We're All Going on a Virtual Holiday? Escapism and Manipulated Worlds - Exploring Nicolas Gebbe

https://www.thesunsetspecial.de/video   https://www.nicolasgebbe.de/the-sunset-special

I stumbled across Nicolas Gebbe's work while scrolling through Instagram. That's just the way now but I find some very exciting artists on Instagram, it is a platform for sharing and is a good way of growing a virtual following, especially in this contemporary social media age. The work I stumbled upon is called The Sunset Special. I saw varying clips and snippets that really peaked my interest. From what I can gather it follows a virtual family and they vocally meander over trivial everyday conversation, that in reality is everyday small talk, but is emphasised and manipulated in way that highlights its mundanity. The voices are static artificial robot voices, that really alienates this everyday language. It's full of humour.

I don't know what it is about the low res graphics and the glitch style aesthetics but it really captures a strange nostalgia, especially for those early Playstation 1 games. Using that clunky low resolution, to further create a captivating recipe of weird but delicious visuals. It all feels like a fever dream, but one that I wanna experience pixel by pixel. 

I would love to fully experience the work outside of the confines of Instagram Reels, but it's not available to view. I found a website and some descriptions, that almost feel like its advertising a virtual holiday package gone wrong. The state of the world right now, a virtual beach holiday sounds amazing.

It has some exciting meta moments in it. Viewing this on instagram was very jarring, as I was watching a virtual person scroll through a virtual instagram - there's a rabbit hole for you. 

The description on his Gebbe's website explains:

" The Sunset Special is an interdisciplinary, multimedia project centered around an animated short film. The project deals with the effects of reality distorting imagery and narrative spread by social media and advertisement through new technologies. It examines their connection to nostalgia, desires, and wanderlust and deconstructs the perfectly customised, digital products: The idea of the unique trip, the perfect partner, the ideal life..."

Definitely hits that on head. What is the connection between low resolution pixel graphics and nostalgia, that is so intoxicating? Something to dwell on!