In his short film Papers (1991), the Japanese artist Yoshinao Satoh assembles thousands of newspaper images into a transfixing animation. Moving through a flurry of Japanese characters, moon phases, Go games, house plans and faces that grows ever faster, Satoh creates a mass-media collage that seems to anticipate the age of information overload. Amplifying the frenzied pace and mesmerising effect, he pairs the imagery with a propulsive work by the US composer Steve Reich.
Japanese news clippings from 1991 blur into a hypnotic collage
Director: Yoshinao Satoh
24 November 2025

videoCities
Time dilates and people flow in and out of each other in a hallucinatory urban commute
3 minutes

videoInformation and communication
An animation built from road signs is a whirlwind study of flash communication
2 minutes

videoEngineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes

videoCities
Bright nights, lonely crowds – a Tokyo train speeds through urban contradictions
3 minutes

videoTechnology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes

videoTravel
Beijing via salvaged family photos – ‘an epic portrait of anonymous humanity’
6 minutes


