Kids not understanding work, Radiohead going down a gameful rabbit-hole, ultrasound turbocharging meditators… Vids to entangle you
Our regular audio-visual refresh of your distempered doors of perception…
Above is a grimly hilarious mini-documentary, on schoolkids’ responses to being introduced to the world of work and future careers. From Aeon:
JA BizTown is an elementary school programme in the United States that prepares children for adulthood by engaging them in a day-long simulation of the ‘real world’ – including opportunities to ‘operate banks, manage restaurants, write checks and vote for mayor’.
The short documentary The Field Trip follows a group of fifth-grade students in Portland, Oregon throughout their field trip to a simulated town – a large indoor area fitted with a bevy of faux buildings and storefronts. As the day unfolds, what is designed to be a valuable learning experience often doubles as an all-too-real window into the quotidian frustrations of navigating the bureaucratic maze of life in the modern workforce.
Donning business attire or hardhats, the students thumb through binders, hopelessly click at computer screen errors and find themselves being redirected to other buildings and departments. Using an observational style, the US filmmakers Meghan O’Hara, Mike Attie and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck pair endearing, laugh-out-loud moments with a somewhat bleak commentary on work in the 21st century.
The artwork for Radiohead’s fifth studio album Amnesiac, released 20 years ago this summer, was derived from the idea of a maze, and the band’s new interactive experience (free download here) harking back to the album is appropriately labyrinthine too.
The expansive digital exhibition is tied to Radiohead’s recent release Kid A Mnesia, a joint reissue of Amnesiac and 2000’s Kid A. The project, created with Epic Games, is the incarnation of the atmospheric worlds created by Radiohead, and is naturally soundtracked by their songs from the release.
The outcome is a “mutant re-engineering of Kid A and Amnesiac”, according to a blog post by frontman Thom Yorke and the band’s de facto artist-in-residence, Stanley Donwood, who together co-conceived the project with Radiohead’s long-time producer Nigel Godrich.
As for visuals, they had one guiding principle: “no new work”. Past source material was plentiful, which should come as no surprise for online visitors to the Radiohead Public Library. As a result there are ample relics from the band’s vast catalogue of artworks and recognisable motifs that fill the environments, including a spiky mountainous space built from the original Kid A album cover.
From the Guardian:
Can technology improve the way we meditate? At the University of Arizona, Dr Jay Sanguinetti and master meditator Shinzen Young are using ultrasound to improve our ability to achieve mindfulness – as well as enhance our cognition and wellbeing.
They believe it could revolutionise the way we treat those with depression and trauma. But as investors from Silicon Valley become interested in the technology, the pair are fighting to make sure the device is used in the right way and for the right reasons.