A Curatorial Perspective on Two Objects

The films Blade Runner and Tron, both released in 1982, were among the earliest examples of cyberpunk cinema. In Blade Runner, the bounty hunter Rick Deckard searches for cyborgs who appear identical to humans, calling into question the true nature of human consciousness. In Tron, software engineer Kevin Flynn is transported into the digital world of a video game, and must play his way back into the real world.

Syd Mead’s concept art for Blade Runner neatly illustrates what we might identify as a classic cyberpunk aesthetic: an urban street with neon signs reflected in wet streets, almost recognizable as a contemporary city, but with nods toward future technological developments, such as a shell-like armored vehicle. The work also includes a mix of characters from Asian languages—both real and invented—as a design element, a choice that has been replicated, and critiqued, in many future American cyberpunk works.

The costume from Tron was produced by costume designers Elois Jenssen and Rosanna Norton. The French illustrator Jean Giraud, known as Moebius, also contributed concept sketches of the suit. The stark black and white coloring of the suit allowed the filmmakers to better insert the live actors into the digital world through animation and computer graphic techniques, and the lines mimic the design of an electronic circuit board. The suit itself is made from repurposed everyday materials, including hockey pads and gaffers tape, that were transformed into a futuristic appearance through the work of the costume department.

Both objects embody a key aspect of foundational cyberpunk movies that imagine futuristic worlds through concept art and costume design. In addition, both objects speak towards the craft and ingenuity of film artists. The futures imagined by these films, as well as more contemporary cyberpunk films, question humanity vs. artificiality, real life vs. simulation, and interrogate technology and structures of power.

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