Enigma

Enigma

Production country: 
us
Year: 
1972
Duration: 
4'
Edition: 
2017
Format: 
film/video

Lines and rectangles are the geometric shapes basic to Enigma, a computer-animated film paced to an electronic soundtrack of Richard Moore. Lillian Schwartz wanted to use simple black and white images to create the positive perception of color: the rapid shifts between black and white make the viewer see ghosted colors which are not quite there in the film, but arise in the eyes of the viewer. Only after a minute into the film, Schwartz deploys color more directly, gradually developing into flickering blocks of colors combined with other graphic elements. The psychological and physiological effects induced by Enigma suggest it to be an experiment in "programming of a human subject by the computer", as Zabet Patterson concludes in her book Peripheral Vision. Bell Labs, the S-C 4020, and the Origins of Computer Art.

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