Video +/- Art Screenings: Video Art Pioneers, Pt. 2
Weeks 1 & 2: The Birth of Video Art: Feedback & Broadcast
Alternative Video and Media Collectives
Running: Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Note: Select works will be shown in excerpt form. See Program for Part 1 here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgUmEi4ndpy2sp54u_1AFJlzGoglmLbmEMOORnp8SJg/edit?usp=sharing
Youtube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlPMdCCayZxvSLKWW403qIeEKGMvrdh2B&si=umHS8hfSzaybOvAW
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TVTV (Top Value Television), “Four More Years” (1972), “Lord of the Universe” (1974), ( trailer & excerpts)
Based (mostly) in San Francisco, TVTV was a pioneering guerrilla television collective that included members of many other video art collectives, including Ant Farm. They fundamentally changed documentary production through their use of portable video equipment. Using Sony Portapaks, they created alternative coverage of major political events, offering a radical contrast to network television’s approach. “Four More Years” documented the 1972 Republican National Convention, while “Lord of the Universe” investigated the 16-year-old guru Maharaj Ji and his Divine Light Mission.
Lord of the Universe (trailer), Source: https://youtu.be/SPO7bVPqJJo?si=5jNgT5tD1Cfc60_W
Rennie Davis vs Abbie Hoffman (excerpt), Source: https://youtu.be/blrzzS1yuBU?si=yjHnP5i9J4DRNgNe
Four More Years, excerpts, Source: https://youtu.be/SVNjx_eTK6s?si=q03wYgojOl56o84S
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Ant Farm, “Media Burn” (1975) and “The Eternal Frame” (1975) (excerpts and edits)
Ant Farm was an avant-garde architecture, graphic arts, and environmental design practice founded in San Francisco in 1968 by Chip Lord and Doug Michels. Their video works critiqued mass media and consumer culture through spectacular performances. “Media Burn” featured a modified Cadillac crashing through a pyramid of burning televisions, while “The Eternal Frame” recreated the Kennedy assassination to examine media’s role in historical memory.
Media Burn, (excerpt 1), Source: https://youtu.be/ieVwRqUxVI8?si=xNXIdet4HDyhX7lm, (excerpt 2), source: https://youtu.be/fnJgkqF7vEo?si=Q0brWy7lPdKF797h
The Eternal Frame, (edit), Source: Ant Farm — The Eternal Frame (1976)
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Videofreex, “Fred Hampton Interview” (1969) (Part 5, edit)
The Videofreex were a pioneering video collective who used the Sony Portapak for countercultural video projects from 1969 to 1978. They were founded in 1969 by David Cort, Mary Curtis Ratcliff and Parry Teasdale, after Cort and Teasdale met each other at the Woodstock Music Festival. They were later joined by others including Skip Blumberg. Videofreex interviewed Black Panther Party Chairman, Fred Hampton in Chicago in 1969. Members of the Videofreex were also working with TVTV and helped on the set of Ant Farm’s Media Burn and The Eternal Frame.
Source: Fred Hampton Interview Part 5
Important Notes:
Several works in this program are video sculptures or installations. What we will see are historical or contemporary documentation videos of these works, which can only partially convey the original spatial and interactive elements of the pieces.
**WARNING**:
This program contains flashing lights and strobe effects that may affect photosensitive viewers.
