Center for Visual Music

Archive & distributor of Oskar Fischinger and other experimental animation, visual music. Mary Ellen Bute, Jordan Belson, Charles Dockum, Jules Engel films.

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Images from a 16mm presentation reel created by Jordan Belson and used in the Vortex Concerts, 1959. Preserved by Center for Visual Music. Our popular virtual seminar returns, “Jordan Belson, Vortex Concerts and the Origins of Expanded Cinema.” Begins June 11, limited enrollment.

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Our popular virtual seminar returns, “Jordan Belson, Vortex Concerts and the Origins of Expanded Cinema.” Begins June 11, limited enrollment. Stills from Seance. Belson integrated some of the patterns he projected there into several of his films. https://t.co/LLQMm521Sa

[ArtMeta @artmetaofficial]

Digital Masterpieces: From Code to Canon

Debuting this summer at @ArtBasel's Zero 10.

Complimented by an extensive essay and online catalog, the hybrid exhibition will survey 70+ years of digital art from pioneers like Charles Csuri, Herbert W. Franke, Rebecca Allen, + more.

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

https://t.co/hVqHM65uHu

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Our popular virtual seminar returns, “Jordan Belson, Vortex Concerts and the Origins of Expanded Cinema.” Begins June 11, limited enrollment. https://t.co/j33Ajldruk

[Paul Prudence @MrPrudence]

Thomas Wilfred
Lumia Diagram, c. 1943

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Flashback: CVM loaned Mary Ellen Bute’s film Abstronic to Centre Pompidou, Paris for the Women in Abstraction exhibition. Abstronic is one of her Visual Music films with oscilloscope imagery. We also loaned two archival photographs. Photo by yann beauvais. #maryellenbute

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

“We can take a mathematical formula and develop a whole composition exactly synchronized - the sound and the color following a chromatic scale.” - Mary Ellen Bute, 1936. From the Bute Collection at CVM.

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

@TeleCulture See the Fischinger site for full bio, articles about his time at Disney, all about his films, and much more. https://t.co/meKFODa9SA

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

#MaryEllenBute

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Mary Ellen Bute, clip from Abstronic. Watch out, there are terribly faded, pink copies of her films online that do not reflect the artist’s work or intent. Let’s respect the work. https://t.co/5TVw5Z15P5

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Our popular virtual seminar returns, “Jordan Belson, Vortex Concerts and the Origins of Expanded Cinema.” Begins June 11, limited enrollment. https://t.co/j33Ajldruk

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Mary Ellen Bute, with Ted Nemeth. Photograph from her oscilloscope experiments, early 1950s. Collection Center for Visual Music.

[Ragnar Digital @ragnar_art]

Introducing our Mary Ellen Bute collection.

While many collectors (and written histories) credit Ben Laposky's oscilloscope photos as the very first visual electronic/computer art, that may not be true.

Artist/Filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute also created oscilloscope photos at the same time, and perhaps even earlier, with her partner Ted Nemeth.

ca. 1950/1951, while working on her Abstronic film, Bute (thanks to Bell Labs engineer Ralph Potter) used an oscilloscope to manipulate and photograph these images of electronic pulses as artwork.

It's very difficult to pin down the exact dates Bute and Laposky started creating their images and to know who was first. Bute and Nemeth's photos are undated, though we know they were created in the years leading up to her film release in 1952. And Laposky is often credited with making images in 1952, though he is said to have created earlier images in private.

Regardless, we're excited to finally get Bute her credit as not only a pioneer of computer/electronic art, but as perhaps the first.

(examples and links below)

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Why is Oskar Fischinger the Father of Visual Music? Was he the Pixar of 1930s Berlin? Take a deep dive into his films and life with CVM’s Oskar Fischinger & Visual Music virtual seminar. Rare films, archival material, hosted by curator/archivist Keefer. https://t.co/JqP7JuFYNW

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

Jules Engel, Untitled three color silkscreen, 1974. Just added to our Art/Film Fundraiser. https://t.co/y1P7hmcTfG

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

CVM’s popular virtual seminar returns, “Oskar Fischinger and Visual Music.” A deep dive into his work, featuring rare and classic films, archival materials, illustrated talks, discussions. Limited enrollment. https://t.co/PkyZHpDQUb

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

@ragnar_art Congrats! We’re pleased to have been involved, providing some of the earliest materials. Off to a fantastic start!

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

An Optical Poem by Oskar Fischinger. 35mm print in our archive. This is what the film really looks like, all those copies on social media are terribly faded. #oskarfischinger

[Center for Visual Music @CtrVisualMusic]

So much misinformation being spread about Jordan Belson. Here’s a letter regarding some of his wishes. Jordan, like Bruce Conner, wanted proper presentation of his films in dark environments, theatres and museum black box galleries. CVM continues to respect his wishes.