Many a link-baiting slideshow and BuzzFeed post have been using animated GIFS, the moving images assembled from videos, sequences of photos or original animations.
But how did the initially cheesy, early computer and Internet age animation trick using a file format become the au courant method for obsessing over celebrities and being web-ready shorthand for expressing emotions? SXSW has the answer: According to the GIF artists and writers in “The Economy of the GIF,” you can blame your phone and microblogging platform Tumblr.
The GIF lineage goes something like this: they were first used in website banners and as quickie animations in those quaint AOL disc days of the Internet — and then Flash animation came along. Remember when websites resembled the futuristic, highly-interactive interfaces of science fiction films? With those slick drop-down menus and fancy moving ads? That was Flash.
Flash still exists, but with Apple and its iPhone (which famously does not support Flash-based animations or videos), web designers and animators and branding gurus had to rethink their media strategies. Suddenly, entire websites were rendered unreadable on phones and other mobile screens.
So as Flash fell out of fashion, simpler web designs prevailed and led to a GIF renaissance of sorts — because GIFs will still display on phones and tablets and other magic, mini computer devices. And it helps that social networking sites and phone web browsers have made using the Internet much more photo-centric (hence, Tumblr).
Plus, GIFs, says writer Lindsey Weber (who’s done some GIF work for BuzzFeed and New York magazine) are better representations of how we consume the Internet in 2013.
“[GIFs] span this space between photos and videos,” Weber says. “The GIF takes the best parts of a photo and the best parts of a video and puts them together. It’s just a better way to ingest that.”
And they’ve become so wildly popular, argues artist Jimmy Repeat (who’s GIFed for MTV in the past), they’ve become a new art form all in themselves.
“GIF is the new medium because it’s more of a challenge than a static image,” he says.
Perhaps their greatest claim to legitimacy is their looming legal precedent: Weber says GIF-related lawsuits and copyright cases are just around the bend — she’s come up against all kinds of rights issues with the GIFs she worked with.
But for now, there’s still plenty of GIF fun to be had. Just go on Tumblr and get lost for days.
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Hot Headlines
Austin rolls out the welcome mat as America's nicest city, plus more top stories
Austin is officially the nicest city.
Editor’s note: It’s that time again — time to check in with our top stories. Here are the top five articles that captured our collective attention over the past seven days.
1. Austin rolls out the welcome mat as America's nicest city in new ranking. This might explain why so many people are moving here.
2. 3 Austin companies make Forbes list of best employers in Texas. Surprise, surprise: They're all tech companies.
3. Downtown hot spot ATX Cocina debuts sister restaurant in Austin's Arboretum. The menu revolves around "masa, meat, and margs."
4. Here are the top 5 things to do in Austin this weekend. Austin's Moody Center becomes Harry's House starting this weekend.
5. American Airlines unveils loaded new suite seats for long-haul flights out of Austin. A new kind of seat is en route on AA.
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Joining the club
New ultra-luxury neighborhood claws its way into affluent Austin suburb
A neighborhood of six multimillion-dollar, high-end homes has emerged in the wealthy Austin suburb of West Lake Hills.
The new 12-acre development, called the Wildcat Club, features six homes on 1- to 4-acre lots with prices starting at $11.75 million. One of the homes (a 9,500-square-foot residence with interiors designed by Fern Santini) already has been sold, and two of the homes are now on the market.
Most of the homes can be customized based on a buyer’s preferences. Amenities include a lounge and wine room, media room, home office, pool, spa, gym, gourmet kitchen, outdoor kitchen, and butler’s pantry. Floor plans range from 5,750 square feet to 9,500 square feet.
Austin-based Foursquare Builders is constructing the homes. The architects are Furman + Keil, McKinney York, Jay Corder, System D, and Clayton Korte, all based in Austin.
Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty agent Darin Walker is handling all of the Wildcat Club listings.
“This is the first ultra-luxury enclave of its kind to come to market where each residence is custom built and includes a diversity of contemporary architectural styles,” Walker says in a news release. “The designs are all spectacular and intended to complement one another and blend into the environment to maintain a high level of privacy.”
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Anyone Home?
Austin Studio Tour paints a picture with lineup of 520 participating artists this fall
Austin creatives welcome art lovers into their homes and collaborative studios to make organic connections every year.
The perfect crawl for art lovers and voyeurs alike, the Austin Studio Tour is turning 20 this year. It takes Austinites behind closed — or in this case open — studio doors across the city, showcasing the work of 520 artists, builders, and collectives in 2022. This time, the free self-guided tour runs from November 5-20.
Everything starts with a Group Exhibition and Kick Off at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, with organizing help from Black creativity collective Origin Studio House. On November 1, these two organizations join Big Medium, the organizer of the tour, in yet-unannounced activities to warm up curious visitors.
The tour has undergone several transformations since it was founded, starting as the East Austin Studio Tour with only 28 participating studios, eventually adding a West Austin counterpart, and absorbing both into one city-wide extravaganza in 2021. On September 21, Big Medium released a long list of participants, this time without any East or West designations.
There is no 2022 map yet, but a map of the 2021 tour stops shows a wide north-to-west spread east of I-35. The West Side tours reach as far up as Anderson Mill, where Clint Atkinson shows his graffiti-like black and white portraits, and as far south as Manchaca, where Brian Phillips makes geometric paintings on reclaimed wood. Both artists have committed to the 2022 tour.
East of the highway, where it all started, a dense clump of studios from around main roads, especially East Cesar Chavez Street. On this more compact side, participants reach as far north as Salvador Rodriguez, a hyper-detailed desert landscape painter near the Walnut Creek Greenbelt, and as far south as colorful jewelry and wallet maker Anne Marie Beard, right off East William Cannon Drive. Neither of these artists are on the 2022 list.
The map puts the adventure in Austinites’ hands the old fashioned way — it’s just a static image that can and should be printed out. Of course, for now tour attendees can comb through for artists of interest, but past experience has taught many that simply following street signs on foot provides a unique and minimally stressful experience. In denser areas, pedestrians could easily hit half a dozen studios in four or five blocks, and grab snacks or lunch on the way.
For those who simply do not trust their whims to deliver randomly great taste, there are curated collections by business partners. (These are called “themed tours,” which is a bit misleading in that there is no map or other organization tool included — just a few selected works with attributions that viewers can add to their itineraries themselves.) It is unclear if themed tours are returning this year, but last year included lists of artists by experience at previous tours (none or at least ten years), age, and materials.
Some artists also offer virtual tours, and if the tour continues the standard set last year, they will all have mini galleries on the website. Similarly, business partners have their own tab, and listings including a description of services and social media links. Even though seeing even a fifth of these studios in person would be a herculean task, there’s something fun about how impossible it is to see it all. Just like the Austin art scene at large.
A full list of 2022 Austin Studio Tour participants (without addresses) is available at bigmedium.org.
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