A short animated history of the GIF courtesy of the ace Sean Pecknold

It has been 25 years since the world took breath and wrapped their laughing gear round the Graphics Interchange Format – the very la-di-da name for what we all know and love as simply, the GIF. I think you’ll agree, it’s hard to imaging stumbling through blogs without bumping into a GIF that completely takes you by surprise, offering snippets of unique stupidity, hilarity, creativity and plain awesomeness. Whether it’s a dancing baby, crazed psycho cats or the cutest thing alive, the GIF has been there for us in all its wondrous glory. And now thanks to Sean Pecknold’s film and the exhibition its tied to – Moving the Still – we can all revel in how this phonomena came to be.