Incredible plasticine animation imagines the worrying effect of overpopulation
- Text by Shelley Jones
In 1983 Francis Ford Coppola helped present and distribute a haunting film called Koyaanisqatsi – the name is a Hopi word meaning ‘life out of balance’ – exploring the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.
It’s 86 minutes of overwhelming time-lapse footage basically depicting how man is ruining the planet – swarms of people shuffling in and out of factories, malls and through spaghetti junctions in cars as well as decaying buildings and epicly hollowed-out mines. Philip Glass did the score, it’s kind of amazing.
Well that was over twenty years ago, and now we’re even further up shit creek, with the global population at 7.2 billion and almost 400,000 people being born every day (holy sheet). So it’s never been a better time for Crowded, a beautiful animation by London-based artists Andrew Khosravani and Cristina Florit Gomila.
Collaborating over a year to make this amazing stop-time animation made entirely out of plasticine (look at it, seriously!) the artists wanted to explore the industrialisation of the natural landscape in a creative new way. According to Andrew and Cristina:
“The denizens of Crowded amble through their ever-expanding habitat seemingly oblivious to their mutating landscape – while the voyeur sits back and inhales the swarming scenery.
The convivial tone veils the dystopian message of the narrative. Cranes, trains and automobiles instil a sense of constant industry – as the populous swells upwards, outwards, downwards and inwards – contorting and adapting – forcing the inhabitants to recast themselves.”
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