Controversial 9/11 Flipbook Challenges Media Outlets
Channel: Scott Blake
Date: 2011-02-12

With the ten year anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks approaching, most people can still remember where they were when they heard the news. Why is that? Artist Scott Blake has tackled this difficult and controversial topic with his flipbook dissecting the attacks.

Blake suggests that the media played a large part in making the attacks worse than they actually were by playing the incident over and over again. This type of repetition creates a sense of panic and fear in the viewers.

Dan Gilbert, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, said it best, "These are small-scale accidents, and we should be wondering whether they should get the kind of play, the kind of coverage, that they do. Surely that causes people to overestimate the likelihood that they'll be hurt in these various ways, and gives power to the very people who want to frighten us."
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_researches_happiness.html

Scott Blake's flipbook consists of images, frame by frame, of United Airlines Flight 175, smashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. When you flip the pages quickly, you see the images as a motion graphic, similar to a cartoon.

Accompanying the images are essays written by a wide range of people expressing their feelings about the September 11th attacks. More importantly, the authors of the essays were asked to reflect on, and respond to, the flipbook itself.

While it may seem hypocritical to display the same images the media repeated over and over again, his objective is that people will reflect upon the attack and begin to view it differently now that time has passed.

Every flipbook is assembled by hand. Blake prints, binds and cuts all his own work. In addition, each book is signed, dated and registered on his Barcode Art website. A percentage of each book sold is donated to the Twin Towers Orphan Fund, Fire Department of New York, and International Red Cross. Free downloads of the flipbook are also available on his website.

http://www.911Flipbook.com
http://www.BarcodeArt.com

If you'd like more information about the 9/11 Flipbook or other Barcode Artwork, contact Scott Blake at scott@barcodeart.com