Visual Arts, Photography & Architecture Videos Hacker News Recommends

talk#6

8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box

GDC Festival of Gaming

“I recommend this talk to anyone who is interested in the details and history of working on limited colour palette games!”

13 HN recommenders · 2018–2026

documentary#242

1. How Buildings Learn - Stewart Brand - 1 of 6 - “Flow”

Stewart Brand

“It changed my view of a building from a static thing to a dynamic system, changing over time.”

8 HN recommenders · 2013–2020

talk#729

Christopher Alexander - Patterns in Architecture

Peter Petrash

“Just finished watching a great 1996 lecture by Christopher Alexander”

4 HN recommenders · 2016–2026

documentary#805

The Great Wave - Part 1

David Bull

“The series is up there with Clickspring's skeleton clock in my pantheon of "greatest long-form process videos”

4 HN recommenders · 2020–2026

talk#934

!!Con 2017: HDR Photography in Microsoft Excel?! by Kevin Chen

Confreaks

“It's short and fun, I recommend it to all HN readers.”

4 HN recommenders · 2017–2025

other#954

How To Be Alone

Andrea Dorfman

“I think it nicely captures the sentiment of doing things alone.”

6 HN recommenders · 2010–2026

lecture#983

Marc Levoy - Lectures on Digital Photography - Lecture 1 (21mar16).mp4

Marc Levoy

“It's short and fun, I recommend it to all HN readers.”

5 HN recommenders · 2019–2026

explainer#1048

How to Make an Attractive City

The School of Life

“This video is really informative in this regard and has changed my opinion on a few things”

4 HN recommenders · 2015–2018

other#1445

VLT (Very Large Telescope) HD Timelapse Footage

Nicolas Bustos

“the first time I really grasped that we're all together on a rock tumbling through the vastness of space”

2 HN recommenders · 2017–2026

talk#1455

KEYNOTE / Robert Erdmann

PyCon US

“This was the first talk I immediately felt the urge to share with multiple co-workers & friends.”

4 HN recommenders · 2021–2024

explainer#1701

what did you do

Noodle

“This is an excellent deep dive on the issues I spoke of”

3 HN recommenders · 2025–2026

documentary#2003

How Does Kodak Make Film? (Kodak Factory Tour Part 1 of 3) - Smarter Every Day 271

SmarterEveryDay

“it’s a fascinating look at the process of film manufacturing”

3 HN recommenders · 2022

talk#2008

BSidesLV 2013 3 2 7 Sixteen Colors Archiving the Evolution of ANSI and ASCII Art Doug Moore Bren

Adrian Crenshaw

“If you want to watch a cool talk about the evolution of NFO and ascii (color) art scene and processes, I recommend watching”

3 HN recommenders · 2015–2022

documentary#2045

Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence (2017)

Wei Yu

“Pretty interesting and sad at the same time. It's worth a watch, IMO.”

3 HN recommenders · 2021

talk#2073

James Kunstler: How bad architecture wrecked cities

TED

“Here's a far more engaging critique of car-first design by James Kunstler”

4 HN recommenders · 2011–2024

comedy#2180

Why are we changing maps? (from The West Wing)

SaltLakeUsersGroup

“my favorite scene from The West Wing”

3 HN recommenders · 2021–2026

commentary#2306

Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence

Jacob Geller

“Jacob Geller did a really interesting video essay”

3 HN recommenders · 2021–2024

documentary#2479

Building the Moroccan Court

The Met

“Here’s a great video [0][17min] documenting the Met Museum’s commissioning of moroccan mosaics”

2 HN recommenders · 2015–2021

documentary#2535

Extreme transformer home in Hong Kong: Gary Chang's 24 rooms in 1

Kirsten Dirksen

“I can't recommend Kirsten Dirksen's channel enough to people interested in architecture, energy efficiency, tiny homes”

2 HN recommenders · 2019–2024

demo#2800

Machine with Concrete - Arthur Ganson

Arthur Ganson

“I quite like how a lot of his work seems to have a punchline to it.”

2 HN recommenders · 2015–2025

documentary#2959

Oldest US mall blends old/modern with 225-sq-ft micro-lofts

Kirsten Dirksen

“Here's a detailed examination of one mall that converted to apartments”

2 HN recommenders · 2017–2022

documentary#2983

Behind the Film - Inside the ILFORD factory

ILFORD Photo

“The Ilford factory video is a fun watch”

2 HN recommenders · 2020–2022

demo#3319

Illustrating Crafting Interpreters

Bob Nystrom

“the time-lapse video of the entire process is like ASMR for geeks”

2 HN recommenders · 2020–2024

talk#3328

30c3 - Trevor Paglen - Six Landscapes - 131228 2300

KraftZeitung

“It's almost a decade old, but still very much worth your time.”

2 HN recommenders · 2013–2022

talk#3455

See how the rest of the world lives, organized by income | Anna Rosling Rönnlund

TED

“It helps me put stuff in perspective”

2 HN recommenders · 2018–2023

demo#3903

AI Live Painting in Krita - Interactive updates

Acly

“I'd recommend Krita with diffusion if you want to get into this.”

1 HN recommenders · 2023–2025

documentary#3954

Guerrilla Public Service 2011

Richard Ankrom

“If you've not heard of Richard Ankrom who fixed an exit sign on the 110 freeway, check it out.”

1 HN recommenders · 2018–2025

demo#4098

INCREDIBLE ZOOM | Nikon P1000 | Ben Lomond | Scotland

The Hovering Scotsman

“Check out this zoom test and you can see people 3.5 miles away it will blow your mind.”

1 HN recommenders · 2020–2023

demo#4109

strandbeest evolution

theo jansen

“eerily smooth, seemingly impossible walking exoskeletons”

1 HN recommenders · 2016–2022

explainer#4323

The Art Market is a Scam (And Rich People Run It)

Wendover Productions

“Good time as ever to plug Wendover's recent video about how the art world works.”

1 HN recommenders · 2021–2022

demo#4340

The artificial skylight that you won't believe isn't real

Lux Magazine

“If anybody wants to see a cool artificial light that mimics natural light well take a look at coelux”

1 HN recommenders · 2016–2020

explainer#4493

The British Museum is full of stolen artifacts

Vox

“I enjoyed this Vox video about how the British Museum holds many artifacts that were stolen.”

1 HN recommenders · 2020–2022

demo#4502

Hypercentric optics: A camera lens that can see behind objects

Applied Science

“Applied Science has a good video[1] showing how you can look around objects.”

1 HN recommenders · 2022–2026

other#4527

All Creative Work Is Derivative

Question Copyright

“They made a nice music video to further spread the idea”

1 HN recommenders · 2012–2022

documentary#4535

Lego-style apartment transforms into infinite spaces

Kirsten Dirksen

“I like this guy's sliding lego house”

1 HN recommenders · 2012–2018