Warhol, Blondie and the Amiga
Pop art meets preemptive multitasking: the unforgettable 1985 Lincoln Center premiere of the Commodore Amiga 1000.
I can stare at this picture a good long time. There’s so much awesomeness captured in these pixels!
When the Amiga was launched by Commodore in July 1985, the actual launch event took place in New York City at Lincoln Center, where Commodore had arranged for Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry of Blondie fame to demonstrate the powerful new computer.
Warhol created a pop art image of Harry live on stage, capturing a monochrome video frame using a digitizer and manipulating it with ProPaint to showcase the Amiga’s graphical prowess and unprecedented color capabilities.
Popular as Warhol was, he was famously awkward with the computer and had never touched a mouse prior to the demo rehearsals. He was perhaps not the best suited to run an audience through a polished technical product demo. Yet despite his confused handling of the mouse, Warhol brought an enormous spotlight on the Amiga as the ultimate system for artists, animators, and musicians.
The Amiga went on to revolutionize video production, television broadcast studios (giving birth to the legendary Video Toaster), 3D animation, and electronic music across the world.
In the Museum Collection:
Explore Amiga hardware and preservation notes in the ATX Computer Museum permanent collection:
View Commodore Amiga 500 →