CALCULATIONS: PIONEERS OF COMPUTER ANIMATION
THURSDAY MAY 4 @ 6:00 PM
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N. State
CHI IL .US
$ 9 USD

Decades before Hollywood CGI spectaculars, artists worked with computers to create an aesthetic specific to the machine. At IBM, Bell, and in their own home-built labs, they generated visionary spectacles from mathematical precision–complex abstractions, stroboscopic patterns, kinetic rhythms, and volumetric illusions. Tonight's program is a cross-section of films by these early pioneers-from John Whitney's stunning, analog-computer-generated CATALOG (1961, 7 min.) and the pulsating geometry of Lillian Schwartz's ENIGMA (1972, 4 min., archival print) to the dense digital metaphysics of John Stehura's CIBERNETIK 5.3 (1965-69, 8 min., archival print) and the allegorical characters of Peter Foldes' HUNGER (1973, 12 min.). Also on the program: HUMMINGBIRD (Charles Csuri, 1967 10 min.); SUNSTONE (Ed Emshwiller, 1979, 3 min.); CALCULATED MOVEMENTS (Larry Cuba, 1985, 6 min.); POEMFIELD NO. 5: FREE FALL (Stan VanDerBeek, 1966, 7 min.); PERMUTATIONS (John Whitney, 1968, 7 min.). 1961-1985, Canada/USA, 64 min.
16mm.

[FRAY]
Tonight's show is an instance of [FRAY], a distributed series of screenings, discussions, student initiated projects and a conference. [FRAY] traces intersecting hyperthreads of time, screen and code-based experimental New Media art hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Film, Video, and New Media.

[FRAY]: http://fvnm.info/fray
CATE: http://www.artic.edu/webspaces/siskelfilmcenter/2006/april/edge.html