Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018

Sept 28, 2018–Apr 14, 2019


All

4 / 7

Previous Next

Signal, Sequence, Resolution:
Image Resequenced

4

Several of the “programmed” works here reflect on how rules and code are used to rearrange images. Nam June Paik’s massive wall of televisions, Fin de Siècle II, for example, choreographs music videos and “dissolves” the television program into combinations of dancing patterns, providing a different framework to understand broadcasting. Other works resequence images while engaging with such varied subject matter as image processing, interactive storytelling, and political commentary. Steina’s multichannel video installation Mynd investigates the aesthetic effects of software processing, while Lynn Hershman Leeson’s interactive installation Lorna prompts visitors to navigate a branching narrative with multiple endings and the two works from Barbara Lattanzi’s series C-Span x 4 annotate news reportage with subtitles borrowed from a political sci-fi film or karaoke-format song lyrics.

Lillian Schwartz, Newtonian I, 1978

Green and blue abstract shapes.
Green and blue abstract shapes.

Lillian Schwartz (b. 1927), Newtonian I, 1978. 16mm film transferred to video, color, sound; 4 min. Collection of the artist. © Lillian F. Schwartz

Lillian Schwartz made these pioneering computer generated films at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where she was artist-in-residence from 1969 to 2002. 

In Newtonian I Lillian Schwartz draws upon mathematical systems to create the illusion of three-dimensional images. Schwartz was interested in the unpredictability of the macro language systems used to create this films, which generated unexpected forms by randomly selecting the areas and shapes into which they would grow.


Artists


Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection

View 67 works

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.