Lillian Schwartz (1927, Cincinnati, Ohio) stated in 1984: ‘My art has been nurtured by harnessing the technology that invades our everyday life.’ As early as 1968, the artist produced works using the computer. Over a period of thirty-four years, she produced a significant body of work at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey including computer-assisted films, videos, optical effects and animations. Schwartz views the computer as an analytical and creative tool for rethinking the way an image is created. Three films are shown in succession:Pixillation (1970) is the first computer-aided film that the artist produced at the lab. It uses the BEFLIX language, developed by artist Kenneth C. Knowlton, which enabled artists and filmmakers to make bitmap films on a computer. The process involved tracing the coordinates of images, punching the information onto a card and feeding this card into a computer. The computer then transferred the information to magnetic tape and printed the graphic shapes onto 35mm film. This visual essay combines computer-generated images with filmed optical effects, showing paint and pigments poured onto a coloured glass plate. In this way, Lillian Schwartz creates a hybrid work in which painting and computers meet. The images are accompanied by a soundtrack composed by Gershon Kingsley and performed on a Moog synthesiser.

In Enigma (1972), geometric shapes such as lines and rectangles are staged in a rhythmic animation with stroboscopic effects. Here again, Schwartz worked manually on the images, colouring the 16mm film stock. Colour thus appears in different densities through the film, accompanied by a soundtrack composed by F. Richard Moore.

Finally, the monochromatic Googolplex (1972) was inspired by Polaroid inventor, Edwin Land’s theories on colour perception and retinal persistence. Schwartz alternates positive and negative spaces in computer-generated images at a fast, almost hypnotic pace. The artist produced the sound by mixing found recordings of African music.