Electro-rockers New Hands have an artsy new video for their track “Strange Attractor” that features a random selection of GIFs each time viewers reload the video.
The video, conceptualized by drummer Gord Bond, shows a different randomized sequence of GIFs taken from a database of over 900 different home videos sourced from YouTube. This regenerative art project means an endless possible combination of images blending together into one surreal mélange of lived experiences and snapshots into the lives of total strangers. With Spence Newell’s grave vocals and the synthetic beats, “Strange Attractor” is a mix of industrial electro and ’80s new-wave cool.
Bond, also a visual artist notes:
“It was the GIF format that intrigued me. Technically it is a picture file, but it allows for animation. To me this was an interesting dualism. On the one hand it’s a video and on the other a still image. By using the GIF files we compiled as the frames for the video we are bringing attention to the structural element of video—the individual frame, which when stitched together create movement. This idea of stillness vs. movement is also repeated in the thematic element of the video. The GIFs all contain some form of movement. Movement is critical to the song itself, it is constantly in motion.”
Director John Smith explains the appeal of the GIF format: “GIFs hold an interesting space in current Internet culture: They are notoriously slow to load due to their relatively large file size, but despite this they have become one of the most popular types of media to share online. They are the perfect middle ground between sharing a still image, and a YouTube video. They are the perfect way to capture an exact moment.”
Check out the video here and enjoy limitless different versions with each click of the “refresh” button.
