Electronic Oscillography in Early 1950s Experimental Film

Abstract

The proposed paper focuses on the historical genealogies of contemporary electronic imaging, particularly on the appropriated use of a specific electro-engineering technique within early 1950s experimental film making. Oscillograms produced by electronic picture tubes have visualized and measured oscillatory phenomena, such as alternating current, since 1897. Through films by Mary Ellen Bute, Hy Hirsh, and Norman McLaren from the years 1951-53, this procedure was introduced into an artistic realm. The systematic treatment of electronic imaging in the arts occurred since the 1960s, which is why these rather isolated examples were created before the emergence of electronic arts and may be understood as pioneering work. Despite oscillographics’ relevance for a history of electronic images, one finds only scattered remarks on these early film examples. This might be due to the classification of these abstract animated films within Visual Music. This field constituted itself through late 19th and early 20th century endeavors to correlate the senses of hearing and seeing which, among others, resulted in abstract visual forms derived from auditory sensations. The electronic oscilloscope, as a recorder of oscillations operating across the distinct realms of the audible and the visible, offered itself to such an investigation of intermedia correspondences. By determining the relationship between the heterogeneous actors involved in the production of these hybrid films, the proposed paper wishes to challenge set divisions within the history of media arts and pursues a contribution to the intersection connecting history of science, art history and media studies.