1stAveMachine: Manipulating Time, Space, Biology

Manhattan-based 1stAveMachine produces lush, hyperreal short videos that glisten with bleeding-edge CGI. The clip above, a music video for Alias made in 2006, is considered their breakout masterpiece: a succulent garden of bio-electronic cyberflora. Describing the clip, director Arvind Palep told CGISociety, “we were looking at a merge between synthetic biology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and what could spawn from them.”

Since that clip, 1stAveMachine, helmed by Palep and Serge Patzak (the former turned down a job from Industrial Light & Magic to join the startup), has produced short commercials for the likes of MTV Japan, Samsung and HP. But no matter how corporate their clients roster becomes, 1stAvenue keeps it weird, inviting comparisons to Chris Cunningham and Patricia Piccinini. Consider the below ad for Saturn, which 1stAveMachine describes as “a haunting hyper-sexual and stylized vision for the future”:


Shown above is the director’s cut, which features a naked lady. NSFW!

There are many more clips to be seen on 1stAveMachine’s site. Some favorites clips and image stills, after the cut. [via Paul Komoda]

10 Responses to “1stAveMachine: Manipulating Time, Space, Biology”

  1. Jerem Morrow Says:

    Effing hot. Hot hot hot.

  2. Seamyst Says:

    WOW.

  3. Amazing CGI Glitchtronica Video » Synthtopia Says:

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  4. one little simitopian Says:

    Utterly enchanting!!!!!! I now dream of growing a cyberflora garden.
    I could watch that samsung commercial over and over.
    (I never thought I could say that about an ad.)
    The beginning of that second one, with the lady, reminds me of Bjork’s “All Is Full Of Love” filmclip.

  5. What's in a name anyways? Says:

    Cool stuff Nadya,,, you get a gold star.

  6. Jessica Says:

    There you go again Nadya, proving once more, anything & everything fabulous ends up right HERE.

    This may be my favorite…

  7. Ridley Says:

    Wow. I hadn’t seen anything other than the Samsung commercial. This stuff is great.

  8. Cameron Says:

    While I thoroughly enjoyed the Saturn ad, It did not make me want to buy a car, at all. A hovercraft? Maybe, sedan? No.

  9. Seamyst Says:

    Yeah, I have no idea how they got Saturn out of that commercial, but it’s awesome anyway.

  10. Jovana Says:

    Hehe I remember seeing a video they did about some weird flying buttons that seemed mechanical as well as alive. For some reason it reminds me of my mushroom days heeheee