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"The dream of creating a color music for the eye, comparable with auditory music for the ear, dates to antiquity…”
--- William Moritz


Welcome to iota, a public benefit arts organization devoted to experimentation, abstraction, and animation. We preserve classic experimental films, release DVDs, and produce screenings of contemporary and historical work. More about who we are and what we do is here: [About Us] [Programs].
Surf our online library. It's filled with information about Abstract Cinema and Visual Music: Artists, Films and Videos, DVDs, Articles and Links. As with any database, it's a work-in-progress. Please help by submitting additions and corrections to webmaster@iotacenter.org.
Keep Up with the latest news in the world of abstract video, visual music, and iota. We post announcements on the iotaBlog (below) about events, artist's sites and videos, and new additions to the media collection at our study center.
Submit your video to the iota collection. Scholars and curators use the collection for research on-site only, and permission is obtained from the artist for any other use of their work. [Submission Guidelines]
Join our mailing list and receive our newsletter or join the iotaDiscussion group and get all your Visual Music questions answered. Become a fan of iota on Facebook, and share your videos and event announcements on The Visual Music Village.


Latest News...
[Calls for Entries] [Events] [New Acquisitions] [iotaWeekly]

Derek haugen
08.30.2010   
2010 Online Auction
Categories: [Events] 

Become a member today and be eligible to bid in iotaCenter's first ever Online Auction!

One-of-Kind items include:

* Original artwork by Paul Glabicki, Adam Beckett, and Sky David
* A one-of-a-kind collage portrait of Adam Beckett by artist Byron Werner
* Framed Photo Portraits of Jules Engel, signed by Mark Kirkland
* Private screening of rarities curated by Mark Toscano at the Museum of Jurassic Technology


For more information, stay tuned to the 2010 Online Auction page!
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Benjamin
08.09.2010   
iotaCenter's 2010 Membership Program
Categories: [Events] 





iotaCenter 2010 Membership Program

iotaCenter is proud to launch our 2010 Membership Program! After soliciting feedback from the members of our Advisory Council, we have formulated a plan to drive forward our mission by creating a tiered set of membership options tailored to the needs of our current community.

Membership levels include Basic, Artist, Academic, and Institutional, as well as various iotaCenter Program Sponsorships.

All members are eligible to participate in our forthcoming Online Auction! Join at ANY LEVEL to be able to participate and bid on artwork and special events!
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Derek haugen
09.01.2010   
Mark Kirkland Films at Burbank International Film Festival
Categories: [Events] 

Mark Kirkland's 1978 CalArts student film "Animal Crackers" will be screening at the Burbank International Film Festival along with his newly completed short "A Letter from Home."

For more information and program line up, please visit the festival website.

When: Wednesday, September 15, 7-9pm
Where: Burbank International Film Festival, AMC-6, 770 North 1st Street, Burbank, CA‎ 91502

Map and Directions
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Derek haugen
08.30.2010   
The iotaWeekly
Categories: [iotaWeekly] 
August 30-September 5, 2010
Join The iotaCenter's Yahoo Group to receive notification of the latest iotaWeekly here.





Clip of the Week
"Aleph" (2002) by Bill Alves

Watch a clip from Bill Alves' "Aleph" (2004), inspired largely by the geometric patterns of Islamic art, an art derived from the same proportions and numerical symbolism as the tuning systems of the ancient Greeks and Byzantines.

"Aleph" can be found on Visual Music from iota, available from the iotaStore.

For more information about Bill Alves and his work, please visit his website.




Site of the Week
The Museum of Jurassic Technology

Nestled right near iotaCenter's Library and Study Center in Culver City, CA, The Museum of Jurassic Technology is an institution dedicated to preserving relics and artifacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an emphasis on those that demonstrate unusual or curious technological qualities with a flavor of "incongruity born of the overzealous spirit in the face of unfathomable phenomena."

