract GIF narratives recall a pixelated Garden of Eden as it slowly shifts towards forbidden desires. Throttled offers an eMBedded genesis story of capitalist temptations. JM

Cloud Loaves
Ben Mosher (2020)

Two loaves rise from the pan and turn into clouds. The whole animation was created with only two colours: purple and white. The clouds’ colours are simple but beautiful. I could watch this over and over again. ARS

Latent Space Walk – Outbreaks from the Grid (2020)
Jennifer Karson

3D shapes (or 2D impossibilities) appear in a mesmerizing triptych of shaded polygons morphing beyond their confines in a conversational dance with each other. JM

Colin Williscroft, O’Hara Lane
(Vancouver, 2020, 3:00, 2.75 MB, 13:29 processing time)

Exquisitely shot in defiance of the perceived limitations of small-file compression, O’Hara Lane delves into love, longing and belonging as the familiar perils of young adulthood are faced—all through the eyes of an East Van cat. JM

Screen Box City (2020)
Kristen Roos

Using the minimal bit-rate technique of palette cycling, the buildings change colour with a fixed frequency. The colours belong to the grayscale. The repetitive pattern is very relaxing. – ARS

The Noise of the Stream (2020)
Andy Catsirelis

Glitched out beyond recognition, Andy Catsirelis digitally melts segments of pensive intensity from Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer in a piece that contemplates linearity and clarity in a stream of broken pixels. A perfect data-moshed reflection of broken aesthetic and thematic perfection. – JM