World’s Largest Animated GIF Created with Ground Paintings and a Satellite Camera

Artist INSA is known for creating mesmerizing animated GIFs using street art and photos. He was recently recruited by the scotch whisky brand Ballantines to create “the world’s largest animated GIF,” one that was created with gigantic paintings on the ground and photos from a satellite camera.

INSA and a group of 20 helpers gathered at a location in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in late 2014. The team painted giant patterns on the ground, doing one design per day over the course of four days. Each of the four paintings measured 14,379 square metes, meaning the project required a total of 57,515 square meters of paint.

The completed stages were photographed by an eye in the sky — a camera-equipped satellite orbiting our planet.

By combining the four frames and then looping them, an “infinite” animated GIF emerged:

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video showing how the project was done:

(via Ballantines via Laughing Squid)