Having trawled the web for the past, oh, 20 years, UNA MULLALLY lists, in no particular order, 20 moments when the arts world and the IT crowd made perfect bedfellows
1 Mubi GarageGarage is a subsection of the Mubi website, where new film-makers can discuss, collaborate and – most importantly for you the viewer – upload new film projects. There are more than 3,000 films to choose from; music videos, documentaries, experimental shorts, mini sci-fi adventures and more. In the Projects section, you can check out collections of films from various groups and collaborators. Check out Project #15, Art By Chance,an "ultra short film festival" featuring a series of 30-second films from animation to video art. See: mubi.com/garage
2 StarsEoghan Kidney's 2005 10-minute animated short about the lives of a couple, Brian (Domhnall Gleeson) and Sophie (Ruth Negga) is an extraordinarily beautiful and powerful piece. Terminally ill, Sophie begins to experience synaesthstic episodes and hallucinations. As her world morphs around her, Brian becomes the only one left to guide her through. Six years on, the emotion, sadness and ultimate beauty of this well-crafted and compelling film still resonates. See: tinyurl.com/starsfilm
3 The Foucault LecturesIn 1980, Michel Foucault delivered four lectures at UC Berkeley. These can now be found on the Ubu website – a treasure trove of writing and lectures with a massive video library storing work by everyone from Salvador Dali to Brian Eno (ubu.com/film) The year before his death in 1984, Foucault would return to Berkely to deliver more lectures on the culture of the self, which are also available here. See: tinyurl.com/foucaultlecture
4 Jodi's GEO GOO (Info Park)Jodi, the internet art collective of Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans, creates compelling net art. Their piece GEO GOO (Info Park)from 2008 presents a frantic reimagining of locations on GoogleMaps, sometimes seemingly childish, and sometimes compelling. As playful as it is interesting, the piece riffs on the coding of maps, creating various shapes and examining how GoogleMaps has changed our view and interaction with the world around us. See: globalmove.us
5 La Blogoteque Take-Away ShowsVincent Moon blazed a trail in 2006 shooting indie bands in Paris performing songs in various settings; on the street, in abandoned buildings, on bridges, in parks and shopping trolleys. His style became the format of choice for hundreds of music fans with cameras as they shot secret sessions with musicians. The National, Animal Collective and Sufjan Stevens and more than a hundred others provide ample material, so it's worth checking in often, but it's his amazing 2007 film of Arcade Fire performing in a lift that remains a not-so-indie classic.
See: tinyurl.com/arcadefirelift
6 The Colour ClockA beautifully hypnotic clock that represents time as a hexadecimal colour value. Don't worry, that's slightly less intimidating than it sounds. Plus, you can download it as a screensaver. Pretty and practical. See: thecolourclock.co.uk
7 DC Comics' Essential 30DC Comics runs through the 30 most essential graphic novels from Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman and beyond. It's a great resource for those discovering the genre, or for those just looking to refresh the memory of old favourites. Most have downloadable previews, so you can scroll through enough reading to make up your mind to buy. See: tinyurl.com/readgraphicnovels
8 MorfoNow to turn yourself into a piece of art. Kind of. The iPhone and Android app Morfo allows you to transform a picture of yourself into an almost-CGI 3D model. You can then share videos of yourself talking, or your head bouncing around to music to friends, or, indeed enemies. Very weird, but very cool. See: search for "morfo" in the Apple app store
9 Cyanide and HappinessColeraine man Dave McElfatrick along with Kris Wilson, Matt Melvin and Rob DenBleyker are the guys behind what is possibly the best daily online comic strip. Cyanide and Happinessis a brilliantly dark and gutbustingly hilarious strip and a lesson in how effective something minimal can be when the joke behind it is so on point. See: explosm.com
10 Porcelain UnicornThe winner of the Phillips Tell It Your Way short film competition (selected by Ridley Scott) is a stunning three-minute piece, with just six lines, that breaks free from the constraints bound by prescribed dialogue. If you think it's not possible to become completely gripped and emotionally invested in something in just a few minutes, then check this out. See: porcelainunicorn.com
11 Sam O'Hare The Sand PitThe web loves tilt-shift photography and fimmaking, and at this point there's almost too much out there, a lot of it slightly gimmicky. But this is tiltshift at its finest.
