Bush Video Collective

A find from Stephens book mentioned a few posts back

"Bush Video was a prominent group using video as an experimental art form in the early 1970s in Australia. Bush Video was set up by the experimental filmmaker, Mick Glasheen, who had been using video since 1968. He was approached by the organisers of the Nimbin Aquarius Festival held in May 1973 to provide video access to festival participants. Bush Video applied for funding to build a cable network throughout the town of Nimbin. This was the very first experiment in cable television in Australia." In Stephens book it also talks allot about the computer processing and video synthesis  and feedback work that some of the members did as well as their activist work.

www.scanlines.net/person/bush-video

Superlative TV

Send these guys something, theme apathy, if you can be bothered ;)

http://superlativetv.com/

Teaching

 I have been teaching quite a bit recently but for this one I incorporated a live demonstration of video synthesis and encouraged people to come and play!

I was asked to talk by Lawrence Lek  for Public Assembly, a one-day free school celebrating alternative forms of knowledge and creative expression in art and technology. The exhibition paid tribute to New York City's last tuition-free university - the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science, whose Board of Trustees recently voted to end the school's 154-year historic mission of providing merit-based tuition-free education to all admitted students. It was a fantastic day that incorporated some really interesting presentations and also some discussions on the future and relevance of school and art schools which I personally am really interested in. 

Big thanks to all the hosts and everyone who came to participate 

The Nocturnal Emissions' "Bleeding Images" + "The Foetal Grave of Progress"

John of  of now defunct but fantastic blog Destructural Video has organised a screening showing two 1980's videos from the sound art project Nocturnal Emissions who as well as being involved in industrial/electronic music in the eighties were also early pioneers in scratch video.

Thursday, 14 February 2013, Wharf Chambers Ground Floor, 23 - 25 Wharf Street, LS2 7EQ Leeds

http://www.facebook.com/events/407157019370475/ video

"Limerent Objects is proud to present a Sterile Records double bill screening of:

BLEEDING IMAGES (1982, 46 minutes, VHS)
THE FOETAL GRAVE OF PROGRESS (1984, 34 minutes, VHS)

Perhaps THE quintessential audiovisual statements of the post-industrial music scene. Provocative in content, prescient in style, these medium-length videos captured the subversive interests and activities of the pioneering sound art project The Nocturnal Emissions against a contextual backdrop of the UK between 1981 and 1984; a time rife with mass unemployment, civil unrest, media hysteria, political indifference, terrorism and war overseas. Burroughsian cut-ups reveal subliminal imagery hidden in exploitative mainstream broadcasting; shocking images of real-life violence against living beings are critically employed to expose our complacency in everyday cruelty; the thunderous soundscapes and ritual performances of The Nocturnal Emissions awaken the viewer's senses to our undermining culture controlled by fear and repression...

Rarely viewed since their initial home video releases and screenings at the Tate and ICA in the UK as a result of the imposing 1984 Video Recordings Act, both videos remain impressive today as early influential examples of the extended music video and key moments of the British independent video art movement. Countless artists and broadcasters have emulated or outright stolen the ambitions, aesthetics and techniques used in the videos of The Nocturnal Emissions, either directly or through watered-down copies - few however can match the tremendous power of the original works which are long overdue public and critical reassessment in these increasingly pertinent times.

Free entry with small donations welcomed. Doors open at 7:30. A short talk and introduction by the organiser will precede the first video at 8pm - second video will be shown after 9pm. Please be aware that these videos contains flashing images and some footage that may disturb those of a sensitive disposition.

Special thanks to Nigel Ayers/Earthly Delights and Piitu Lintunen for making this event possible.

*Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club is a members’ club, and you need to be a member, or a guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit wharfchambers.org. Membership costs £1 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect.*"

http://www.earthlydelights.co.uk/
http://nocturnalemissions.bandcamp.com/
http://www.nigelayers.com/

April Greiman

After looking at book on April Greiman an idea I have been thinking about for a while now was confirmed, that is that some aesthetics in design and art are dictated by the technology of the time (I know this is obvious) and that video technology arrived just before computers in terms of easily available image generation/manipulation tools. The book showed some images Greiman created just before she got access to a Mac using Calarts Grassvally switcher and some video/audio synthesisers. Greiman's work went on to become incredibly influential, she is one of the designers credited with brining 'New Wave' style to America and her unique experimental work influenced many other designers for the next decade and beyond, her utilisation of pixelation and other digitization errors was also ahead of her time.

http://aprilgreiman.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Greiman
http://nicolajaynesullivan.blogspot.co.uk

Scratch Video

wikipedia 

"Scratch video was a British video art movement that emerged in the early-mid 1980s. It was characterised by the use of found footage, fast-cutting and multi-layered rhythms. It is significant in that, as a form of outsider art, it challenged many of the establishment assumptions of broadcast TV - as well of those of gallery-bound video art.

Scratch video arose in opposition to broadcast TV, as (anti-)artists attempted to deal critically and directly with the impact of mass communications. The context these videos emerged in is important, as it tended to critique of the institutions making broadcast videos and the commercialism found on “youth” TV, especially MTV. This it did in form, content and in its mode of distribution.

Much of the work was politically radical, often containing images of a sexual or violent nature, and using images appropriated from mainstream media, including corporate advertising; using strategies inspired by the Situationist concept of detournement and William S. Burroughs’ theories ofElectronic Revolution."

"The primary audience for scratch video in the early to mid 80s, was in nightclub performances by “industrial music” bands such as The Anti-Group Company, Cabaret Voltaire, Nocturnal Emissions, Psychic TV, SPK, Test Dept, Autopsia, etc. Some of those involved described their work as a form of “cultural terrorism” or as a form of “anti-art”.

In the mid 1980s typical London venues would be screenings at artist-run spaces such as the Ambulance Station, in independent cinemas such as the Brixton Ritzy Cinema, or the Fridge nightclub, which boasted an array of dozens of recycled colour TVs. There was also significant distribution on VHS tape, following similar networks to cassette culture.
After Andy Lipman’s City Limits feature contextualised the “art” values of this practice, material began to be featured in small screenings in official art galleries such as the ICA and Tate. TV stations like Channel 4 began late night screenings of art videos, including “scratch video”. However, because much of the material was constructed using domestic VHS equipment, it was deemed both technically and legally unsuitable for broadcast (TV stations are particularly wary of copyright violations). Being highly politicised, some of the material also broke with the broadcaster’s criteria of “balance”."

http://www.earthlydelights.co.uk/archive/scratch/scratch.html

http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/films/scratch-video-programme.html

http://www.seventeengallery.com/index.php?p=3&id=30&iid=3

http://artlicks.com/events/2980/bunker-mentality

here is some later work by key player George Barber 

TG members at work as Psychic TV 

More TG with Chris and Cosey

Gorilla Tapes

Tape Scape Photos

Things I should have posted along time ago but am only now getting around to post 7

In this post I talked about Tape Scape Catford a temporary project space based in an old blockbuster video rentals shop here are some photos from my visit

Tapescape Catford

Thanks to my friend and co worker Owen for pointing this one out right under my nose
Tapescape Catford! can't believe I missed this one, even if my laptops heat sink is bust. Definatly heading down tomorrow. Not sure about the Video Amnesty, ill be haning on to my VHS videos and players ect :)

"About
Politics surrounding the videocassette
Description
We are taking over the now empty Blockbuster Video Store in Catford, South East London to explore the politics surrounding the videocassette.


Using art installations, soundscapes, spoken word, discussions, talks, screenings, dance, games and more, the intervention questions the impact video has made on all our lives, how it affected our behaviour and the huge environmental cost of our short lived innovations.



We will be holding a 'Video Amnesty' allowing Lewisham residents to bring in old video cassettes[1] and players to be returned to the shelves for one last time before heading off to be completely recycled and re-emerge as something new



FIRST VIEW OF THE LINE UP! 

