Drug Abuse

Overview

Originally made as a 60 second public service announcement for local TV stations in Denver, Colorado, Pat Lehman's Drug Abuse warns viewers about the effects of drug use in the form of a a psychedelic odyssey. Its multicolored animations, made with the Computer Image Corporation's Scanimate video synthesizer, explore the phenomenological effects of drugs in a series of kaleidoscopic renderings; the mind and body are shown glowing in technicolor before distending and melting in and out of the surfaces of the screen. While the piece is one of Lehman's earliest experiments with Scanimate, it is also, alongside Video Vitae, one of her most frequently exhibited pieces. The tape was screened as an "experimental special effects film" at numerous festivals including the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, before being exhibited at the Computer Art Festival in New York in 1975.