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Warning: this film features rapidly flashing images that can be distressing to photosensitive viewers.
This impressively researched work of digital art from the UK filmmaker Daniel McKee features more than 2,000 flags sourced from Wikipedia and meticulously arranged, yielding a vibrant exploration of the intersection between political symbolism and design. Featuring an eclectic mix of flags – modern and historical, familiar and obscure – the animation offers a brisk and sweeping overview of how states, individuals and institutions have represented themselves over time. Whether viewed in its dizzying entirety or clicked around at random, the video is a thoroughly enjoyable primer in vexillology.
Video by Daniel McKee
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Family life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes
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Archaeology
What did the first people who entered Tutankhamun’s tomb see?
5 minutes
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Information and communication
Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news
17 minutes
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Childhood and adolescence
Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress
8 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
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Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
5 minutes
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History
There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look
3 minutes
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
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Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes