Subprime: The American Housing, Financial Crisis, Animated

Putting complex political issues into the form of art sometimes falls on its face. But art’s unique power to personalize and make big issues specific can be a powerful asset. We were already big fans of the animation work of Beeple, but the latest, hand-animated digital creation is especially poetic. It’s an essay on consumption, and it doesn’t focus – as the news has – on the crisis itself. Instead, in watching the idea of shelter blown to absurd proportions, in simple graphics reminiscent of The Sims, it gets at a notion of consumer excess that goes well beyond just the immediate, topical news. It’s an urgent cry for simplicity.

subprime from beeple on Vimeo.

There’s also a fantastic score, and the composer actually calls our attention this. (Not surprisingly, it has spread virally online, but I had somehow missed it – and it’s definitely a don’t-miss.) Kyle Vande Slunt writes:

It’s called Subprime and is an animated musing on our current financial crisis. The tag line is: "Watch the American housing market spiral out of control".

The visuals were done using Cinema 4d and the sound design / music were done using Ableton Live 8.

Thanks to Kyle and Beeple. Inspiring stuff, indeed.