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The US filmmaker Conner Griffith is known for experimental works that offer perspective-shifting explorations of everyday scenes and objects. For Still Life, he compiled and choreographed a dizzying dance of more than 1,000 engravings from the 19th century – from flowers to teapots to amphibians. The resulting short explores the philosophical notion that, as Griffith puts it, ‘we live in a world of objects and a world of objects lives within us’. Meticulously crafted in both sound and imagery, the resulting short forms an impressive and enigmatic meditation on consciousness.
Director: Conner Griffith
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Human rights and justice
Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home
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Language and linguistics
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Art
When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer
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Values and beliefs
Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi
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Consciousness and altered states
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Meaning and the good life
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Making
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Animals and humans
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Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes