Sonia Landy Sheridan

Some History

For twenty years, from 1960 to the 1980s, electronic technology was being developed that would transform our lives. The images presented here are records of my early efforts at discovering some of the potentials of our new communication tools. There is a painting that shows how one can anticipate technology. There are a few experiments with early 3M copiers and their “software” (a term formerly used to describe copier imaging papers and surfaces).

Most of the images are experiments with EASEL, John Dunn’s pioneering computer graphic system. These images show how video could be put out of sync to stretch images. They reveal how a "bug" in the program permitted one to collect the color menu and to play with it. They show how, in those early systems, color could be infinitely cycled. Most of all they attempted to show the multi-dimensional capacity of the computer which made it possible to photograph, video, draw, morph and colorize in one image.

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