Become an iotaCenter Membertoday and bid on a ticket to a private screening of experimental film rarities curated by Academy Archivist Mark Toscano held at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Find out more at iotaCenter's Membership Page and 2010 Online Auction Page.








from Symphonie Diagonale (1921)
Artist of the Week
Viking Eggeling
1880(Lund, Sweden)-1925

Swedish painter Viking Eggeling lived in Paris from 1911 to 1915, where it is likely he became aware of Léopold Survage's attempt to animate a series of paintings. In 1917, Eggeling settled in Zurich, the center of the emerging Dada movement, and met Hans Richter. They began collaborating and moved to Germany in 1919. Eggeling labored for three years on an unfinished animated film HORIZONTAL VERTICAL ORCHESTRA. After that he created SYMPHONIE DIAGONALE (DIAGONAL SYMPHONY), which was screened in 1925. Eggeling was too ill to attend the premiere and died six days later of septic angina.

For more information about Eggeling and his work, please visit his iotaCenter Profile.
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Derek haugen
08.23.2010   
The iotaWeekly
Categories: [iotaWeekly] 
August 23-29, 2010
Join The iotaCenter's Yahoo Group to receive notification of the latest iotaWeekly here.





Clip of the Week
"Anthrodance Variation #3" (2004) by Beth Warshafsky

Watch a clip from Beth Warshafsky's "Anthrodance Variation #3" (2004), one of an on-going project using motion capture data to create experimental animations. The work is based on dance movement choreographed and performed by Beth Warshafsky and Ellen Scott at SIGGRAPH. The motion is translated into data in a 3D environment and then reinterpreted in a creative process of filtering through 3D, 2D, video post-processing, and editing techniques.

"Anthrodance Variation #3" can be found on Visual Music from iota, available from the iotaStore.

For more information about Beth Warshafsky and her work, please visit her website.


Site of the Week
Glendale Planetarium

Previously home to Dome Fest, the Glendale Planetarium is currently host to a number of exciting astronomical shows as well as J. Walt's Spontaneous Fantasia. Catch J. Walt's performance this Saturday, August 28!








from Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1971)
Artist of the Week
Shuji Terayama

"The late Shuji Terayama remains one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Japanese cinema. His films are thick with symbolism, featuring a psychosexual content that can, and has, rubbed many the wrong way. Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Tomato Ketchappu Kotei, 1970), with children taking part in sexual scenes, is but one example. Incest fantasies were among his most recurring motifs.

Terayama was much more than just a filmmaker. A playwright, stage director, poet, essayist, and all-round media personality, his work continues to have a strong following in his homeland, where he remains a phenomenon. On our shares, largely due to a shameful unavailability of any of his work, he has never received his due. As a filmmaker he is often lumped together with the Japanese New Wave, despite his complete lack of filmmaking apprenticeship. His unorthodox approach to theatre has furthermore made him something of a pariah among Western historians of Japanese drama, who, unable to conveniently fit him into any sort of current, seem to have opted to simply disregard him."

--Tom Mes, MidnightEye.com

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Derek haugen
08.16.2010   
The iotaWeekly
Categories: [iotaWeekly] 
August 16-22, 2010
Join The iotaCenter's Yahoo Group to receive notification of the latest iotaWeekly here.





Clip of the Week
"frameframer" (2009) by Barbara Doser
sound by Hofstetter Kurt and Norbert Math, designed by Barbara Doser

Watch a clip from Barbara Doser's "frameframer" (2009) where a rotating video feedback event becomes a moving and transforming pattern by selecting a small image detail, multiply arranged in a matrix. Through the seriality in the horizontal lines and vertical columns of the matrix, the original circular movement will be transformed into a linear one. New forms in movement, and movement as form come into being.

"frameframer" will be featured in The Best of Punto y Raya 2009 US Tour in Fall 2010.


Site of the Week
Northwest Audiovisualists

Looking for the latest developments, movers and shakers in audio visuals in the Pacific Northwest? Keep an eye on Northwest Audiovisualists, a community for aspiring AV Artists - VJs, Musicians, Filmmakers, Animators, Traditional Artists and more who meet regularly for workshops, screenings, demonstrations, collaboration and networking.






from Parallel (2009)
Artist of the Week
Huckleberry Lain (aka Paul R. Shepherd)

SPECIAL OFFER! As a part of iotaCenter's Membership Drive 2010, iota is offering DVDs of Huckleberry Lain's work as a raffle prize. Join today to take part in the iotaCenter member exclusive event!

