Viral Video

Globalization has led some to wonder if the world isn’t flat. You could say that modern technology makes it possible to transfer information so fast that the globe is no longer a vast sphere but a direct network. But as communication becomes increasingly mediated through technology, the world becomes flat in another sense. ARTINFO loves these five videos, all available on YouTube, that play with surface and the flat space of computer-generated reality.

1. With his unrelenting gaze upon superstars and skyscrapers, Andy Warhol used film portraits to expose a depth no deeper than surface. Warhol lends his aura to Burger King in this 1981 commercial, which shows the master of Pop eating a Whopper through the same unforgiving lens.

2. The comedian Liam Sullivan’s classic YouTube video "Shoes" feigns a Warholian love for the topical and trivial. A delightfully superficial work of entertainment, "Shoes" wickedly satirizes American society, critiquing the values of consumer culture and the objects that signify gender.

3. Trisha Baga navigates the same sea of popular culture in her series of short videos, "There’s No I in Trisha". Easily shifting from a parody of television sitcoms to a celebration of show tunes, Baga’s characters (all played by the artist) explore the dilemma of identity in a society overloaded with simulated reality.

4. For a metaphorical depiction of the blurred boundary between reality and illusion, check out "Matrix Ping Pong" and "Matrix Karate". These videos show real-life performances of the stunts seen in the 1999 film The Matrix. The analogue special effects are a stunning sight that wrenches the matrix into reality in the same way that Morpheus pulls Neo out of the matrix.

5. Although not exactly an art object, this clip of Ronald Reagan is a rare historical artifact. Reagan prepares to speak (via satellite) with the San Francisco 49ers following their win in Super Bowl XIX in 1985. Watch Reagan sit alone for ten minutes, awkward and mostly speechless, in what’s become an uncanny psychological portrait of the “Great Communicator.”