Lillian 2 (Picturephone Self Portrait)

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Lillian Feldman Schwartz C.B. Rubenstein

1979

Cibachrome

Female Pioneer

Description

Lillian Schwartz loved to experiment with new devices and identify their expressive potential. She produced this self portrait with a Picturephone, an early video-conferencing technology developed at Bell Labs in 1956. As a “resident visitor” at Bell Labs from 1969 to 2002, Schwartz produced experimental artworks in collaboration with scientists. She famously used (and misused) a wide variety of cutting-edge devices. AT&T, who ran the labs, had failed to find a market for the Picturephone and by the 1970s it was widely considered a commercial failure. Schwartz used the device to record and manipulate images in real-time, filming different scenarios with the help of dancers and musicians. This self-portrait is likely a still from a reel of similarly experimental footage, captured on 2-inch videotape in black-and-white.