Whitney, James, Yantra, 1950 7

Brothers John and James Whitney began making experimental animated films in the 1940s, such as Film Exercises, in which the image generates sound. Yantra is a Sanskrit term for Tantric imagery in which geometrical representations of deities are visualized as a receptacle of the highest spiritual essence. The work attempts to emulate the expanded consciousness produced by Yogic practice. The films vocabulary is limited to tiny points of light that dance and flicker in complex, organic patterns. Although it was produced using relatively traditional materials and techniques and not electronics, Yantra nonetheless anticipated and influenced the formal and experiential qualities of psychedelic light shows, electronic video feedback, and computer animation of the 1960s and 1970s. The soundtrack, from Henk Badings Cain and Abel: Electronic Music Ballet (1957), which employed sine-wave and noise generators, a photo-electric siren, ring modulator, and reverb, among other devices, reinforces the films futuristic, yet blissful, quality. The work was shown on the dome of the San Francisco Planetarium as part of beat filmmaker Jordan Belsons Vortex Concerts in the late 1950s. The Whitneys, especially John, subsequently played a crucial role in the development of computational cinema and special effects, working first with analog, then later, digital computers. - Edward A Shanken, Art and Electronic Media (Phaidon, 2009).

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Whitney
• James
• Yantra
• 1950 7

[nirvana2187]

could you please upload the whole thing like this, in 480p as opposed to the complete 360p video clip that's already out there. That would be awesome!

[artexetra]

@CtrVisualMusic - Thanks for your comment. Can you give a more precise citations or links?