Sameer Gaikwad
Design, tools, and taste. AI x Craft x Culture
MET's Got Talent: Finding Identity Through Bollywood
Summary: Two old warriors wake up in present-day London, are entirely overlooked, and then end up participating in a talent show under the spotlights.
What I Built
It's a funny and energetic short film in which two imposing suits of armour from the MET collection, a Japanese Gusoku and some European plate armour, come to life in the present day. After marching through Trafalgar Square and being ignored by a crowd who are too preoccupied to notice five centuries of history walking past, the two warriors discover their real purpose somewhere they were never meant to be: on a brightly lit talent-show stage, where they launch into a lively and perfectly synchronized Bollywood dance routine.
Why I Built It
I want to challenge the way we are accustomed to looking at objects from war. Armour is heavy, stolid, and disciplined- things that we link with violence and rigidity. That is why I gave these intimidating figures the very things they stand for instead: the joy, expressiveness and pure kinetic energy typical of Bollywood. The film rests on this contrast between the stiff, realistic style of bronze and steel and the fluid, celebratory choreography. It is an approach that uses visual irony to break down the museum's unspoken "do not touch" rule, and enables these two instruments of war to find a new identity based on performance and joy.
MET Artifacts Referenced: Armor (Gusoku) · European Plate Armour|
Instagram Reel - https://flyn.im/cfzNZTH
#floramuseumchallenge
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Liberati : A New World
A terracotta figure that had been stuck behind glass for millennia finally learns to fly.
What I Built
A visual narrative spanning three acts that brings to life a previously static, wide-hipped ancient terracotta statue of a woman. Rather than remaining behind glass in a case, she has been brought back into a rich, mythical, utopian world. The film starts with her bathing peacefully in a series of terraced hot springs with a group of figures like her, then moves toward a state of release until she finally attains complete freedom, floating weightlessly above vast desert canyons and ending with a thrilling, high-speed, manga-style animation.
Why I Built It
The entire work rests upon one contradiction: the physical reality of the object and the concept of absolute freedom. Since terracotta is heavy, earthy, and in every way deeply rooted, all the characteristics of the statuette tend to draw her towards the ground. I have given this ancient and imprisoned museum piece the very opposite experience: weightlessness and boundless joy. The video achieves this by creating an entire civilization around her and then allowing her to take flight, thus turning the historical artifact into a symbol of complete and unlimited liberation.
MET Artifact Referenced: Statuette of a female
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https://app.flora.ai/techniques/design-dna-transplant
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Retro Mobility STORIES
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