Experimental Animation
- mikezef1
- Mar 11, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 15, 2025
Only discovered recently (March 2025) that some of my early polar coordinate experiments bear a resemblance to the work of John Whitney. It's amazing for me to finally discover someone who related to this topic in a similar way, long before me and dedicated his life to it, going way beyond my modest dabbling:
Mike:
John Whitney:
Mike:
John Whitney:
James Whitney (John's brother)
Mike:
John Whitney really dedicated himself to these subjects and developed them. He seemed particularly interested in interpreting them as "visual music".
Whitney explaining his polar coordinate research:
Personally, whilst I saw the connection with music, animated polar coordinates also struck me as analogous to sub atomic particles, flowers, galaxies and a model for consciousness itself.
I was reading a lot of popular science books at the time which tried to make cutting edge science accessible to the layman and put my college Physics studies in context. Einstein's theories make clear that matter is essentially a form of trapped energy which can be released through nuclear physics - matter can become energy and energy can become matter. Quantum physics reduces sub-atomic interactions to "waves" of probability. Sub-atomic phenomena can behave like waves and particles simultaneously, depending on the devices making the observations (see Wave Particle Duality).
Consider these comments of another practitioner of Visual Music, Mary Ellen Bute:
“I venture to predict that the forms and compositions artists can create on the oscilloscope, and organize and preserve on motion picture film, will not only give aesthetic pleasure to all kinds of men and women in all climes and times but will help theoretical physicists and mathematicians to uncover more secrets of the inanimate world.”
(Mary Ellen Bute from Films in Review, June-July 1954) cited in Russett, R. and Starr, C. (1988) Experimental animation: origins of a new art. (Rev. ed.) New York ; London: Da Capo.
As Maya Deren the experimental filmmaker writes: “This principle — that the dynamic of movement in film is stronger than anything else — than any changes of matter… that movement, or energy is more important, or powerful, than space or matter — that, in fact, it creates matter — seemed to me to be marvellous, like an illumination, that I wanted to just stop and celebrate that wonder, just by itself…”
Also, in this context comments upon the work of Mary Ellen Bute's animated film Abstronic from the press release by Ted Nemeth Studios:
“These electronic pictures of the music are natural phenomena which take place in the subatomic world. They are then captured on the cathode-ray oscilloscope, and filmed with the motion picture camera. The colored backgrounds are hand done, and superimposed on the electronic animation of the musical themes.” See the audio transcription at:
I also read about René Descartes' vortex theory which was a model of the universe that described the cosmos as filled with swirling vortices of matter. Which led me to contemporary theorists with similar ideas...
I was also into Jungian psychology at the time, the idea of the circular Mandala as a symbol of consciousness and the notion of consciousness being the meeting point of two spirals, one emerging from deep within the unconscious and the other descending from external perceptions being processed into memory. This perhaps offers an explanation for Synchronicity (meaningful coincidence experienced by the observer) - consciousness perhaps being the meeting point between so-called subjective and objective perceptions.
“The spiral in psychology means that when you make a spiral you always come over the same point where you have been before, but never really the same, it is above or below, inside, outside, so it means growth. “ (Jung - Dream Analysis, Parts II & III. 1929)
I started my explorations around 1988 on a VIC20 computer and then on my Dad's PC, using a book he had for programming graphics in QBASIC (details to follow). I was humbly pursuing an intuition that circles and spirals were fundamental to understanding the universe, trying to find connections between visual art, science and music. Later, I filmed some of the animations and projected them at friends music performances.
For a rather esoteric take on circles and spirals see: https://www.jillpurce.com/the-mystic-spiral-book
I've just started reading Whitney's book:
and will report back on any further insights gained from reconnecting with this topic.
Update: 27 March 2025 It seems John Whitney's brother James and another artist/animator Jordan Belson developed the notion of visual music in interesting directions.
According to Aimee Mollaghan in Chapter 2 of "Experimental Animation From Analogue to Digital"
"Belson dedicated himself to the study of Eastern religion, philosophy and practice..."
Whilst James Whitney's film Yantra
"...is arranged in a series of cycles in the same manner as a traditional Indian raga.
As the film progresses the initial cycle of dot formations is repeated in subsequent
cycles with subtle variations, just like a sitar player improvising around the central
theme of a raga until it reaches the final cycle. The dot is the basic compositional
form for all images in the film and recurs throughout. These clusters of dots continue
to fluctuate and dance around the screen surface
like subatomic particles racing around the nucleus of an atom.
Whitney’s dots, due to the simplicity of their structure, have an ambiguity to them,
and it is this ambiguity that allows Whitney to make connections at microcosmic
and macrocosmic levels. This idea harks back to the Neo-Platonic theory of microcosm
and macrocosm in which identical patterns can be identified at all levels of the
cosmos. It is also found in Eastern religions such as Taoism. Whitney’s dots can
embody the most minute atomic particles and cells while simultaneously exem-
plifying all of the celestial bodies in the universe." (Mollaghan, 2019:45)
Mollaghan, A (2019) 'A Consideration of the Absolute in Visual Music Animation' in Harris, M. (2019) Experimental animation : from analogue to digital. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Update 29 March 2025: Lots of ongoing discoveries around this topic but this visualisation of a
Steve Reich piece by Alexander Chan seems close to some of John Whitney's aspirations.
One of the two melody patterns is slightly out of sync with the other, creating an interesting effect:
Erik Norman makes Mathematical Art and also plays piano:
If any of this interests you, please do get in touch.
Comments