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Warning: this film features rapidly flashing images that can be distressing to photosensitive viewers.
A wizard of the video essay form, the Dutch filmmaker, photographer and artist Michiel de Boer (aka Posy) specialises in using macro photography and digital effects to mine incredible visuals from mundane objects and images. In doing so, his work illuminates the hidden aesthetics and inner workings of the everyday world. In this short, Posy fixes his formidable lens on the world of electronic paper – used in e-readers and digital clocks, for example – in a quest to uncover why it tends to be, quite literally, a pale imitation of the real thing. Using extreme close-ups to explore various types of electronic paper display, Posy reveals the exquisite patterns and fascinating technology that underpins them, as well as why they have thus far failed to measure up to good old-fashioned ink and paper.
Video by Posy
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Ageing and death
We’re not the only animals that appear to grieve. What are the implications?
6 minutes
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Archaeology
How researchers finally solved the puzzle of the oldest known map of the world
18 minutes
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Evolution
How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution
60 minutes
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Art
A prisoner in Guantánamo finds some escape in building intricate model ships
6 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
A Japanese religious community makes an unlikely home in the mountains of Colorado
9 minutes
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Sex and sexuality
From secret crushes to self-acceptance – a joyful chronicle of ‘old lesbian’ stories
29 minutes
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Making
Forging a cello from pieces of wood demands its own form of virtuosity
27 minutes
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Education
Scenes from a school year paint a refreshingly nuanced portrait of rural America
25 minutes
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Physics
The rhythms of a star system inspire a pianist’s transfixing performance
5 minutes