If you are one of those who complains about long GIFs, this is pure agony! A Finnish artist named Juha van Ingen has created a GIF that will run for the next 1,000 years!
He calls it “As Long As Possible” or “ASLAP,” and is an optimistic work of art since it requires future generations to keep it running until 3017.
The GIF lasts for 48,140,288 frames, and while it doesn’t have the most attractive visuals it certainly is an intriguing idea.
ASLAP consists of simple white numbers on a black background, with the next frame going after every 10 minutes.
“This work is special in our days because of what first comes to mind when I tell someone about it – ‘It simply cannot go on forever,’” Juha van Ingen said in an interview.
“Yet GIF is the simplest form of animation in existence in the digital format. If it seems an impossible thought that a simple animation can just be kept going, then what happens to all other information we have? Our images, sounds, films, archives, and so on?”
Finland’s Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art has recently acquired the As Long As Possible GIF and says they will keep it playing for the next 1,000 years. And in case something goes wrong, the same ASLAP file is simultaneously being run on several synchronized physical playback units placed in different locations.
And in anticipation of an Armageddon, Ingen has also placed the GIF in a back file hidden away in a time capsule, with the description of ASLAP its specifications and printed copies of the code so the GIF can be generated again.
“What’s the point?” you ask? Well, by now we all have realized that modern art is apparently not meant to make sense!
