Sine Curve Man, 1967
Unique silkscreen on plexiglass 1967 | 40.5” x 41.5” In the Spalter Digital Collection.
“Csuri created this revolutionary self portrait known as the first figurative computer drawing done in the U.S. As a fine art professor at The Ohio State University, he used an IBM 7094 considered one of the most powerful computers of the early 1960s. The 7094 was employed by NASA in both the Gemini and Apollo space programs, and it was used in early missile defense systems as well. The output of the 7094 consisted of 4-×-7-inch punch cards that stored information to drive a Cal Comp 565 drum plotter, specifying when to pick the pen up, move it, and put it down, as well as when the end of a line had been reached, and so on.”
This image of the plotter picture printed on plexiglass (the only one in reverse) is an example of Csuri’s pioneering experimentation of image remediation in the earliest days of computer art. “The final Sine Curve Man image was printed in 1967 on plotter paper, plexiglass and made into an animation all demonstrating Csuris early experimentation of multi media. The idea of remediation (the representation of one medium in another) is a defining characteristic of the new digital age.”
Csuri’s sinewave computer portrait and possibly the first Avatar was showcased at the revolutionary art and technology exhibition “Cybernetic Serendipity” 1968 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and is in the permanent art collection, at The Whitney Museum of American Art.
Csuri film called Sine Curve Man 1967 was the first example of digital morphing. The most famous example of this effect Csuri created back in the 60’s is Michael Jackson’s music video Black or White 1991.
“What Csuri did was ahead of his time.”
- Museum of Modern Art, 1998
