Ragnar Digital just finalized a deal to acquire Stan VanDerBeek's Poemfield #7. (excerpt below) We're very excited to acquire #7, one of the earliest examples of computer film. The Poemfield series was created at Bell Labs in 1967 with the help of Ken Knowlton. Most of the films are silent, but #7 has a soundtrack by John Cage. The films set VanDerBeek's poems to early computer graphics/animations. I don't usually name drop but this is pretty exciting! We're only the second private collection to own a Poemfield, with others belonging to MoMA, LACMA, the Thoma Foundation, The Smithsonian, and Buffalo AKG. We're trying to document the history of not just visual computer art, but other mediums as well, including music, digital/algorithms, and film. More information and stories around this piece to come. We'll probably do a deep dive into early films and maybe do an interview or two. Should be fun! It was also interesting to acquire our first film. What does it mean to own a film? Do you get the original 16mm? Do you get copies? Are there editions? How do you preserve it? How do you display it? How do you lend it? So many questions to explore ...