The Sand Pit, an award-winning tilt-shift short that documents a day in the life of New York, turns helicopter rides, coastal activity, roof tops, construction, intersections, bustling streetlife and nighttime light trails into a sweet and jaunty examination of the city from several unique angles. See: tinyurl.com/tiltnyc
12 OK Go and Pilobolus All Is Not LostNot so much a band as a music video-making group with some tunes on the periphery, OK Go (here collaborating with forward-thinking choreographers Pilobolus) have teched things up since synchronised treadmill dancing. Their latest effort is an interactive HTML5 website that fizzes around your desktop in several small corresponding screens, then the band displays whatever message you type in before pressing play with their feet. See: allisnotlo.st
13 Interactive FreerunningA simple but ingenius interactive YouTube series from 2009 that allows you to pick which freerunner/parkour maestro you want to run around the place, "influence" their choice of tricks and plan the path they take. Apart from the fun illusion that you're controlling the decisions and movements of Livewire and Damien Walters, their skills on their own would be worth a watch outside of this "choose your own adventure"-like experience. See: tinyurl.com/freerunningfun
14 Information is Beautiful Snake Oil?David McCandless's data visualisations turn graphs into art, and his design work for Wired magazine has been lauded as the best around. On his own website, InformationIsBeautiful, he adds a sprinkle of interactivity to the visual representations of sometimes exhausting information. Snake Oil? is an interesting visualisation that allows you to examine the scientific evidence for popular health supplements, but linking the graph to studies. Pretty and informative. See: tinyurl.com/snakeoilgraph
15 State InterventionIrish music magazine State occasionally channels the beauty of visiting and Irish acts into some great short videos called State Interventions. Some are in venues, some are out of context, be it Lykke Li in Tower Records, Heathers in a tea house, or Mountain Man in Iveagh Gardens. There are some really lovely moments on film here. See: tinyurl.com/stateintervention
16 The Best TED Talks Ever TED(Technology Entertainment and Design) has become a touchstone for learning. The global conferences aim to be "ideas worth spreading" and it's hard to argue with that tagline. There are endless lists of people's favourites, but the best is one over at FunkMeyers.com. Take 20 minutes out every day to watch and listen to one of these talks and your brain will be all the richer. See: tinyurl.com/tedtalkvideos
17 Terry Richardson's DiaryFor fashion, pop culture and party lovers comes photographer Terry Richardson's daily wordless overshare from photoshoots in his studio with household names, mugging for the camera with superstars at parties and hanging with a motley crew of hipsters in New York, LA and beyond. He couples the glamour with mundane and occasionally beautiful snapshots of buildings, neon signs, flowers, food and graffiti. See: terrysdiary.com
18 Kubrick 2001Avant-garde animated video that explores and explains the philosophies and intentions of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.A little odd, a little tongue-in-cheek, a little postmodern, but an interesting exercise nonetheless. See: Kubrick2001.com
19 Vin Diesel, Multi-FacialA short film written, directed and starring Vin Diesel would send many running for opposing celluloid hills, but Multi-Facialis a great semi-autobiographical short about the struggles of a young actor. The link below is for Multi-Facial on ShortOfTheWeek.com, an excellent resource for short films, so it's worth spending time browsing what they're pointing to as well. See: tinyurl.com/multifacial
20 Arbutus Yarns – Lisa Hannigan
Myles O’Reilly is an Irish director of exquisite live music films. His work for Villagers, James Vincent McMorrow and Julie Feeney are gems, and his upcoming footage recent gigs in Mitchelstown Cave is highly anticipated. No other director makes you feel like you’re right there at a gig, but his recent recording diaries with Lisa Hannigan as she worked on her new album in the Welsh countryside really stand out. He steps away from using a live venue and its crowd to create atmosphere and offers a warm insight into an artist at work. See: tinyurl.com/hanniganfilm
For links and videos, and your own recommendations, see Laurence Mackin’s blog irishtimes.com/blogs/pursuedbyabear
