William Walks Again William, a 4,000-year-old blue faience hippopotamus, is The Met’s beloved mas...

William Walks Again William, a 4,000-year-old blue faience hippopotamus, is The Met’s beloved mas...William Walks Again William, a 4,000-year-old blue faience hippopotamus, is The Met’s beloved mas...

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Mayank Tiwari

• Sep 8

William Walks Again

William, a 4,000-year-old blue faience hippopotamus, is The Met’s beloved mascot. But behind his cheerful turquoise glaze lies a dark ritual: when buried in the tomb of Steward Senbi around 1900 B.C., ancient Egyptian priests deliberately snapped his legs to prevent his destructive river spirit from harming the deceased in the afterlife. Three of his four legs are modern restorations.

"William Walks Again" dramatizes the rupture of this ancient curse:

The Meir Tomb (1900 B.C.): An ancient Egyptian priest ritually fractures the faience figurine's legs by torchlight.

Midnight in Gallery 111: Present day. Molten 24k gold flows into William's cracked limbs via sacred Japanese kintsugi, healing the severed seams.

The Vitrine Shatter: Living Nile water lilies (Nymphaea caerulea) bloom as the security vitrine dissolves into suspended crystalline light.

The Colossus of Dendur: William expands into a colossal three-story guardian striding through the flooded Sackler Wing past the ancient Temple of Dendur.

Dawn at Central Park: Striding out into the morning mist, he reclaims his rightful place as an eternal protector of nature and art.

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Om Shukla

• Sep 8

So Cute

Abhinav Awasthi

• Sep 8

“William Walks Again” is such a powerful concept. The kintsugi transformation into a colossal guardian is insane

Ayush Shukla

• Sep 8

loved the creativity.

Ahmad Samama Salehien

• Sep 6

This is my 2nd Submission Check my 1st submission at this link: https://on.contra.com/CbjhLm Inspired by: Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga, Francisco Goya, 1787–88, from The Met's open archive. Link to Original Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436545

I liked this painting because of the boy at its center, Manuel, dressed in a striking red suit, holding a magpie on a string while three cats watch him from the shadows. Even as a child's portrait, it felt tense, like something was about to happen. It looked like a moment frozen right before a story unfolds.

What I made: I turned Manuel into a toy doll, kept his red suit, his pose, his face, everything the same, just changed what he is. In my video, a father buys the doll from a toy shop and gives it to his little daughter, and they walk out together. I chose a girl instead of a boy on purpose, it felt like giving Manuel a second life completely outside the world he was painted into, away from the cats, the cage, the tension, just a toy being loved.

How I made it: I downloaded the painting image from The Met's open archive, then imported it into FLORA, connected the picture to a text prompt node, then connected both the picture and text prompt node to the video node I also made an element Doll, and selected the Seedance 2.5 model with a 30 second clip. I kept the workflow as simple as possible.

Why I made this: I wanted to take Manuel out of the painting and out of the museum, and give him an actual childhood, even 230+ years later. I think his portrait still holds so much presence that it deserves to live on, just now as something a child can actually hold and love, not just look at.

Instagram post link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc8SwEJMwP3/ Twitter(X) post link: https://x.com/AhmadSauleh/status/2096539462402466095?s=20

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Jessica Fiona

• Sep 6

Awwwww so sweeet, ideaaa!!!

aditya singh

• Sep 6

An Etruscan black-figure bowl reimagined as a 60,000-seat football stadium. The idea: the vessel was already a stadium — a deep bowl with a procession of animals running around it, made to be read in the round. It only needed scaling. I kept the silhouette exactly (widest at 60% height, narrow footring, roof flaring past the belly) and made the undercut real with a raking diagrid over a recessed plinth. The one rule was that the ornament had to be built, not printed: glazed terracotta and precast for the cream ground, anodised aluminium inlay for the animals, perforated Corten for the red wings, brushed bronze for the banding. Inside, the same creatures are rebuilt as woven steel cages that glow under floodlight. The film is one unbroken 30-second move from the plaza, through the frieze, up to the aerial, down through the roof into a live match, and in to a single sphinx. Flore Project Link: https://app.flora.ai/join-project/8cb7204e-68ac-45c4-a702-478c3a852f96 Met Art Link: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/256846 #floramuseumchallenge

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aditya singh

• Sep 6

See how made this in Flora

Ahmad Samama Salehien

• Sep 6

This is my 3rd and last submission, I have many Ideas so I combined them into one, Inspired by: 1. Tip of a Pointer, Bayzantine 1080–1150 As cylindrical bullet seats Link to Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/466296 2. Watch pobably swiss, ca. 1815-20 As key charm Link to Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/193359 3. i- Terracotta plate, Greek, South Italian, Campanian, Teano, ca 330-300 BCE Link to Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248185 ii- Plate, ott and Brewer American, Retailer Bailey, Banks & Biddle American, ca 1884-90 Link to Art: iii- Plate America, ca. 1800-20 Link to Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/5996 iv- Plate, Spanish, late 14th-early 15th century Link to Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/468520 v- Plate, 1736-95 Link to Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/6448 As Ear Rings What I built: I made a video which shows the use of old Art as being used in modern daily life as different objects Why I built: I built this because I think the old Art can be used in modern day if we look it from new and different perspective, I wanted to give a different point of view to everyone for seeing the old Art differently In short I used multiple old art works and I tried to show how they can be used in today's life In all my three submission I focused on the Judging points specially, building the world around the art, and changing one thing about it, and making it feel realistic Instagram Post Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc84QrYNYrE/ Twitter(X) Post Link: https://x.com/AhmadSauleh/status/2096623920396796398?s=20

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