"Huckleberry has been making films for over 8 years with more than 10 films completed within that time. He usually sticks to experimental and animation, but he has made documentaries, live-action comedies, stop-motion tragedies and many other styles and genres. He has performed in the films of underground film legends Mike and George Kuchar, rising filmmaker Marie Losier and established artist Katja Loher as well as other individuals.

...He has had films included in screenings around the United States including the LA Filmforum at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema in New York City and the Artist Television Access in San Francisco among other places. Huckleberry has recently been accepted as a board member to the NewTown Art organization located in Pasadena."

--artist's website



For more information about the artist and his work, please visit his website.

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Benjamin
08.09.2010   
iotaCenter/Neon MONA Collaboration Event - GET ILLUMINATED! Moving Light Forum on Abstract Film and Animation
Categories: [Events] 


August 22, 2010 at 2:00pm
Museum of Neon Art
iotaCenter and the Museum of Neon Art in downtown Los Angeles team up to present a collection of film works by contemporary and historical visual artists that will provide an overview of kinetic experimental filmmakers Hy Hirsh, John Whitney, "the father of Computer Graphics," Pat O'Neill, and Jules Engel. Los Angeles-based artist Joaquin "Kino" Gil will also be in available for a Q & A after the screening.

For more information on this event, click here.
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Benjamin
08.09.2010   
The iotaWeekly
Categories: [iotaWeekly] 
August 9-15, 2010
Join The iotaCenter's Yahoo Group to receive notification of the latest iotaWeekly here.





Clip of the Week
"Calculated Movements" (1985) by Larry Cuba

Featured as an exclusive benefit of iotaCenter's new 2010 Membership Program, this excerpt from "Calculated Movements" (1985) includes commentary from the animator and iotaCenter director Larry Cuba.

The full version of this film with commentary is available only to iotaCenter institutional members. Join here.




Site of the Week
iotaCenter 2010 Membership Program

iotaCenter is proud to launch our 2010 Membership Program! After soliciting feedback from the members of our Advisory Council, we have formulated a plan to drive forward our mission by creating a tiered set of membership options tailored to the needs of our current community.

Membership levels include Basic, Artist, Academic, and Institutional, as well as various iotaCenter Program Sponsorships.

All members are eligible to participate in our forthcoming Online Auction! Join at ANY LEVEL to be able to participate and bid on artwork and special events!






from Sensology (2010)
Artist of the Week
Michel Gagné

Born in Québec, Canada and studying classical animation at Sheridan College School of Visual Arts in Ontario, Michel Gagné began a successful animation career in 1985. Since then, his works have played in festivals throughout the world, and he was honored by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, with four Annie Award nominations.

Gagné works in various forms of animation, from feature films to video games to graphic novels. His animation segments can be found in popular Disney, Pixar, & Warner Bros. films, including Ratatouille, The Iron Giant, and Osmosis Jones, as well as in shows on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. He continues to create animation, special effects and conceptual designs for companies all over the world, and experiments with his various art projects, including painting, sculpting, and mixed-media works for gallery exhibition.

Gagné lives in the pacific northwest region of the United States with his family. For more information about Michel Gagné and his work, please visit his website.
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Benjamin
08.04.2010   
New iotaCenter History Database
Categories: [Resource: Website] 

iotaCenter is pleased to present the new and improved iotaCenter Historical Database, with searchable features that make finding your favorite abstract animator or experimental filmmaker easier than ever!

Check it out here.
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Benjamin
08.04.2010   
iotaCenter Artists at Pacific Design Center!
Categories: [Events] 

Writer and video art scholar Paul Young's most recent curatorial efforts at West Hollywood's Pacific Design Center, Surface Tension and Amok Strategies: The 80s Show feature works from iotaCenter artists Jeffers Egan and Audri Phillips.

Surface Tension and Amok Strategies: The 80s Show are on exhibit at PDC until August 30th. To view photos from the exhibits' openings, click here.

iotaCenter is excited to plan future collaborations with Paul Young at his galleries at the Pacific Design Center.
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iotaCenter is a nonprofit organization that provides this information as a public service to film artists and the larger community. We have made sincere efforts to get permission from all rights holders. Please contact us at webmaster@iotacenter.org if you are a rights holder whom we have not yet been able to reach. For all other inquiries, please contact us at info@iotacenter.org