Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case CAS, Shelf 6

White Horse

Photograph
1972 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This photograph of a computer generated image was produced by Wade Shaw at the Atlas Computer Laboratory in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire. Historically, this was one of the most important computer laboratories in the world, established in 1961 to allow British scientists access to some of the most advanced computing equipment of the time. This print, along with four others by Shaw in the Computer Arts Society collection at the V&A, is a still from a computer animation entitled ‘Symmetricks’. Shaw produced this animation with the American artist and film-maker Stan Vanderbeek, whilst they were both working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) earlier in 1972.

This print was created using a spark pen – an electrical ‘pen’ capable of inputting graphical information into a digital computer using shock energy sound waves. The waves were transferred from analogue to digital information and appeared on the computer screen as a series of dots, lines and characters, all white on black screen. Using a computer program written by Shaw, the lines were then translated, rotated and re-scaled. The data was transferred onto large magnetic tapes, which were processed to produce 35 mm film, and, using the Atlas in-house photo lab, eventually printed as full size photographs.

The computer used to create these images was called a PDP-15 and contained only 32 KB (kilobytes) of memory.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleWhite Horse (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Black and white photograph from a computer-generated image
Brief description
Wade Shaw, 'White Horse', 1972, black and white photograph from a computer-generated image.
Physical description
Black and white photograph from a computer-generated image of straight and curved lines radiating from a central point.
Dimensions
  • Of mount height: 50.7cm
  • Of mount width: 49.9cm
  • Of print height: 40.6cm
  • Of print width: 39.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'WADE SHAW' (Artist's name generated by the computer, in lower right side.)
  • 'ATLAS' (Computer-generated text in lower left side. Refers to the Atlas Computer Laboratory where this image was created.)
Credit line
Given by the Computer Arts Society, supported by System Simulation Ltd, London
Historical context
A version of the computer program that generated these prints was initially used to create a film at M.I.T called "Symmetricks", by Wade Shaw and Stan Vanderbeek. The film was accepted and shown at the May 1973 Cannes Film Festival's survey of recent American underground film. The New York Times printed a review of the survey on 12 September 1979, of which the V&A holds a copy.
Production
Attribution note: This print is a still from a computer animation, entitled 'Symmetricks', produced by Wade Shaw and Stan Vanderbeek at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1972. After moving to the Atlas Computer Laboratory in the UK, Shaw rewrote the computer program for the animation, in order to produce these stills.
The artist writes: "These prints were made at Atlas Computer Laboratory under the guidance of Professor F.R.A. (Bob) Hopgood, in 1972 on a DEC PDP-15 vector drawing
display, and output using a Stromberg Datagraphics imaging printer which the
Lab acquired to help with UK Science Research Council projects such as star
field mapping, economic simulation, and computer-aided design".
Summary
This photograph of a computer generated image was produced by Wade Shaw at the Atlas Computer Laboratory in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire. Historically, this was one of the most important computer laboratories in the world, established in 1961 to allow British scientists access to some of the most advanced computing equipment of the time. This print, along with four others by Shaw in the Computer Arts Society collection at the V&A, is a still from a computer animation entitled ‘Symmetricks’. Shaw produced this animation with the American artist and film-maker Stan Vanderbeek, whilst they were both working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) earlier in 1972.

This print was created using a spark pen – an electrical ‘pen’ capable of inputting graphical information into a digital computer using shock energy sound waves. The waves were transferred from analogue to digital information and appeared on the computer screen as a series of dots, lines and characters, all white on black screen. Using a computer program written by Shaw, the lines were then translated, rotated and re-scaled. The data was transferred onto large magnetic tapes, which were processed to produce 35 mm film, and, using the Atlas in-house photo lab, eventually printed as full size photographs.

The computer used to create these images was called a PDP-15 and contained only 32 KB (kilobytes) of memory.
Other number
CAS/A/0066 - Previous owner's number
Collection
Accession number
E.88-2008

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Record createdApril 7, 2008
Record URL
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