Multimedia Literati

Sitting down to a good read just isn't what it used to be. As blogging and web editorial increase in popularity, print publications—let alone a good Hemingway—are no longer an easy sell. Flash Fiction set out to change all of that.

Aiming to bring some of the biggest contemporary names in literature to the forefront of public attention, Diesel joined forces with digital studio Idealogue and the Accompanied Literary Society to present Flash Fiction, a large-scale video installation showcased at the newly opened One York Building. Ten creative thinkers—including short story aficionados Jonathan Ames and Column McCann, Sloane Crosley of I Was Told There'd Be Cake fame and Academy Award-winning screenwriter/director/producer Paul Haggis—wrote short, contemporary stories based around the Diesel Fall 2008 campaign images. These original tales were then reinterpreted into an Idealogue film. To make the pieces relevant in today's media-savvy society, the shorts engage the audience to "read between the lines" rather than delivering a complete story. With edgy black-and-white pictorials, the literary films succeed in capturing the attention of book worms and film buffs alike.

Flash Fiction ran as a full scale video installation complete with handwritten manuscripts and the images that inspired them. If you missed this contemporary literary viewing, have no fear—a video of the installation is available online should you need a quick view or read.

  —Kyle Landman