Ed Emshwiller

Biography

With Sunstone (1979, USA), Ed Emshwiller developed one of the earliest computer animation works in the Computer Graphics Lab, New York, where through mapping, he changed a cinematographic moving image. Using 3-D animation he transformed an electronic image into the form of a moving cube – a milestone in computer animation. He was primarily interested in exploring movement and finding visual solutions to spatially represent a temporal course of events. In his videofilms, (e.g. Scape-mates, 1972, USA) he used scan processors and computer animated imagery to achieve with analog the video effects of three-dimensionality. He also used chroma-key effects, making electronic space appear to be in constant transformation. Emshwiller’s preoccupation with the manipulation of time, movement and image was also apparent in Crossings and Meetings, (1974, USA), where virtual movements and multiple layers of movements created the effect of graphic density; here, with each single step, a walking figure appeared to be entering itself or into the same image position – as though there was no ‘real’ movement.