Museum Zoetrope - 'Too Much Information' by Gavin Shapiro

Located in the Antarctic Peninsula, Museum Zoetrope is the only first-person zoetrope in the world.

Each exhibition showcases a single four-second looping animation presented as forty sequential frames around the circumference of the museum. Viewers can watch the animation come to life by riding a motorized car that runs along a central circular track.

Museum Zoetrope is a celebration of motion. Exhibited artists are invited to present a looping animation that conveys a personal experience or feeling, articulating their perspective and making it relatable through elegant kinetic principles.

Exhibited work is presented through a radical and exhilarating interpretation of traditional animation techniques, inspiring viewers to appreciate the magic of animated media with childlike wonder, particularly within the context of a content-saturated world in which moving images have become taken for granted.

Located deep within the white glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula, Museum Zoetrope’s remote location was carefully chosen to minimize distraction and draw viewers’ full attention to the exhibit. The arduous and lengthy journey to reach The Zoetrope is an important part of the experience itself, not only satirizing hyper-exclusive works of land art like Walter de Maria’s ”The Lightning Field” and Michael Heizer’s “City”, but also inviting viewers to reflect on the monumental efforts endured by the artist throughout the creation process before being able to see the completed animation themselves.

Ultimately, Museum Zoetrope is a piece of conceptual art, designed as a place where one can believe in the impossible, with the hopes that viewers will return home having experienced something they will never forget.

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Exhibition: "Too Much Information" by Gavin Shapiro
From June 23, 2023

Gavin Shapiro’s work, at its core, is intended to make viewers smile. By juxtaposing hyper-serious technical meticulousness with lighthearted (and often adorable) subject matter, Shapiro presents a tongue-in-cheek worldview that pokes fun at exaggerated notions of self-importance and overintellectualism found in the traditional art world.

In Too Much Information, an eager bird is repeatedly crushed under the weight of a falling book. A metaphor for the artist’s own sense of futility in trying to keep up with the ever-increasing pace of technological advancement, the work is presented here at the Museum Zoetrope in the way it was intended to be seen: forty enormous oil paintings in the timeless style of Renaissance masters, set in motion through traditional real-world animation techniques.

[oodoodoopoopoo]

I love the virtual gallery installation idea. Not only is it most likely more economically viable than an IRL installation, but I'm sure it's much easier on the stomach.

[timothyhawken]

This is also amazing. I love this idea which would be possible to make in real life but is probably better in vr anyway. But if it were possible to make this then I would create animatronics that would move shape a little bit as you go around. So it is still a zoertrope but you have the 18 frames/figures change position each time just in time for the next time you go around. You could even do this with people doing a dance or something and they just have to stand in the same place for the sequence. This is a great idea you have come up with

[misterprofessor]

Some of these animations and their descriptions feel like I'm playing one of those surreal, liminal-space games.

[sicZ]

your page is fking awesome, i just watched a gang of your videos. great shit bro

[SlyFunnyDogs]

What hellish backroom nightmares is this???😊😊😊

[eliyahumedia]

How about creating a 360 degree video?

[codydobie]

I want to ride it for real, but also not sure if it would cause internal brain bleeding... nice one, though! (: