Art film of zits being popped

Wim Delvoye made a lush artistic film of extreme closeups of people popping zits. It brought back memories of my teenage years. (Via haha.nu)

[#1 posted by holtt, March 13, 2008 2:37 PM]

:(

[#2 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 2:38 PM]

OK, I lasted till the first cup's worth

[#3 posted by holtt, March 13, 2008 2:41 PM]

"Jardin is tired of her tech-update site getting blocked by private and government filters just because it occasionally posts respected artworks that might include nudity."

And gross stuff.

[#4 posted by mujadaddy, March 13, 2008 2:41 PM]

Wim Delvoye made a lush artistic film of extreme closeups of people popping zits.

Your vivid description makes me gag.

[#5 posted by mwiik, March 13, 2008 3:07 PM]

This should be followed by a unicorn chaser.

[#6 posted by samrolken, March 13, 2008 3:08 PM]

Unicorn chaser please!

[#7 posted by Doomstalk, March 13, 2008 3:09 PM]

Ugh, those are like some kind of super zits. I think that might necessitate a unicorn chaser.

[#8 posted by roboshobo, March 13, 2008 3:09 PM]

unicorn chaser? no?

[#9 posted by deliciousidiot, March 13, 2008 3:10 PM]

Hear, hear on the unicorn chaser. I feel nauseous. urp.

[#10 posted by someofmyorange, March 13, 2008 3:10 PM]

D: but I can't stop watching

[#11 posted by aelfscine, March 13, 2008 3:12 PM]

One more thing that humanity can cross off the list of things to do before it dies.

[#12 posted by Sxe, March 13, 2008 3:15 PM]

Jeez... I don't remember my zits ever being that... voluminous? Voluptuous? Forthgiving? Eruptive? What word am I looking for here?

Definitely a class example of can't-look-away-ness.

[#13 posted by Stefan Jones, March 13, 2008 3:15 PM]

Well, I don't have to worry about hitting the office cookie jar for the rest of the afternoon.

[#14 posted by Antinous / Moderator, March 13, 2008 3:23 PM]

Unicorn requesters,

Be more specific, lest you receive an unicorn lancing a carbuncle with his horn.

[#15 posted by paddysat, March 13, 2008 3:29 PM]

I know all of the words in the title but together they don't make sense.

*watches video*

Nope. Still doesn't make sense.

[#16 posted by kaifilion, March 13, 2008 3:30 PM]

Please, someone, anyone, tell me that those were not normal zits. That the subject of this film had some incredibly rare, but incredibly horrible disease that made his body produce such astonishing amounts of sebum. That can't be normal... right?

[#17 posted by semiotix, March 13, 2008 3:30 PM]

That just grabbed some part of my brain like a vise. I don't know what it is, and I can't say it's a pleasant feeling, but holy crap was that riveting.

All I can guess is that at some point in our monkey ancestry squeezing zits must have been absolutely vital to our survival.

[#18 posted by ill lich, March 13, 2008 3:34 PM]

(Jeez, buncha wusses demanding unicorn chasers!)

I remember seeing this maybe a year ago, and for the first minute my sense of scale was way off (like I remember from some parts of "Koyannisquatsi")-- I wasn't sure what I was looking at. . . some fungus 'sprouting?' a worm emerging from a cyst?

Ahhh the miracle of life.

[#19 posted by djam, March 13, 2008 3:43 PM]

urrgh, amazing what people are willing to do in the name of art!

[#20 posted by valis, March 13, 2008 3:45 PM]

I couldn't look away, but I did want to scream, "Worm sign!"

[#21 posted by Joel Johnson, March 13, 2008 3:48 PM]

I love my job.

[#22 posted by Aaron T., March 13, 2008 3:52 PM]

Sometimes people mislabel sebaceous cysts as "zits".

[#23 posted by KurtMac, March 13, 2008 4:04 PM]

It brought back memories of my teenage years.

I wish this brought back memories of only my teenage years. Instead, it brought back memories of this morning, and the morning before...

[#24 posted by noen, March 13, 2008 4:08 PM]

Oh no, I know better than to look at that and you can't make me.

[#25 posted by Haldor, March 13, 2008 4:12 PM]

I think I'll skip this one.

[#26 posted by BadKittyM, March 13, 2008 4:18 PM]

That was utterly disgusting, and utterly fascinating.

[#27 posted by Maurik, March 13, 2008 4:18 PM]

This is STILL not worse than lotus seed boob. NOT WORSE.

[#28 posted by Guysmiley, March 13, 2008 4:18 PM]

Ok... those were not zits. I don't know what that was but it's burned into my skull forever.

[#29 posted by fatuousplatitudes, March 13, 2008 4:22 PM]

No, no, no!
It's the music that makes this so riveting/revolving.
It's those damn unicorns singing, I reckon.

[#30 posted by fatuousplatitudes, March 13, 2008 4:24 PM]

OK, revolting not revolving, I know.
Long day; too many zits popping off.

[#31 posted by gwyllion, March 13, 2008 4:28 PM]

ummmmm - YUCKO - these are like no zits I have ever seen (had - even my best blue ribbon prize winners) - they have GOT to be sebaceous cysts

[#32 posted by alisong76, March 13, 2008 4:34 PM]

Disgusting. Yet fascinating and ultimately satisfying. Yes, OK, I'm a zit-popper from way back.

[#33 posted by Gabe, March 13, 2008 4:45 PM]

This was *oh* so satisfying to watch. I should make the sequel with scab picking!

