A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations

Warning: this film features rapidly flashing images that can be distressing to photosensitive viewers.

A wizard of the video essay form, the Dutch filmmaker, photographer and artist Michiel de Boer (aka Posy) specialises in using macro photography and digital effects to mine incredible visuals from mundane objects and images. In doing so, his work illuminates the hidden aesthetics and inner workings of the everyday world. In this short, Posy fixes his formidable lens on the world of electronic paper – used in e-readers and digital clocks, for example – in a quest to uncover why it tends to be, quite literally, a pale imitation of the real thing. Using extreme close-ups to explore various types of electronic paper display, Posy reveals the exquisite patterns and fascinating technology that underpins them, as well as why they have thus far failed to measure up to good old-fashioned ink and paper.