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