The Catherine Wheel
Rebecca Allen
In 1982 Rebecca Allen created a dancing computer generated character who plays the role of St. Catherine in Twyla Tharp's 90 minute video dance piece, 'The Catherine Wheel' with music by David Byrne. This is one of the first and most intricate examples of 3D computer generated human motion and the first to be aired on television.
St. Catherine’s figure is composed of lines that give an ephemeral and hand-drawn quality to a computer-generated image. Through her movement, Computer Catherine implicitly takes on the form of a dancer. And as a dancer, she was able to share the essential elements of human movement that give it its expressive quality. But after all, in producing this animation, Allen was also bringing a knowledge of human movement and expression to the computer.
Credits
St. Catherine by Rebecca Allen (1982) Collaboration with Choreographer Twyla Tharp for the dance film The Catherine Wheel.
Rebecca Allen
Rebecca Allen is an internationally recognized artist inspired by the aesthetics of motion, the study of perception and behavior and the potential of advanced technology. From the mid
1970’s, Allen was a rare female artist working in the early stages of computer art and digital technology. Her pioneering artwork, which spans five decades and utilizes various forms of digital media, explores ideas around physicality and virtuality, nature and illusion, the body and the mind, and what it means to be human as technology redefines our sense of reality and identity.
With degrees from Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rebecca moves fluidly between artist studio and research lab, using her research to inform her art. Though widely recognized now as a contemporary visual arts medium, Allen was one of thefirst artists to utilize the computer as an artistic tool to make art involving human motion simulation, AI and Artificial Life algorithms and other generative techniques. Allen’s work is exhibited internationally and is part of permanent collections including, Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (NY), Centre Georges Pompidou. Previous collaborators include artists such as Kraftwerk, Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Carter Burwell, Twyla Tharp, and Nam June Paik.
