Sunstone (1979)

• 62%
• 1979
• Animation
• Ed Emshwiller

Electronic Arts Intermix describes Ed Emshwiller's pioneering experimental concept video as a digital sculpture: "Sunstone is a landmark tape. Symbolic and poetic, it is a pivotal work in the development of an electronic language to articulate three-dimensional space. The opening image is an iconic face, which appears to be electronically 'carved' from stone. A mystical third eye, brilliantly crafted from a digital palette, radiates with vibrant transformations of color and texture. Sculpting electronically, Emshwiller then transforms perspectival representation: the archetypal 'sunstone' is revealed to be one facet of an open, revolving cube, each side of which holds a simultaneously visible, moving video image. Created with complex technology over an eight-month period, this emblematic spinning cube metaphorically describes a three-dimensional, temporal space, both hyperreal and simulated. Emshwiller's humanistic approach to technology ushered in the 1980s with a new electronic vocabulary for conceptualizing and visualizing images in space and time. Reflecting an image-saturated world. SUNSTONE marked a new stage in electronic art.