Never Been

May 4, 2008 12:18 AM

Never Been. A visual description of a year in the life of a fictional Eastern European village sometime around the early twentieth century. To explore "Never Been" click and drag the story.

An article from the BBC on the artist, Stuart Kolakovic, and this project. Via Drawn!

posted by TimTypeZed (17 comments total)

Wow, that's pretty cool. I followed the whole thing and was kind of sorry when it ended. I bet you'd find something new every time you look at it.

Great find.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 12:42 AM on May 4

wow! this is beautiful. i've never experienced any "web-based art" that has drawn me in quite like this one did.

pay attention, as nearly every character has a storyline.
posted by danman_d at 12:43 AM on May 4

Neat!
posted by loiseau at 5:12 AM on May 4

THis is very, very cool in so many ways. The presentation of good illustration in the web medium is fantastic. It's an online extension of the tradition of wordless books. And it's a storytelling site that not only presents a story of its own, but invites storymaking by its 'readers' - I couldn't help narrating storylines to myself as I looked at the characters, the teacher with his books, the old drunk, the couple dancing under the lanterns. If I were still teaching I'd want to find some way to incorporate this into an assignment.

Really neat! Thanks.
posted by Miko at 6:23 AM on May 4

Oh wow. He got the eastern-European sparkly-fancy pre-Christian style down *perfect*.
posted by notsnot at 6:41 AM on May 4

Exceedingly lovely.
posted by deafmute at 6:58 AM on May 4

Great stuff. Rummaging around his website I found his blog.
posted by ericb at 10:35 AM on May 4

That was amazing. Certainly a new way to "read" a story.
posted by lilkeith07 at 10:41 AM on May 4

I kept expecting it to come full circle, where the girl who did the wash became the old lady who was brushing her hair back towards the beginning.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:54 AM on May 4

I like how he represented the "hauntings"
posted by subatomiczoo at 10:58 AM on May 4

As stated in the BBC article, 'Never Been' was exhibited in the gallery at Projekts MCR. I found a photo of the installation. Kolakovic credits his brother with bringing the work online.

"I want to say a massive huge thank you to my genius graphic designer brother, Adam Kolakovic, for figuring out a way to get this all online for me! He's the most rippingest designer in town!"

posted by ericb at 11:09 AM on May 4

Wow, really incredible. I want to go do it again to follow each character.
posted by Pants! at 11:25 AM on May 4

Best of the web.
posted by milestogo at 3:13 PM on May 4

Way to use the interface in a novel way. Very nice.
posted by telstar at 4:34 PM on May 4

This is wonderful. I am such a nerd for pretty much anything Eastern European, so this is right up my alley. Thanks for posting this.
posted by medeine at 5:33 PM on May 4

@Miko: If I followed the storyline right, I think the old drunk is the same guy as the man dancing with the girl under the lanterns. Am I mistaken?
posted by danman_d at 12:58 AM on May 5

What, no pogrom? I was expecting a pogrom.
posted by orthogonality at 12:56 AM on May 6