Video History Project

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Walter Wright

Walter Wright started creating electronic images and sound at the University of Waterloo in 1966. A video artist, animator and software engineer, he was one of the first video animators at Computer Image Corp. in the early '70s. He later worked at Dolphin Productions, where he operated a Scanimate. While at Dolphin, he worked with Ed Emshwiller on "Thermogenisis" and "Scapemates" and also made several tapes of his own.

His tapes were shown regularly at the Kitchen, where he was assistant director. As artist-in-residence at the Experimental Television Center, NY 1973-76, he pioneered video performance and toured public access centers, colleges and galleries with the Paik/Abe video synthesizer. He also worked with the David Jones colorizer & Rich Brewsters sequencing modules. He also worked with Don McArthur at the Center while Don was building the SAID.

Along with Paul Davis, David Jones and Rich Brewster, Wright participated in the project at the Center which worked on the interface of an LSI-11 computer to video system (1978), supported by the NEA. Woody Vasulka and Jeff Schier were working on a parallel project in Buffalo including a frame buffer with ALUs, mixers, keyers and colorizers. Wright also worked with Gary Hill at Woodstock Community Video, where they had a weekly cable show of live video/audio synthesis. He has also worked as a teacher, and computer programmer. Walter Wright is a video artist and member of the Boston area collective VideoSpace.

He is a co-founder of 911 Gallery. Wright has developed his own performance video system, the Video Shredder. Wright performs by using computers to manipulate video to produce a visual instrument. Just as an electronic keyboard allows the musician to play prerecorded sounds and samples, Wright processes prerecorded video images in real time. He has performed throughout the east coast of the USA and Canada at art galleries and museums, schools and colleges, media centers, conferences and festivals.

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"Walter Wright." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/walter-wright.

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Summary

Walter Wright began creating electronic images and sound at the University of Waterloo in 1966 and worked as a video artist, animator and software engineer at Computer Image Corp. and Dolphin Productions (operating a Scanimate); he collaborated with Ed Emshwiller on Thermogenisis and Scapemates and showed tapes regularly at the Kitchen where he was assistant director. As artist-in-residence at the Experimental Television Center, NY 1973-76 he pioneered video performance, toured with the Paik/Abe video synthesizer and joined a 1978 LSI-11 computer-to-video system project supported by the NEA. He is a member of Boston collective VideoSpace, co-founder of 911 Gallery, developed the Video Shredder and performed across the US east coast and Canada.

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Last modified 18 June 2011

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