On 12 August 2012, during the worst watched Summer guests-broadcast of all time (343,000 viewers) told trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort about The Johnny Cash Project. A great example of what crowdsourcing can do for creativity: in 2010, everyone was invited to add a drawing to an animated music video to Johnny Cash's latest song. We now know what and who is behind this: Google. Creators are Aaron Coblin and Chris Milk, two search engine employees who had already made their mark with the interactive web video of Arcade Fire.
The Johnny Cash video appears to be at the base of new, and much bigger project, that may well take the art of music video and animation to an extreme new level. They developed This Exquisite Forest, website and online toolbox in one, which allows anyone to get started with animation, and where everyone (including you) may and can build on the work of others. Even better: you can only start your own animation film if you have first contributed to another film.
The analogy with a forest is apt: each animation project starts with a single drawing, and each new drawing or short animation added to it adds to the trunk. Later, branches are added, with some dying off quickly, and others growing to the sky. The merging of the analogue world (the forest), with the digital (the animation tools and film) is logical and captures the imagination. Lidewij Edelkoort got that right, even if she didn't even know about this project, which was shown last month in the Tate Modern in London was launched.
There, you can also visit a room totally dedicated to the project, where you can wander through the virtual forest.
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