Synthetics: A History of the Electronically Generated Image in Australia

This paper takes a brief look at the early years of computergraphic and videosynthesizer –driven image production in Australia. It begins with the first (known) Australian data visualization, in 1957, and proceeds through the compositing of computer graphics and video effects in the music videos of the late 1980s. The author surveys the types of work produced by workers on the computer graphics and video synthesis systems of the early period and draws out some indications of the infiuences and interactions among artists and engineers and the technical systems they had available, which guided the evolution of the field for artistic production.