screening
20.10.–31.10.2003
daily from 9am to 3pm
Kino Tatra, Nam 1. Maja, Bratislava
The first and the only one lecture-screening in Slovakia:
3 days of video lecture of the history of experimental video, independent tv and documentary, video art, video dance, new media, performance ... in USA, 1968 - 1980
tranzit.sk and Academy of Dramatic Arts, Bratislava
This comprehensive package on the history of experimental and independent video is an essential tool for teachers, libraries, and researchers. Surveying the First Decade includes:
- 17 hours of historic video on 9 VHS tapes - exploring conceptual, performance-based, image-processed, feminist, documentary, and grassroots community organization genres
- 68 seminal titles by over 50 artists, including work from 1968 to 1980
This comprehensive package on the history of experimental and independent video is an essential tool for teachers, libraries and researchers. The entire program (Vol 1 & 2) includes 17 hours of historic video on 9 VHS tapes ?exploring conceptual, performance-based, image-processed, feminist, documentary and grassroots community-based genres. It contains over 50 artists and 68 seminal titles produced between 1968-1980.
Producer: Kate Horsfield | Curator: Chris Hill | Project Coordinator: Maria Troy | Consultants to the Project: Deirdre Boyle, Doug Hall, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara London, Ken Marsh, Leanne Mella, Martha Rosler, Steina Vasulka, and Lori Zippa
© video data bank 2000, the school - The Art Institute Chicago
surveying 1st decade is composed of 8 programs:
1: Exploration of Presence, Performance and Audience
2: Investigation of the Phenomenal World - Space, Sound and Light
3: Approaching Narrative - "There are Problems to be Solved
4: Gendered Confrontations
5: Performance of Video-Imaging Tools
6: Decentralized Communication Projects
7: Critiques of Art and Media as Comodity and Spectacle
8: Independents Address TV Audience
Program 1: Explorations of Presence, Performance and Audience
Performer/Audience/Mirror | Dan Graham | 23:00 1975
In Performer/Audience/Mirror, Graham uses video to document an investigation into perception and real time informational "feedback."
Selected Works | William Wegman | 90:00 (ex. 8:00) 1972
These three short pieces are a selection from the hours of short performances Wegman recorded in his studio from 1970-1978.
Baldessari Sings Lewitt (excerpt) | John Baldessari | 12:35 (ex. 4:00) 1972
Baldessari`s witty performance in which he sings Sol Lewitt`s statements on conceptual art to popular tunes.
Undertone (excerpt) | Vito Acconci | 30:00 (ex. 10:00) 1972
The artist seats himself at a table whose opposite end coincides with the bottom edge of the monitor, such that the viewer could imagine him/herself at the other end of the table. Acconci then proceeds to imagine a sexual exchange with a woman under the table.Acconci sets up a challenging relationship between the private and the public and the viewer and the performer in which the viewer is implicated in the sexual projections of the performer.
Vertical Roll | Joan Jonas | 20:00 1972
In this well-known early tape, Jonas manipulates the grammar of the camera to create the sense of grossly disturbed physical space.
My Father | Shigeko Kubota | 15:00 1975
In this classic personal elegy, Kubota mourns her father`s death and recounts the last days of his life.
Exchange | Robert Morris | 32:00 1973
Sometime in 1972 Robert Morris and Lynda Benglis agreed to exchange videos, in order to develop a dialogue building from each others work. Morris comments on the nature of this collaboration, on their interaction and on what they represent to each other.
Program 2: Investigations of the Phenomenal World?Space, Sound, and Light
Black and White Tapes | Paul McCarthy | 33:00 (ex. 7:00) 1972
The Black and White Tapes derive from a series of performances Paul McCarthy undertook in his Los Angeles studio from 1970 to 1975.
Stamping In The Studio | Bruce Nauman | 1:0`:00 (ex. 5:00) 1968
From an inverted position high above the floor, the camera records Nauman`s trek back and forth and across the studio.
Double Vision | Peter Campus | 15:00 1971
Campus investigates the metaphoric overlap between properties of the video camera and processes of human perception, an area of great interest to many early videomakers.
Boomerang | Richard Serra | 10:00 1974
This is a tape which analyzes its own discourse and processes as it is being formulated.
