Our biological past and our technological future play out on a single human face
In this animated self-portrait, the UK artist Emma Allen uses her face as a canvas for a remarkable, millennia-spanning stop-motion. With her features always visible but transformed by the images painted across them, Allen takes us through evolution, from primordial creatures, through large mammals, to humans, before offering a vision of what’s to come – a future in which we transcend the limits of (or perhaps lose touch with) biology. For more from Allen, watch her short video Adam on the experience and neuroscience of depression.
Video by Emma Allen
videoEngineering
Building a prosperous future demands bold ideas. These are some of the boldest
40 minutes
videoFilm and visual culture
Space and time expand, contract and combust in this propulsive animation
5 minutes
videoBiology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
videoGender
A filmmaker responds to Lars von Trier’s call for a new muse with a unique application
16 minutes
videoFilm and visual culture
Our world has very different contours when a millimetre is blown up to a full screen
8 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes
videoFilm and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
4 minutes
videoEvolution
How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution
60 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm
16 minutes