12 March 2009

YouTube Art --ThruYOU

Many pieces of art come from taking stuff that's plentiful and available, taking that and then doing something new and interesting with it.

What could be more plentiful and available in our time than YouTube videos?

I learn about many cool projects from my Daily Dose subscription, but the ThruYOU project made by an Israeli musician and producer named Kutiman, is the coolest to date.

Music is a universal form. If you ever doubted it you won't after watching this. I am not a YouTube superfan (like some people I know) but mostly because all that material totally overwhelms me. Then there's all that time that disappears jumping from a Cincinnati rapper to a school orchestra quartet to some dude teaching funk chords to a theremin player to a mom singing with a baby in her lap to etc. etc. etc.

To me, the time spent feels mostly wasted free time, but the time Kutiman spent surfing around YouTube was put to beautiful creative use. It's astounding to me. He taps into some genius perception and memory by splicing together music and images that would never be in the same place but for his mixing them. I don't see how he kept it all straight enough in his head to piece it together.

But it's cool he did.

Check it out.