Island Song | Charlemagne Palestine | 1976
Strapping a video camera to himself as he drives a motorcycle around an island, Palestine harmonizes with the engine, maniacally repeating the phrase, "Gotta get outta here...gotta get outta here..."
Cycles of 3`s and 7`s | Tony Conrad | 30:54 (ex 3:00) 1976
Cycles of 3`s and 7`s is a performance in which the harmonic intervals that would ordinarily be performed by a musical instrument are represented through the computation of their arithmetic relationships or frequency ratios.
The Children`s Tapes | Terry Fox | 30:00 1974
These phenomenolgocial dramas, involving household objects like candles, spoons, and matches, unfold through an extreme economy of gesture.
Soundings | Gary Hill | 18:00 1979
Soundings is a meditation on the phenomenology of sound, the translation of image into sound and sound into image through a series of experiments on an audio speaker.
Lightning | Paul and Marlene Kos | 01:00 1976
Does observation change the course of events? Can you believe in things you don`t see? In this experiment, the video camera occupies a privileged position, showing the woman and what she sees, as well as what she cannot see.
Sweet Light | Bill Viola | 9:00 1977
Viola has referred to Sweet Light and other tapes from this period as "songs"-personal lyrical statements.
Program 3: Approaching Narrative?"There are Problems to Be Solved"
The Red Tapes Part II | Vito Acconci | 2:20:00 1976
The Red Tapes is a three-part epic that features the diary musings of a committed outsider - a revolutionary, a prisoner, an artist. The series offers a fragmented mythic narrative and a poetic reassessment of the radical social and aesthetic aspirations of the previous decade.
Out of Body Travel | Richard Foreman | 42:00 (ex. 24:00) 1976
A "young woman who finds herself surrounded by the relics of Western culture" is the subject of Richard Foreman`s formal tableaux.
The Continuing Story of Carel and Ferd | Arthur Ginsberg | 1:00:00 (ex. 33:00) 1972
From 1970 to 1972, Arthur Ginsberg and Video Free America recorded the private life of a not-so-average American couple-Carel Row and Ferd Eggan. She is a porn actress and filmmaker; he is a bisexual junkie.
Program 4: Gendered Confrontations
Art Herstory | Hermine Freed | 22:00 (ex. 15:00) 1974
In her brilliant video Art Herstory, Freed has restaged art history putting herself in the model`s role in numerous paintings.
Female Sensibility | Lynda Benglis | 14:00 1973
As two heavily made-up women take turns directing each other and submitting to each other`s kisses and caresses, it becomes increasingly obvious that the camera is their main point of focus.
Ama L`Uomo Tuo (Always Love Your Man) | Cara DeVito | 19:00 1975
This carefully structured documentary is both a character study of DeVito`s grandmother, Adeline LeJudas, and an incisive social critique of patriarchal society.
The Mom Tapes | Ilene Segalove | 28:00 (ex. 4:00) 1972
Segalove takes her mom as subject in these short pieces, recording her stories, her advice, and her daily routine.
Primal Scenes | Linda Montano | 11:00 1980
Montano uses stirring images of women acting in the rather traditional roles of nun and mother, yet she recasts these roles and demonstrates, from a womanŐs point of view, the possibility of claiming a fully realized sexual intensity for women.
Nun and Deviant | Nancy Angelo | 20 :00 (ex. 13:00) 1976
In a classic example of feminist performance video of the 1970s, the performers in Nun And Deviant come to happier terms with their identities both as women and as artists.
Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained | Martha Rosler | 38:00 1977
Taking aim at the social standardization enforced on womenŐs bodies, Rosler critiques the politics of ŇobjectiveÓ or scientific evaluation, which results in the depersonalization, objectification and colonization of women. ŃMary Stofflett, Studio International
Program 5: Performance of Video Imaging Tools
Calligrams | Woody and Steina Vasulka | 4:00 1970
Calligrams is one of the Vasulkas` earliest experiments with altering the analog video image. An image is rescanned from the monitor "to capture and preserve the violated state of the standard television signal."