[#34 posted by holtt, March 13, 2008 4:50 PM]

Gabe I was just going to suggest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzFNkPI-S2I and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auA2_8oSft0

Google for "dermatillomania video" for some hot hot action.

[#35 posted by jennfrank, March 13, 2008 4:55 PM]

I WAS able to look away, actually. And I did! I had to stop watching!

[#36 posted by Agent 86, March 13, 2008 5:03 PM]

Reminded me of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9oym-7rlW8

(which made me gag a little)

[#37 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 5:12 PM]

why, that looked just like Mr. Saliferous

[#38 posted by JeanHuguesRobert, March 13, 2008 5:19 PM]

Definitely not twentieth century style.

[#39 posted by Seedouble, March 13, 2008 5:22 PM]

Spider bit for the win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd0uDaIZIyg

[#40 posted by holtt, March 13, 2008 5:39 PM]

Remix the OP video with a porn sound track? relabel it "money shots" perhaps?

[#41 posted by heydemann3, March 13, 2008 5:44 PM]

Urk-can I recommend a good dermatologist? There's suffering for your art, then there's making us suffer for your art.....

[#42 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 6:01 PM]

amazing, the video actually gagged my system. Seriously, it crashed. There was even a "burrr!" from the speakers. I'm afraid to open the case.

[#43 posted by Noddy93, March 13, 2008 6:05 PM]

them are zits that only half satisfy. they're not even to ingrown toenail status.

I'd love to have one of them spider-bite experiences.

[#44 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 6:06 PM]

anyone link this yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlK62rjQWLk

[#45 posted by Apashiol, March 13, 2008 6:25 PM]

This is better than lotus seed boob.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471-2482-4-5-s1.mpg

[#46 posted by Hounskull, March 13, 2008 6:35 PM]

Art? Sure. It's thought provoking.

There's nothing rationally to fear or be revolted by that video viewed over the internet. Nor anything particualy abnormal about those zits or whatever the technical term is. It's the magnification that makes each monstrously huge. The fingernails are far larger than the screen so those zits must be a fraction of a millimeter.

Regardless, it definitely gots my instinctual pro-sanitation and anti-disease "yuck" response going strong.

I take from it that even fairly common and benign things may seem bizarre and monstrous if the viewer loses perspective.

[#47 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 6:41 PM]

what if it were alive?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B7Top18qXY&feature=related

[#48 posted by Adam, March 13, 2008 7:19 PM]

ahhh... one more notch for my "i hate boingboing" belt. my "i love boingboing" belt still has more notches but, yeah, this one goes in my other file. (and, no, i'm not EVER going to watch this vid.)

[#49 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 7:25 PM]

you've got a BB Belt? I want a decoder ring.

[#50 posted by Antinous / Moderator, March 13, 2008 7:54 PM]

Sounds useful for autoerotic asphyxia gone horribly wrong.

[#51 posted by stinkingpig, March 13, 2008 8:31 PM]

hah, that was nothing... they were all whiteheads and blackheads! Now, if only some of the septic, pussy, oily, bloody, swollen blowouts I've had the pleasure to enjoy could have been captured. I'm talking about the kind of zit that pops audibly and sprays the mirror from three feet away with a broad fan of semi-liquid matter, or the kind of zit that actually produces sympathetic zits around it, or the kind that swells up around the base of the hair follicle like moss on a tree. Sure, a little blackhead might count as a zit, but it's hardly worthy of the name next to the kind of boil that has a week-long lifespan.

[#52 posted by apokalypse, March 13, 2008 8:36 PM]

mmmmm. hungry.

[#53 posted by Uncle_Max, March 13, 2008 9:16 PM]

I agree with #29, that is the most intriguing soundtrack that they picked.

[#54 posted by Chocolatey Shatner, March 13, 2008 9:36 PM]

Shit like this is why I hate art. Or rather, "art".

[#55 posted by Takuan, March 13, 2008 9:48 PM]

but what it were your royalties being squeezed out?

[#56 posted by KlokWerk, March 13, 2008 9:54 PM]

Apparently "scab picking", "booger flicking" and "anal probing" had already been done.

[#57 posted by Draconum, March 13, 2008 11:09 PM]

This was gross... but sadly I must say that I highly enjoy the art of expelling the contents of zits. For some reason, my sister does as well - she even begs her boyfriend to let her pop his zits, too.

I also enjoy things like pulling off huge sheets of sunburned/dead skin. I think we got that from my mom or something.

The question is, is it weirder that I'm a furry or that I like popping zits? I think there are much worse idiosyncrasies to have :)

[#58 posted by Agent 86, March 14, 2008 12:21 AM]

Well, for the furry in the audience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQdY-AbgFE4

(and, this wouldn't need to be done if you just have it drained/popped regularly)

[#59 posted by treq, March 14, 2008 1:41 AM]

Brilliant.

Notice the gagging, stomach cramping nauseous repulsion you experience from the visuals simultaneously with the sense of intimacy and uplifting beauty from the song and lighting?

Pure cognitive dissonance mate, and because this piece provides the opportunity to experience that dichotomy in such a delineated whole is why it's art.

-plus you can rickroll someone with it :P

[#60 posted by atomelectron, March 14, 2008 4:25 AM]

Can you use a unicorn horn to lance a zit? Just wondering

[#61 posted by ZippySpincycle, March 14, 2008 10:13 AM]

Oh yeah. I gotta buy toothpaste.

[#62 posted by Anonymous, September 10, 2009 2:51 PM]

brian's carbuncle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-AlZsQu7Yc