outside event 1

Earlier this semester I went to a presentation by my friend Aaron Rietz at Oddball Films. The show was called "Yesterday's Futures: Creeping Technology & The Dawn of Computer Graphics" a collection of short CG films from the 1970's through the early 1980's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7h0ppnUQhE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2kd1B0Ybto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44i05aaoXN4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44i05aaoXN4&feature=related

It was actually a really fascinating event. People always look back on the Disney film "Tron" as the first CGI, when in fact- it was the culmination of over 15 years of prior CGI work pioneered by artists such as John Whitney and Robert Abel. In fact, Robert Abel contributed to the CG work on "Tron".

There were several films presented at the event (including Whitney's "Arabesque" posted above)- most of which aren't available on Youtube, but I have attempted to corral a few videos from online to illustrate what kind of films were collected for this interesting and impressive video exhibition.

I've always been fascinated by the possibilities of computer animation, and I still think that some of these early CGI creations are some of the most beautiful, inspirational and innovative advancements in modern art.

*edit: I just noticed that my youtube videos aren't showing up as videos on my blog. I'll try to fix them later- until then, please highlight them and follow to the addresses listed to look at the videos :)