{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O187662"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O187662/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU3016/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU3016/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU3016","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Sanford Museum","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O187662/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O187662","accessionNumber":"E.1096-2008","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Oscillon 520","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This photograph was created by artist Ben Laposky in 1960.  Laposky used an oscilloscope to manipulate electronic waves that were then displayed on a fluorescent screen.  The waves would have been constantly moving and undulating on the screen, but there was no way of recording these movements on paper at this time.  By photographing them, the artist was able to capture these images and record them for history.\r\n\r\nLaposky photographed different combinations of these waves and called his images 'Oscillons'.  The earliest photographs were black and white, but in later years the artist used a filter in order to produce striking colour images, such as this one.\r\n\r\nOscilloscopes are used in many different disciplines, including medicine, engineering and telecommunications.  Laposky used an analogue oscilloscope, in which the electrical signal is recorded as a wave.","physicalDescription":"Colour C-type photographic print of the electronic waves displayed on an oscillscope.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Laposky, Ben","id":"A24526"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"},{"text":"electronic imaging","id":"AAT202375"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"C-type photographic print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Computer Art","id":"THES49037"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2008BU3016"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2E","shelf":"DR51","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United States","id":"x29333"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1960","earliest":"1960-01-01","latest":"1960-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patric Prince","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"28","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"21.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"C-type photographic print, 'Oscillon 520', by Ben Laposky, 1960.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Arreola, P., Gardner, C. and Lenz, M. Digital Art: 1960s - Now. London: Thames & Hudson with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2024,","id":"AUTH407700"},"details":"p. 18, fig. 2.","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Patric Prince: Digital Art Visionary\r\n\r\nBen Laposky (1914–2000)\r\nOscillion 520\r\n1960\r\nC-type photograph of an oscilloscope screen\r\n\r\nThis artwork is one of the first abstract graphics made using an electronic machine. Mathematician and artist Ben Laposky made\r\nit by photographing electronic waves on a screen created using an analogue cathode-ray oscilloscope. Laposky made thousands of these ‘Oscillions’, but most were discarded. This work survives since he gifted it to Prince.\r\n\r\nGiven by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity\r\nof Patric D. Prince\r\nMuseum no. E.1096-2008","date":{"text":"14/08/2023-15/09/2024","earliest":"2023-08-14","latest":"2024-09-15"}},{"text":"Chance and Control: Art in the Age of Computers (2018)\n\nBEN LAPOSKY (1914–2000)\r\n<i>Oscillon 520</i>\r\nUSA, 1960\n\r\nBen Laposky created his pioneering artworks by displaying electrical signals on an oscilloscope screen, then photographing the results. He could adjust the electronic inputs to alter the waves displayed on the device, creating a huge variety of similar forms. Most of Laposky’s photographs were black and white, but he also used colour filters to produce striking images like this one.\n\r\nC-type photographic print\r\nGiven by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patric Prince\r\nMuseum no. E.1096-2008\r\n","date":{"text":"07/07/2018-18/11/2018","earliest":"2018-07-07","latest":"2018-11-18"}},{"text":"Ben Laposky (1914-2000)\r\nOscillon 520\r\n1960\r\nLaposky was a pioneer of the computer art movement, producing graphic abstract images as early as 1950. He created this image by photographing the intricate electrical waves on the screen of a cathode-ray oscilloscope, a type of electronic test equipment that allows signal voltages to be viewed on a screen. The pattern is formed by oscillations, the electrical vibrations of light.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Ben Laposky 1914-2000\r\nOscillon 520\r\n1960\r\n\r\nLaposky also used photographic filters to produce striking colour photographs such as this one. Like many early practitioners of computer-generated art, he trained in mathematics.  Laposky's interest in mathematical phenomena led him to explore the curved forms that could be generated by the oscilloscope. [44]\r\n\r\nC-type photographic print\r\nGiven by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patric Prince \r\nMuseum no. E.1096-2008","date":{"text":"07/12/2009 - 20/06/2010","earliest":"2009-12-07","latest":"2010-06-20"}}],"partNumbers":["E.1096-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"1096","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2009-02-13","availableToBook":false}}