Art collective MSCHF launched a new project, ASCII Theater, that streams different popular movies for free daily but in an ASCII format.
MSCHF's latest experiment allows viewers to watch full-length movies in an ASCII art version using the PC's Command Prompt app.
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ASCII Theater Starts Film Showing
Upon its launch, MSCHF promised that ASCII would stream new titles daily. The first movie to hit the platform is Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and will be followed by A24's horror film "Hereditary."
ASCII art films are not entirely new as in 1997 New Zealand-based programmer Simon Jansen recreated the original "Star Wars" movie, which is still available today. However, Jansen's creation is made of text and lines, instead of pixels.
Based on the site, other popular films will be released in the following days. This includes "Shrek," "The Shining," "The Great Gatsby," and more.
To start watching the film, simply copy the film's command from the website and paste it into the command prompt app. The ASCII Theater works for both PC and Mac terminals.
MSCHF Challenges Copyright Limitations
In an interview with The Verge, MSCHF director of marketing, Matt Steiner shared that they plan to continue ASCII Theater until it gets shut down. Moreover, the director explained that copyright sparks conceptual productivity for them.
"It's one of the most personally-impacting areas of legal grey area. It's also a place where people experience subverting restrictive systems in casual life," he added.
Meanwhile, a law expert suggested that ASCII Theater has violated the rights of the owners of the film, given that a copyright owner has the right to prevent unauthorized adaptation of their work.
However, there is also a chance that the actual damages done to the films will be tiny since MSCHF is offering the service for free and is only showing it for 24 hours.
MSCHF has been served cease-and-desist orders from multiple companies including Vans and Nike for violating copyright law.
