Yantra - James Whitney (1957)

[alexwilligs99]

VHS

[iChokedASmurfOnce]

I honestly can't see the "beauty" of this. I'm not bitching or anything I'm just saying I don't really understand how to appreciate this stuff. Ha. My art teacher suggested I look this stuff up. It seems pretty cool though.

Someone care to explain it to me, please? Ha ha, thanks.

[sclapione]

@ITegoArcanaDei418 yeah, but certainly not great in this context .... why can't people keep their wank off true artists videos ?

[tomtiedom]

music is from 'henk badings' if not mistaken.. kain and abel balletpiece

[BHLongboards]

TheGinz, while what you're suggesting is a nice thought, I must point out the complete lack of proof. Also, one could go so far as to say you're attributing human sentience to psylocibin mushrooms? Well what of Jaguars then? They've been proven to seek out and ingest them for their hallucinogenic effects, and yet no sentience. What gave rise to our current state was a complex series of interactions between us and our environment, yes, but over hundreds of thousands of years.

[mushroomagical]

Great film!!! Groovier than a star-castle with boots!

[vapourmile]

@ITegoArcanaDei418 Ok, that's great... let's see some of this greatest work.

[cArLiT02oo8]

if weed is what you bring to the table, weed is what you need. I don't. i want to free myself from drugs and alcohol when I create, I want my brain fresh. I want it to hurt. And when I discover something, i want to orgasm.

[poete35000]

To correct not important stuffs: this guy is SIR JOHN WHITNEY! Stop debate about: weed, surrealistic art when you don't understand... Watch, feel, let you guide... The real message of that kind of old (but global and visionary, more...) will not be received and will lead to misundertanding. Thanks for RESPECTING these simple "rules". It's an unecessery point of view from a young french bastard. Thanks for adding and sharing these images....

[ulekunkle]

@poete35000 i see your SIR JOHN WHITNEY and raise you a LORD BUCKLEY

[TheFinlandnator]

Weed makes you laugh at... well, pretty much anything and everything... creativity my ass.

[donalderoy1]

I vaguely remember thinking this a few weeks before I was born.

[filtig]

@ThomasFMPayne: you have a valid point, although for sure there were abstract animators that clearly stated they would do a lot of drugs. For example Harry Smith, one of the most important animators of the genre, would even list which drug each of his experiments was based on [you can see books by P. Adams Sitney on the topic]. And as the film was made in a very drug-liberated era, people tend to connect abstraction with trip-y scenarios. Problematic, for sure, but somewhat understandable too.

[digifilm]

Response to comment below - James did not use an analogue computer to make this film, it was all by hand. Read about his work at the online library of Center for Visual Music. (see articles by Moritz there). CVM preserved this film and transferred it to HD; you can view it in MUCH better quality at their archive in Los Angeles.

[ednolbed]

sometimes it's not even about being creative as such, but just exploring possibilities and studying material... amazing stuff this is...

[ednolbed]

sometimes it's not even about being creative as such, but just exploring possibilities en studying material... amazing stuff this is...

[alex99fever]

@_n huh

[MorBryAn]

the soundtrack was added in 1960

[tailendcharlie]

this is amazing..made before america even got into space,elvis was a brand new star!

[vapourmile]

Here's three cheers for pioneers.

[MsArtGeek]

They are brothers.

[erdavis7]

So James and John Whitney are two different people? Strange that their names are so similar and they both made early experimental computer animations...

[ShaktipatSeer]

Mesmerizing.. genius... many years ahead of it's time..

[pablocito007]

anybody know how this was done? Ginormously great.

[hadabee]

really liked! thanks for share

[rapper1918]

dis windows mdia playa

[mlaBreaker]

this is shit....what a fuck is that just small circles..... :S

[L0K3]

Great upload, thanks for turning me onto mr whitney

[triffski]

1957, fffff......... I feel so spoiled with After Effects...

[sydfan526]

I love Experimental Film. I've read about this and his other films - now i finally see them. Thanks! The Whitney brothers were way ahead of their time and I'm pretty sure they created the machine that made that 2001 Space Odessy psychedelic sequence towards the end of the movie.

[captainnintendo]

How excatly was that video made??

[ThomasFMPayne]

Go to Wikipedia and you will find the answer. There are several "James Whitney" entries, but look for the video artist. Very painstaking analog process, for sure!

[bunnybooties]

Way ahead of his time! I bet this was considered very avante-guarde and radical for the day.

[greg3331]

Very good! I saw this interesting movie during a experimental film festival in Italy in 2001.

[movax420]

Amazing, talk about being ahead of your time! I guess the weed wasn't as weak in 1957 as they say :)

[ThomasFMPayne]

Why would you think he was smoking weed?

The people who see MY vids think the same thing.

Don't you think people can be creative and imaginative WITHOUT getting "high"?

I'm not putting you down, and I'm not a hater, but a lot of very creative people have never even SEEN weed, much less smoked it.

[movax420]

Did you miss my smiley? I don't know if James smoked weed or not, but his videos are really psychedelic. To be honest they look more like he got inspiration from psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or maybe even LSD. But sure, maybe he didn't use any psychedelic drugs at all. I do think people can be creative without them. That there are a lot of creative people (and others) that have never even tried weed is really really sad though. It's the society's fault, but let's hope for a change in the future!

[oryandymackie95]

THANK YOU.

