Dan Sandin’s Image Processor

One of the very first video synths purposely built to work with and inspired by 500 series format moog modular synthesizers was Dan Sandin’s image processor. There is wonderful source material of both the output of the machine as well as of Dan Sandin explaining how the Image Processor (aka I.P.) works. Not only historically significant in the history of video art and video synthesizers, Sandin himself is quite an interesting character who would typically wear pope and viking helmets during shows/interviews. As of writing this, University of chicago as well as Signal Culture have working Sandin Image Processors and Dan Sandin has recently given talks on VFX and the history of the IP.

Cromemco Dazzler - Kaleidoscope

One of my favorite bits of video art history is the cromemco dazzler kaleidoscope. The dazzler (1976) was one of the first color computer graphics cards and was designed by the same person who made the cyclops which was the first digital camera system. One program the dazzler hardware could run was called kaleidoscope written by Li-Chen Wang. It’s a very simple bit of code (127 bytes of 8080 assembly) that came preloaded as a demo/idle visualizer on the dazzler. It does what it says on the tin, creates an infinite animation of surprisingly beautiful kaleidoscopic patterns. Shortly upon release a computer store in NYC put a TV with kaleidoscope running on its window display. This display apparently caused such a traffic jam from drivers staring at it that the cops called the landlord of the store to shut it down. Below is a link to view video of the dazzler and a second link to a website that has the open source “copyleft” code available to run today.

Link to code

Terrence McKenna - Timewave Zero

Produced by Sound Phototsynthesis, this Mckenna video is a classic and features some wonderful video feedback and effects playfully edited over ideas about time travel, resonance, synchronicities, and the i ching (which we have an event for at Wavefield!) along with some more ridiculous McKenna thoughts.

Heartbeat (1973)

Heartbeat (1973) by Bill and Louise Etra is one of my all time favorite clips of video art and is impossibly cute. Share it with someone that makes your heart skip a beat this month!

Good Morning Mr Orwell (1984)

Good morning, you've made it, and we've made it to 2024! 40 years ago Nam June Paik made Good Morning Mr. Orwell (1984) as a new years eve art event and "global disco" party live stream between New York, San Francisco, and Paris. Plagued with technical problems, the host is noticeably drunk, and one of the performances include John Cage stroking a cactus with a feather, besides the awesome video art and other performances done live throughout the broadcast. In short, it's an amazing party.

Honorable mention: Bjork’s TV Teardown (1988)

This famous interview, like Die Hard, is a Christmas movie.