Nightmares are supposed to happen while you sleep. It’s even right there in the name: NIGHTmare.
Lately, however, the miserable streams of violence and injustice happening in real time seem to have replaced the need for sleep-bound nightmares with a new, day-borne waking nightmare.
A teenager with an ax injures dozens on a train in Germany. Turkey’s leaders have instituted a state of chaos in that country. This year’s Olympics are in dire straits thanks to underfunded security forces and severe health hazards. Cops brutalize the citizens they’re sworn to protect; citizens are murdering cops. People kill each other daily in America.
And, oh yeah, Donald Trump might become president.
As such, I’m calling for a return to traditional, sleep-based nightmares. Although they won’t fully replace the waking horrors of this 21st-century world, they could at least provide a contrast that potentially takes the edge off seemingly day-to-day terrors.
To help kickstart this return to subconscious fears in lieu of real-time insanity, I offer up the nightmare-inducing animation of the United Kingdom’s Cyriak.
Fractal geometry and kittens
Since 2006, Cyriak Harris (Cyriak) has posted his bizarre animations to YouTube. As time progressed, he began to receive recognition for his works in the form of awards and media attention.
Although more widespread in the U.K., Cyriak’s animation style somewhat entered mainstream American consciousness thanks to his creation of various Adult Swim bumps and the opening credits for the Netflix series W/ Bob & David:
The style relies on fractal geometry and orders of magnitude (thanks Wikipedia!). Videos often begin with one simple sequence in which something banal happens (a cat meows, a man walks along a seaside, etc.), but then that small snippet of action multiplies and grows so as to become wholly removed from the original until it resembles something monstrous and unwieldy.
In short, it’s the stuff nightmares are made of. My hope is that by sharing a few works from Cyriak, you may supplant the abysmal reality of social media’s tragedy parade with a more whimsical brand of hellish torment. The following videos are presented in chronological order, from 2009 to the July 2 release of Cyriak’s latest work.
‘cyriak’s animation mix’
Baaa
Welcome to Kitty City
Cobwebs (originally created for Showtime)
7 billion