[zunk3r]

@ThomasFMPayne exactly! some people is crazy by nature, others needs some drugs to have that kink of visions... that's they way the world works... some comes blessed some need to get blessed.

respect,

peace

[zunk3r]

@ThomasFMPayne exactly! some people is "crazy" ( call it creative or whatever ) by nature, others needs some drugs ( weed isnt the most creative, i agree with you ) to have that kind of visions...

that's they way the world works...

some comes blessed some need to get blessed.

respect,

peace

[SkunkyMonky420]

@ThomasFMPayne

But then again, weed DOES help,

So does, acid.

[SpamNapkin]

@SkunkyMonky420 No it doesn't. Maybe in the field of music but not in the field of animation, which especially back then, was a very painstaking process.

[TheGinz11]

@SpamNapkin maybe art would not be 'painstaking' if one knew how to properly use psychedelics and cannabis. Only a fool's knowledge of art & its history can deny the influence of psychedelics in these processes. If one sacrifices creative expression for some technology only discernible by an elite class of mathematicians and programmers, one loses the beauty of the creation process itself. The elves teach: 'it is always easier than we are making it'

[Jadell]

@ThomasFMPayne What people often fail to remember is that visuals like these are inspired by nature, dreams, the things you sometimes see when you close your eyes in the dark; they have always been difficult to express in art, which is why when successfully conveyed (especially in the days before computer-generated art), they look all the more effective and frightening - because people feel slightly familiar with them. Hallucinogens just open the eyes of some people who otherwise wouldn't have.

[TheGinz11]

@ThomasFMPayne The imagination arises from ecstasy, as well as fosters its entrance into temporal/material existence. An ape in our past did not just say 'I am aware of the ecstasy called life', and consciousness was birthed; it emerged out of climatological changes that resulted in the contact between our hominid ancestors of Africa with the psychedelic mushrooms of the grasslands. Out of this symbiosis came self-expression of the human species, and without it, so goes the art of expression.

[hhhaaaooonnn]

@ThomasFMPayne I'm high right now.

[michaelcat05]

@movax420

I think it's pretty silly to assume that you can do stuff like this while high. All I want to do when I get high is eat cheezits and watch ninja warrior. Don't give credit to drugs, give credit to the artists.

[KlonoaKawaiiDesu]

wow. very mesmerizing. feels like i'm travelling through space.

how did he create those effects? this was WAY before the Scanimate! did he use lights or something?

[mohallia]

@KlonoaKawaiiDesu I remember reading about this. It took like five years to make and they used an analogue computer, which they retrofitted from an anti-aircraft gun from either the Korean War or WWII.

I know that doesn't really help, but god damn that's crazy isn't it?

[beyondghost]

wow man that made me loook at it!!!!!!!!!!!

[l88p]

wow...

[MikeyMcCrashCap]

You're my video game, bitch!

[AristYdes]

This is the best analogic abstract film ive seen so far. How could he make the points disorganize and organize so harmoniously and smoothly?

[binary132]

i read somewhere that he used machines to make the points and take the pictures.

[abizyb]

!!!

[gottlieb12987]

it was made in 57 and does anyone think 2001 took this as inspiration when he is traveling through time and space?

[101Bytes]

I am betting this guy done lots of acid . . .

[RedHimJoy]

Why is it titled Yantra ? What does it represent ? It was beyond me -- absolutely beyond my comprehension.

[gottlieb12987]

Time and space, a spirtual realization of time and space through meditation, i think?

[nirvana2187]

You can visit the iota center in west los angeles and see a decent quality DVD copy of this film and many other abstract movies and visual music and experimental films. It's a great place!

[digifilm]

Center for Visual Music in LA has preserved this film, and Lapis, and many more, and did HD xfers, you can see brilliant quality copies at their archive in LA. They have better much quality stuff than iota. Check out their store online, they have Fischinger and Belson DVDs.

[nirvana2187]

wow. this is mesmerizing and powerful to me. I love James Whitney's abstract films!

[klokwrkblu]

QUICK!!

someone post up the high quality versions of his work, so we can enjoy them properly.

[KENKENNIFF]

The music is amazing, its got a very creepy feeling of disorientation about it.

[moogyboy6]

Yeah, you have to love that early tape-based atonal electronic music. It seems very appropriate to this kind of animation, not to mention that it's of similar vintage (late '50s) by the sound of it. The murky sound quality of the 16mm print's optical soundtrack adds a lot of creepiness as well. I really like this film.

[kerrtex333]

I agree with sky44david. These animations are the ultimate art in film and James Whitney was the greatest. If he had only lived to complete "Li".

[larrywprice2]

what about Jordan Belson?

[Kinshasa9200]

i agree with you i'm surprised he does not have as many views as his peers.

[lightspace]

Jordan Belson is the absolute high priest.

[digifilm]

Jordan Belson dvd released through Center for Visual Music in LA. They are preserving more of his films now, like Chakra and Music of the Spheres

[MacXpert74]

This one is pretty creepy, mostly due to the soundtrack though. But it's still very interesting.

[kub73158]

You're right,unrelatedsegments.

It's neat to finally see some of these rare experimental/avant garde films.

It seems that many are submitted by those living in South American countries by young people. That's nice they have such an interest & enthusiasm for them;not to mention having access to them!

[kub73158]

Really great; much more interesting & complex than 'Lapis'.

[unrelatedsegments]

I was curious if you've seen Lapis on film, because the youtube video does not do it justice. If you haven't, you really should see it projected, (of course, it rare to see it screened at all) but the magnification, and the scale really do bring out alot of information you just can't experience on the youtube version.

[sky44david]

The highest form of film art. This and LAPIS and the rest of James Whitney's work are the epitome of film with spiritual depth.

[chartsandgraphs]

wow. any idea of where i could get i higher quality copy of this?