Thought you knew everything about secret government projects in the 20th Century? Think again. Macedonian artist Damjan Cvetkov-Dimitrov created this series of simple, but surprisingly compelling, photoshopperies of "ancient high tech." Each combines historical photographs from World War I, II and the Cold War with evocative bits of CGI. The effect is slightly cheesy, but also kind of believable.


I especially love the contrast between the government workers in their hats and trenchcoats, milling around with old-fashioned cameras, staring at throbbing geometric shapes.


About this image, Cvetkov-Dimitrov writes:

In 1919, a relatively secret project by the British government was underway. Very few images are available since most of the information that was saved, was quickly scrapped.

And then there's this odd alternate history [click image to see non-wonky gif]:

The Eko project was Japan's answer to the looming threat of communism faced on a daily basis by japanese fishermen who had nets near the border with the Soviet Union. Much of the economy of Japan was based on export of raw fish and rice. Since it was such an important commodity to the Japanese and such a vital export element, billions of yen were invested in a shape shifting reflective ball that was determined would terrify those with socialist flirtations. Two years after the project was first tested, the sphere proved very effective, even so that it caused the fishermen to adopt it as their symbol, which the japanese government later implemented it into their flag along with the colors red and white, even though everything was monochromatic at that period of history.


You can see more bizarre madness on Damjan Cvetkov-Dimitrov's site