Illuminatin` Sweeney | Skip Sweeney | 28:38 (ex. 5:00) 1975
Skip Sweeney was an early and proficient experimenter with video feedback. This sampling of Sweeney`s work shows feedback processed through a combination of a Moog audio synthesizer and the Vidium colorizing synthesizer invented by Bill Hearn in 1969.
Video Weavings | Stephen Beck | 28:00 1976
Inspired by the analogy between weaving (vertical warp threads traversed by horizontal weft threads) and the construction of the television image (vertical and horizontal scans of an electron gun), Stephen Beck built the Video Weaver in 1974, and produced Video Weavings in 1976.
Five-Minute Romp Through the IP | Dan Sandin | 5:00 (ex. 4:00) 1973
In this segment, Sandin demonstrates the routing of the camera signal through several basic modules of the IP, producing a "primitive" vocabulary of the effects specific to video.
Triangle in Front of Square in Front of Circle... | Dan Sandin | 3:00 1973
In this elegant demonstration, Sandin explains the mistake of using common language concepts and spatial relations to describe what actually can happen on the video screen.
Video-Taping | Ernie Gusella | 5:00 1974
Gusella`s title creates a pun on the term video "tape" by using a split screen in which one half is the electronic negative of the other.
Exquisite Corpse | Ernie Gusella | 5:00 1978
Utilizing quick, voltage-controlled live switching between two cameras, Gusella approximates composite images. The perceptual effect is mesmerizing and disorienting.
Einstine | Eric Siegel | 6:00 1978
The tape uses colorized video feedback to generate its psychedelic effects, as a picture of Albert Einstein dissolves into a shimmering play of light.
General Motors | Phil Morton | 1:00:00 (ex. 10:00) 1976
A response to the inability of his local General Motors dealer to fix Morton`s 1974 Chevy van to his satisfaction, this tape blends experimental image-processing techniques with documentation of the faulty vehicle.
Merce by Merce by Paik | Nam June Paik | 30:00 1975
Merce by Merce by Paik is a two-part tribute to choreographer Merce Cunningham and artist Marcel Duchamp.
Crossings and Meetings | Ed Emshwiller | 27:33 (ex. 4:00) 1974
Crossings and Meetings explores the image and sound of a walking man, expanding a simple image into increasingly complex permutations and arriving at what Emshwiller calls a "visual fugue" in time and space.
Complex Wave Forms | Ralph Hocking | 5:00 (ex. 4:00) 1977
Produced without camera input, this intense electronic landscape transports the viewer into a world that is an abstract study in machine-generated imagery.
Pictures of the Lost | Barbara Buckner | 23:00 (ex. 8:00) 1978
Composed in 22 movements that introduce a series of silent, haunting, other-worldly landscapes, Pictures of the Lost hovers between figuration and abstraction, and reveals Buckner`s sustained interest in spirituality.
Video Locomotion | Peer Bode | 5:00 1978
In this homage to photographer Edward Muybridge, a photo grid of a walking man is resituated in video space.
Music on Triggering Surfaces | Peer Bode | 3:00 1978
In Music on Triggering Surfaces, Bode constructs an interface between audio and video systems.
C-Trend | Woody Vasulka | 3:00 (ex. 7:00) 1974
In C-Trend, one of Woody Vasulka`s "dialogues with tools," the video raster, or monitor screen, is controlled by the Rutt-Etra Scan Processor, a scan deflection tool designed by Steve Rutt and Bill Etra in 1973.
Switch! Monitor! Drift! | Steina | 4:00 1976
Switch! Monitor! Drift! is one of a series of "machine visions" constructed by Steina in the `70s.
Program 6: Decentralized Communication Projects
Mayday Realtime | David Cort & Curtis Radcliffe | 1:00:00 (ex. 10:00) 1971
As a verite documentation of the May 1, 1971 demonstration against the Vietnam War staged in Washington, D.C., Mayday Realtime presents a largely unedited flow of events from the point of view of participants on the street.
Peoples` Video Theater (Women`s Liberation, Gay Pride, Young Lords, Native American Action) | Ken Marsh | 28:00 1971
PVT`s use of video as social feedback typically involved carrying portapaks in the streets of New York City where they conducted video polls and documented public actions.