TUESDAY 17TH, 7.30PM
CASSETTIQUETTE
VH-ESSAY DIRECTED BY KAI CLEAR
EXT-1 INTERACTIVE AUDIO VISUAL INSTALLATIONS BY NATHAN HARMER
I LOVE VIDEOTAPE BY JONATHAN PIGRAM
MORE FILMS, AUDIO EXHIBITS AND BAR
TUNES BY DJ NOVA

THURSDAY 19TH, 7.30PM
PROVOCATION: HOW TECHNOLOGY MAKES OUR BODY ITS BUSINESS: JANE FONDA, LEISURE, AND THE EMBODIMENT OF THE GOOD CITIZEN BY ROANNA MITCHELL
HTTP://WWW.PLATFORM-7.COM/APPS/BLOG/SEARCH?Q=ROANNA
VISUAL ART RESPONSE BY DARREN SPERRING
HTTP://WWW.PLATFORM-7.COM/GALLERY#!__GALLERY/2011-EXHIBITIONS/VSTC27=DARREN-SPERRING
DANCE RESPONSE BY MELANIE SIMPSON
HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=UD4WRFWQLGU

FRIDAY 20TH (TBC) 8PM
RIOT ACT 2012 (TBC)
PERFORMANCE BY
TOM BRESOLIN & ALEXIS MILNE (TBC)
PIE N MASH FILMS – IF IT IS SAFE TO SHOW (TBC)
HTTP://WWW.PIENMASHFILMS.COM/
PRINCESS BRITANNIA - SHE KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON (TBC)
HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ PROFILE.PHP?ID=100001488826532
LIVE PERFORMANCE BY SCULPTURE
HTTP://TAPEBOX.CO.UK/

SATURDAY 21ST, 7.30PM
EXPLODING CINEMA
VHS EXPLOSION
HTTP:// WWW.EXPLODINGCINEMA.ORG/

SUNDAY 22ND
THE MARATHON MAN FILM QUIZ, 3-6PM
HOSTED BY DAN CALLADINE
HTTP:// DIGITAL-EXAMPLES.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK/2012/01/RETURN-OF-FERRIS-BUELLER.HTML
VJ LEPKE, 8.30PM (TBC)
AN ORIGINAL VHS VJ
HTTP://SOUNDCLOUD.COM/LEPKE-B

THE OLD BLOCKBUSTERS VIDEO STORE

95 Rushey Green, Catford , SE6 4AF [map]
www.platform-7.com

This event has been enabled due to the kind support of the London Borough of Lewisham and its Valuer Team for the building and the Waste Management Team and Environmental Recycling Services for supporting our Video Amnesty"

Nancy Buchanan - Tech-Knowledge (video art) 1984

via denshiblocks

Ian Andrews

Ian Andrews has a great site detailing his multimedia work here  but he also has some great info on Subvertigo a VJ/video art collective started by Ian, John Jacobs and Marco Fante  here  (also see skynoise for more info)

I really recommend reading the interviews and ideas on the Subvertigo but as always the technology caught my eye including the Arlunya VPS210

I think I already posted this a while back but it can't hurt to do it again

The Martian Report

"In 1976, Jim Neidhardt put one of the first Sony Portapaks in a backpack and used a telephoto lens. Equipped with a radiomike, Howard Rheingold roamed the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, posing as Howard K. Martian, extraterrestrial anthropologist."


Thanks to Humanoidity for uploading this







"Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Howard Rheingold (born July 7, 1947) is a critic and writer; his specialties are on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a term he is credited with inventing).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Rheingold"

Artists' Television Access : The Feminism of our Times

Via Artists' Television Access

Cut and Run + Red Channels in San Francisco: The Feminism of our Times

Artists' Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA

"Re-enacting Liberation: The Feminism of our Times

Radical collective Red Channels is in town from New York City, and is bringing rare films and videos to screen, and for use in stimulating open discussion. This program features early examples of video art, collectively produced documentary, and recent reenactments, which explore the relationship of moving image artists to political agitators and organizers, with work featuring Angela Davis and Valerie Solanas, and two rare productions by Carole Roussopoulos.

