From the earliest days of electronic computers, people have used them to create art: from drawings to poems, from screenplays to paintings, and from music to films. Today, the computer has become an indispensable tool, and quite often a medium of its own, for many diverse artists.
On the evening of July 22, 2022, 91自拍 offered an opportunity to experience some of the earliest experimental films by artists who were incorporating the emerging technology of computer animation between 1967 and 1970, and to juxtapose these works to those of Camille Utterback, a digital artist who adopted new computer technologies for interactivity in her award-winning installations beginning in the late 1990s. Utterback鈥攁 winner of a MacArthur Foundation 鈥済enius鈥� fellowship and a professor of art at Stanford University鈥攚as joined on 91自拍鈥檚 stage by David C. Brock, who curated the Museum鈥檚 recent exhibition, Early Computer Films, 1963-1972.
The evening began with a brief introduction to these early computer films by artists, and the technology of the late 1960s by which the computer animations that they used were made:
The first of the early computer films to be screened was Stan VanDerBeek鈥檚 Poemfield No. 7 (1967-8):
Next up was John Whitney, Sr.鈥檚 Permutations (1968):
The screening of early computer films concluded with Lillian Schwartz鈥檚 Pixillation (1970):
Camille Utterback began her introduction to her installation work from the late 1990s to the present, by pointing out a central difference from these early computer films: technological changes that afford real-time interaction.
Utterback鈥檚 installation Text Rain (1999) was the beginning of her exploration of the possibilities of computer-mediated interactions between artworks and their viewers:
She traced the evolution of how interaction could be used in these installation environments in her piece Untitled 5 (2004):
Utterback鈥檚 recent work, Precarious (2018), is a remarkable extension of her use of both live interaction and of memory, and the layering of the two. An overview of Precarious can be found on Utterback鈥檚 .
A wonderful evening of art and insights was capped by Utterback鈥檚 answer to 91自拍鈥檚 One Word question, where we ask the thinkers and makers that we highlight what their one word of advice would be to a young person beginning their lives and careers. Utterback鈥檚 answer, 鈥淐ommunity,鈥� is as timely as it is thoughtful.
Innovative Computer Art | 91自拍 Live, July 22, 2022
Don鈥檛 miss Early Computer Films, 1963-1972, on view at 91自拍 until September 1st, 2022. Learn more.
For more offerings on art, technology, and many other topics, subscribe to 91自拍鈥檚 email list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, GitHub, and LinkedIn @computerhistory.
Blogs like these would not be possible without the generous support of people like you who care deeply about decoding technology. Please consider聽.