Ebola: A Poem for the Living

For many in Africa, Ebola is surrounded by misinformation and even superstition when it comes to treatment. This video, created by Firdaus Kharas and Brent Quinn is designed to educate those affected by or in the line of the virus in a non-coercive way and through a wholly African voice and as such has been broadcast in a number of languages – this is the English version and it’s heart-rending but beautifully and sensitively made.

Heal

Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere but for this poor guy it just happens to be right in the middle of his restoration work on the Sistine Chapel.  So the restorer becomes the one who must be restored.  If you are old enough to remember the Six Million Dollar Man then this may remind you of that old TV show.  However, the likelihood is that you are not that old, so just sit back and enjoy.

In terms of animation it is a great piece of work by Ghost Productions.  It must be said, of course, that they would have a lot resting on its success because the company is a medical animation studio that produces surgical training, patient education and marketing materials for medical device manufacturers, hospitals, pharmacological firms, television stations, and public health organizations.

Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes

While many bemoan the dumbing down of TV as something terminal, those of us who live in the UK can afford a slightly smug moment every now and again. BBC4 is one of those rare channels that shows genuinely challenging television content and the above is a great example.

Hans Rosling is famous for his lectures - they combine the huge amount of data which is generally available to each and every one of us and shows them in a way which is easily comprehensible, despite the vastness of the data. Here, he shows the story of 200 countries over 200 years - all shown through the remarkable technology of augmented reality animation.

This is taken from a programme called The Joy of Stats.  If you are laboring under the impression that statistics are essentially boring then take a look at this excerpt from the show and then deny the fact that you were completely drawn in by it - if you can!

This is an amazing piece of footage - 120,000 numbers flash in front of our eyes in just four minutes and the data that is extrapolated indicates that perhaps the world in which we live is somewhat different from the world which most of us have in our imagination.

Image Credit Wikimedia

AIDS - Graffiti Animation Scores

The issue of AIDS is still huge, despite the fact that the media do not seem to be paying it a huge amount of attention recently.  However, people are still getting the virus and are still getting ill and are still dying - so I do not make any apologies for presenting you this short animation, made for the French market, which some of you may judge as a little OTT for Kuriositas.

However, please, if you are offended by things of a suggestive, saucy or ribald nature then do not click on the play button of this video.

However, if you like seeing humor used as a way of getting across a very important public health  message, then click play now.  This is a clever piece of animation - and not done on the cheap either - which uses a piece of graffiti (the type seen at least since the days of Pompeii) to deliver the message - by making it come alive.  It (let's call the young lad Dick) doesn't get to deliver its, er, message until it learns a particular lesson.

This is, I think, the kind of sexual health message that would get the point across to its chosen demographic (young, dumb and full of aplomb) and by doing so it might derail the sensibilities of an older generation or those inclined to prudery.  Produced by the French agency TBWA PARIS, it was directed by the very talented Yoann Lemoine. 

Sunflower Seeds Deemed a Public Health Threat

Image Credit Flickr User Loz Flowers

Furrowed brows and gritted teeth over t London’s Tate Modern museum. Just a few days after opening Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s marvellous installation – named simply Sunflower Seeds – has been closed down due to health concerns.

Image Credit Flickr User Phil Hawksworth

Only a short time after the one hundred million sunflower seeds made from porcelain, each one hand-painted, were installed in the museum’s Turbine Hall, curators began to notice ceramic dust (which is extremely unhealthy when breathed in) hovering over the work.

Image Credit Flickr User Phil Hawksworth

The museum decided that the risks presented by this dust were just too great. The public had been encouraged to walk, skip, dance and lie on the seeds and the museum faced potentially hundreds of litigious culture lovers with lung damage in the future. A no brainer ensued – bring the installation to an extremely untimely end.

Image Credit Flickr User Loz Flowers

It is a great shame – the installation had proven an instant hit and was one of the most anticipated works to have been displayed at the museum for years. Ai Weiwei who is considered a dissident by the Chinese government, must be absolutely beside himself as the installation took several years of planning to bring to fruition.

Image Credit Flickr User Webwetwork

The museum has released a statement saying that in no way shape or form was the decision made to close the installation because of pressure from the Chinese government. If that was the case then they should not have sought to quash the rumor – but to just let it lie. This sounds like protesting a little too much.

Image Credit Flickr User Loz Flowers

So, farewell, Sunflower Seeds. Such a shame. You were beautiful.