Spectacle, Speculation, Spam by Alan Warburton

Included in Casey Reas’s course 50 Years of Software Artists at UCLA as a standout example of computer film, Alan Warburton’s digital video Spectacle, Speculation, Spam is a video essay he made for the Edge of Frame Weekend seminar at The Whitechapel Gallery in East London. The seminar invited artists, curators and academics “to explore where experimental animation practice sits in relation to independent animation, visual art, histories and institutions.”

Preferring to focus on practical rather than theoretical papers, Warburton asked participants to cite works of art illustrating their points as opposed to papers. His presentation showcases animation’s speculative and often spam-like nature within contemporary visual culture within the broader context of what software is and can do. The video advocates for and justifies Warburton’s experimental software animation practice.