Cut and Run is proud to co-present this program.

–Jean Genet parle d’Angela Davis – Carole Roussopoulos, 1970, 7 minutes
–The Woman’s Film – San Francisco Newsreel, 1971, 40 minutes
–SCUM Manifesto – Carole Roussopoulos & Delphine Seyrig, 1976, 26 minutes
–Performing SCUM – Angela Marzullo, 2005, 6 minutes
–The Liberation of Our People [excerpt] – Mark Tribe, 2008, 5 minutes
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 84 minutes | Digital Projection

Discussion to follow screening.

Red Channels is a radical collective from New York City. they organize public events and use various forms of art and media to facilitate open discussions on culture and politics.
www.redchannels.org

Cut and Run is a traveling film festival from the bay area specializing in the exhibition of short avant-garde and experimental video and film programs.
www.cutandruntour,wordpress.org"

Artists’ Television Access

 

Link here 

Artists’ Television Access proudly invites the Bay Area community to celebrate 26 years of cutting edge, alternative and experimental art at this year’s fundraiser. The night features a live and silent art auction of work from almost 50 established and emerging artists, with live musical performances by Grass Widow and Puce Moment, and visual presentation by Craig Baldwin, Dayv Jones and much more.

Contributing Artists:

Ytaelena Lopez, Walter Logue, Walter Desanti, Todd Sanchioni, Sylvia Schedelbauer, Suzy Poling, Scott Hewicker, Sarah Bell, Sara Thustra, Sam Manera, Rich Bott, Regina Clarkinia, Rebecca Whipple, Paul Clipson, Pablo Guardiola, Ouzel Isis Rhea, Molly Hankwitz, Minna Eloranta, Martha Coblurn, Marshall Weber, Mark Brest Van Kempen, Maria Katy Goodman, Marcella Faustini, Maïa Cybelle Carpenter, Mack McFarland, Louis Schmidtt, Lise Swenson, Lisa Levens, Kyle Ranson, Kyle Noble, Kottie Poloma, Kent Howie, Ken Paul Rosenthal, Karla Milosevich, John Casey, Johanna Jackson, Jen Gilomen, Jefre Cantu, James Sterling Pitt, Ilana Crispi, Gordon Winemenko, Gina Contreras, Emily Glaubinger, Dayv Jones, Dana Smith, Cybele Lyle, Craig Baldwin, Cliff Hengst, Christo Roperza, Chris Johanson, Chris Cobb, Charles Gute, Carl Diehl, Beth Lisick, Barbara Valles, Anne Mcguire, Anna Leja, Amanda Curreri, Allyssa Wolf, A.Mark Liiv.



Doors open 5 PM

Silent Auction:
6-8 PM

Live Auction:
8-9:00 PM

Musical performance: Grass Widow and Puce Moment
9:00 PM…

Experimental 1/2 Hour

my friend Gary directed me to this!
here is a community TV show from Portland

DIY TV Transmitter

Here is one of the many projects available online to build your own low powered TV transmitter. This instructable also details a multitude of different ways to go about making more powerful transmitters.

Radical Software 1970-74

here's a great video from art21's channel

Activist Video

here is an amazing resource via the website of The Southwest Museum of Engineering,
Communications and Computation. The page is a collection of links and information relating to activist video mostly based in Chicago and other related areas of video art.

taken from the page on activist video;

"Once upon a time....

People arose wielding half inch video cameras
with pack recorders strapped to their sides...

They sought to document unpublished truths...

They created art...

They wanted us to open our eyes...

These sites below tell their story - enjoy! "

top picks include links to the video magazine Radical Software  and link to fantastic (and oft visited by me) vasulka archive. Here is the front cover of the aptly named half inch video guide the Spaghetti City Video Manual