Cibernetik 5.3

John Stehura / United States / 1965 / 7 min.

synopsis

Images: Courtesy the artist and Center for Visual Music

A myriad of dots, lines, shapes and neon colours swirl in a stroboscopic whirlwind. The early artificial intelligence of Stehura's editing is more an author than a tool: it does not just generate content based on precise instructions; Stehura brings chance into play. The film consists of fields of images, made up of unexpected permutations of original shapes. The soundtrack, originally also computer-generated, was later supplemented by the buzzing “balloon” composition of Tod Dockstader's Quatermass.

“Once all the rules in the program were specified, I simply turned it on to see what would happen. If I liked the results, I'd leave it. At one point I tried to trace back how the computer generated certain forms, but it was becoming too complex and pointless.” – John Stehura

Quote source: Gene Youngblood: Expanded Cinema, New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1970, s. 241-42.

biography

John Stehura (1943) started studying programming at UCLA in 1961. Stehura worked on developing computer languages and systems for generating images and music. He also explored the creative potential of early artificial intelligence.