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When GIFs become art: a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image

When GIFs become art: a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image

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Paul Miller takes a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image to check out the new GIF exhibit.

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Paul Miller
Paul Miller

I was at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens the other day, and got a chance to talk to Jason Eppink, who is assistant curator. While most of the museum's installations revolve around film, the culture of film, and the behind-the-scenes of film, Eppink's latest score is something even closer to my heart: GIFs. Curated from a Something Awful forum thread, the "We Tripped El Hadji Diouf" installation shows the incredible evolution of a simple fall during a soccer game, to a work of art. The real revelation of the installation is that it shows GIFs as a new form of conversation, instead of the pre-meditated forms of art that populate most of the rest of the museum. Also: LOLs.