Participation | Steina and Woody Vasulka | 30:00 (ex. 6:00) 1969
These excerpts from Partipation feature a performance by an anonymous rhythm & blues group led by a young, charismatic singer, a pulsing light show projection at the Fillmore East, and a scene from Off-Broadway drag theater.
First Transmission of ACTV | George Stoney | 8:00 1972
This tape documents the first cablecast of Austin Community Television (ACTV) in which George Stoney and a group of University of Texas students assembled playback equipment on a hilltop at the cable system`s head-end.
Jonesboro Storytelling Festival: Kathryn Windham Telling Ghost Stories (The Jumbo Light) | Broadside TV | 6:00 1974
This tape features Kathryn Tucker Windham, a noted children`s author and librarian from Selma, Alabama, relating a ghost story about "The Jumbo Light" at the 1974 Jonesboro Storytelling Festival.
The Politics of Intimacy | Julie Gustafson | 52:20 (ex. 10:00) 1974
In the tape Dr. Sherfy, one of the first doctors to write about female sexuality, and nine women of different ages, sexual preferences, and economic and social situations discuss their sexual experiences.
Attica Interviews | Portable Channel | 30:00 (ex. 8:00) 1971
The events at Attica during September 1971 brought national attention to conditions in and policies regarding American prisons. Portable Channel conducted interviews with lawyers, negotiators, and community members over a four-month period following the rebellion.
Queen Mother Moore Speech at Greenhaven Prison | Peoples` Communications Network | 1:03:00 1973
Two years after the riots and deaths at Attica, New York, a community day was organized at Greenhaven, a federal prison in Connecticut. Think Tank, a prisoners` group, coordinated efforts with African-American community members outside the prison walls to fight racism and poverty.
Laughing Alligator | Juan Downey | 27:00 1979
The personal odyssey recorded in The Laughing Alligator combines methods of anthropological research with diaristic essay, mixing objective and subjective vision.
Program 7: Critiques of Art and Media as Commodity and Spectacle
Eternal Frame | Ant Farm & Doug Hall | 23:00 1976
Irreverent yet poignant, The Eternal Frame is a re-enactment of the assassination of John F. Kennedy as seen in the famous Zapruder film.
Television Delivers People | Richard Serra | 6:00 1973
This tape is a seminal text in the now well-established critique of popular media as an instrument of social control, one which enforces itself softly on the populace through ŇentertainmentsÓ for the benefit of those in power, the corporations that manage and profit from the status quo.
The Business of Local News | University Community Video-Minneapolis | 25:00 (ex. 15:00) 1974
In The Business of Television News, which aired as part of the "Changing Channels" series, several area television news operations were asked to examine their objectives and their markets.
Proto Media Primer | Paul Ryan & Raindance Corporation | 14:00 1970
In this primer edited by Paul Ryan, Abbie Hoffman is interviewed shortly before the verdict of the Chicago 7 trial is delivered.
About Media | Tony Ramos | 26:00 (ex. 17:00) 1977
Tony Ramos` astute deconstruction of television news focuses on his part in the media coverage of President Jimmy Carter`s 1977 declaration of amnesty for Vietnam draft evaders.
Fifty Wonderful Years | Optic Nerve | 28:00 1973
Fifty Wonderful Years provides a behind-the-scenes look at the 1973 Miss California Pageant.
Technology /Transformation: Wonder Woman | Dara Birnbaum | 7:00 1978
As one of the first artists to appropriate TV footage as a strategy to critically reposition the texts of television, Birnbaum examines the production of television`s fantasy spectacle in relation to ideological constructions of women and power in this early seminal video.
Program 8: Independents Address Television Audiences
Healthcare: Your Money or Your Life | Downtown Community TV | 1:00:00 1978
A timeless expose on the disparity of health care services for the rich and poor in America, this incisive investigative report exemplifies the advocacy journalism of the Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV).
The Ruling Classroom | Peter Bull & Alex Gibney | 1979-1980
TVTV Four More Years | Top Value Television | 1:00:00 1972
While network cameras focused on the orchestrated renomination of Richard Nixon in 1972, TVTV`s ragtag army of guerrilla television activists turned their cameras on the cocktail parties, anti-war demonstrations, hype and hoopla that accompanied the show.