When its video "One Week of Artwork" received 1 million hits on YouTube in one week, art collective Rinpa Eshidan quickly learned the meaning of the word "viral."
A "motion art" time-lapse video, "One Week" spread like an extraordinary virus after being featured on YouTube's top page in October 2006. The sped-up six-minute film shows the Rinpa artists painting playful graffiti-inspired illustrations that are quickly covered up with new ones. When it was posted, the video-sharing Web site was just becoming known in Japan, and the five-member art crew was amazed at the phenomenal response.
At the height of its fame, the YouTube version of the video ended up on "Good Morning America," the popular morning show by the U.S. broadcaster ABC.