What happens when the power goes off. Or, how to enjoy a blackout
‘The most ordinary things became kind of extraordinary.’
In the most widespread power outage in the history of North America, the Northeast blackout of 2003 left some 50 million people without power over two days. Combining several distinct animation styles, this short documentary chronicles the eerie, otherworldly and exuberant stories of those who experienced the blackout while living in Toronto, hinting that, if society were to collapse, at the very least there might be live music and a few days’ worth of free beer.
Director: Sharron Mirsky
videoHistory
The dry-stacked stones of Zimbabwe are a medieval engineering wonder
7 minutes
videoConsciousness and altered states
How an artist learned to ‘co-live’ with the distressing voice in her head
6 minutes
videoMedicine
Drinking wine from toxic cups was the 17th century’s own dubious ‘detox’ treatment
11 minutes
videoEngineering
How water-based clocks revolutionised the way we measure time
10 minutes
videoConsciousness and altered states
What do screens depicting serene natural scenes mean to those living in lock-up?
12 minutes
videoEconomics
A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey
13 minutes
videoFilm and visual culture
Space and time expand, contract and combust in this propulsive animation
5 minutes
videoEnvironmental history
In Kazakhstan, ‘atomic lakes’ still scar the landscape decades after Soviet nuclear tests
13 minutes
videoArchitecture
A 3D rendering of the Colosseum captures its architectural genius and symbolic power
17 minutes