Ed Emshwiller

Ed Emshwiller studied graphic design at the University of Michigan and L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was working as a science fiction illustrator, and had established his place in the American avant-garde cinema with such works as Relativity and Image, Flesh and Voice. His early films featured collaborations with dancers and choreographers—a theme he carried over into his videoworks. As both an artist and a teacher, Emshwiller’s pioneering efforts to develop an alternative technological language in video were enormously influential. Emshwiller was among the first artists-in-residence at the TV Lab at WNET, where he produced the groundbreaking Scape-mates. Sunstone was made over a period of eight months at the New York Institute of Technology. Emshwiller passed away in 1990 and an extensive collection of his work is housed by Anthology Film Archives.