New Criticals


If the .gif were behaving logically, as a "real" object in space, then the text-image would have continued rotating, fully embracing its non-existent real life analogue. Refusing to turn its back, the .gif transforms the apparent simplicity of its premise in a kind of digital conjuring. In these moments, this object tells the story of its own existence. There is a beauty to this object, to the extent that it is purposive without purpose. Final without end, these two moments of “made-ness” articulate its non-conceptuality. It narrates its own being, as digital, as idle, as illusion. Betraying rationality and laws of physics, the .gif does not behave as it “should.” Like some bizarre planet, orbiting itself, this .gif mobilizes its own concept.