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- Abramovic, Marina.
- An Event by Ulay
- A performance art piece "exploring the interrelatedness
of physical and mental realms" by two early artists,
Ulay and Marina Abramovic. Galerie Mike Steiner, Berlin, 1976. (Purchased with Stuart and Gail Buchalter Fund for the Study of
Contemporary Art) 26 min. Video/C 5364
- Abramovic, Marina.
- 4 Performances by Marina Abramovic, 1975-1976
- Contents: Art must be beautiful, Artist must be beautiful. --
Freeing the voice -- Freeing the memory -- Freeing the
body. Galerie Mike Steiner, Berlin, December, 1976. (Purchased with Stuart and Gail Buchalter Fund for the Study of
Contemporary Art) 54 min. Video/C 5364
- Abramovic, Marina.
- Relation Work, 1976-1979: 14 performances
- Contents: Relation in space -- Talking about similarity --
Breathing in, breathing out -- Imponderabilia --
Expansion in space -- Relation in movement -- Relation
in time -- Light/Dark -- Balance proof -- AAA-AAA --
Incision -- Kaiserschnitt -- Charged space -- Three.
Performance art pieces illustrating art in confrontation
with life and the individual versus the universal by
early artists, Ulay and Marina Abramovic. 148 min. Video/C 5366
- Acconci, Vito.
- Willoughby Sharp Videoviews Vito Acconci
- Willoughby Sharp conducts an informal interview with
video artist and performer, Vito Acconci. 1973 62 min. Video/C 5240
- Acconci, Vito.
- Applications.
- A video performance by Acconci, which illustrates his
unique engagement of conceptual art, performance and
Body Art. In this piece a woman kisses Acconci's body,
covering him in red lipstick traces. Acconci then rubs
his body against another man (Dennis Oppenheim),
transferring the stains onto him. (Purchased with Stuart and Gail Buchalter Fund for the Study of
Contemporary Art) 1970. 20 min. Video/C 5158
- Acconci, Vito.
- Association Area.
- As a document of early performance art, this tape
details the process of orientating the body and self
in space, providing a physical metaphor for the
process of adjusting oneself in society. Blindfolded,
with ears plugged, two men try to sense each other's
movements to assume the same motion and bearing. An
off-screen voice, heard only by the audience, gives
directions that would help them attain their goal. 1971. 61 min. Video/C 5207
- Acconci, Vito.
- Centers. (1971)
- The film was made by Acconci's using the video monitor
as a mirror. As we look at the artist sighting along
his outstretched arm and forefinger toward the center
of the screen what we see is a sustained tautology: a
line of sight that begins at Acconci's plane of vision
and ends at the eyes of his projected double. The
result turns the activity around: a pointing away from
the filmaker at an outside viewer. Video/C 5206
- Acconci, Vito.
-
- Face-off.
- This film is an ironic collusion of private and public,
of exposure and masking, a tense ritual wherein
Acconci divulges and then censors his
self-revelations. He turns on an audiotape of his own
voice addressing himself and the viewer, recounting
intimate details about his life. Whenever the material
becomes too personal however, he tries to drown out
his voice and prevent the viewer from hearing yelling
"No, no, no, don't tell this!" He becomes increasingly
agitated as the tape proceedes. 32 min. Video/C 5243
- Acconci, Vito.
- Pryings.
- This documentation of a live performance at New York
University, is a graphic exploration of the physical
and psychological dynamics of male/female interaction,
a study in control, violation and resistance. The
camera focuses tightly on Kathy Dillon's face, as
Acconci tries to pry open her closed eyes. Her body is
a vehicle for a literal enactment of the desire for
and resistance against intimate contact. 71 min. Video/C 5154
- Acconci, Vito.
- Conversions.
- A performance videotape by Acconci who is known for his
use of gesture, ritualized action and the human body
as performance object. In this 3 part film Acconci, in
a dark room burns the hair off of his chest with a
candle, then plays with the illusion of having female
breasts. In Parts II and III, Acconci continues to
play with gender illusions via manipulations of his
own body parts.1971. 66 min. Video/C 5152
- Acconci, Vito.
- Undertone.
- One of Acconci's most compelling and controversial works,
Undertone is a confrontational and coercive attempt to
engage the viewer in an intimate, ultimately perverse
relation with the artist as he expounds a masturbatory
fantasy with the viewer as voyeur. 1973. 37 min. Video/C 5210
- John Baldessari
- Baldessari Sings LeWitt
- Seated and holding a sheaf of papers, Baldessari
proceeds to sing each of Sol Lewitt's thirty-five
conceptual statements to a different pop tune, after
the model of Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole Porter. What
initially presents itself as faintly humorous,
gradually becomes a struggle to convey Lewitt's
statements through this arbitrary means. 1972.
15 min. Video/C 4684
- John Baldessari
- I Am Making Art
- In an ironic reference to body art, process art and
performance, Baldessari challenges definitions of the
content and execution of art-making. Performing with
deadpan precision, he moves his hands, arms and entire
body in studied, minute motions, intoning the phrase
"I am making art" with each gesture, as if art were
being created from moment to moment with each body
movement. 1971. 17 min. Video/C 5242
- Benglis Lynda
- Lynda Benglis Paints With Foam.
- This in-depth document follows Benglis' polyurethane
sculptural process, from building the forms, mixing
and pouring the foam, to completing the work through the combined efforts of her assistants. In a
brief interview, Benglis discusses her relation to Pop
Art and Abstract Expressionism, especially in regard
to her pursuit of a "super-real" surface. 1971. 26 min. Video/C 5205
- Benglis Lynda
- Mumble
- A part of an ongoing video correspondence with sculptor,
Robert Morris, this film brings together repeated
scenes and gestures, featuring Morris and Jim Benglis,
the artist's brother, and a narrative of irrelevant,
confusing and often purposefully untrue statements.
Although the viewer is inclined to accept Benglis'
narrative as true, such trust is called into question
by her statements about actions taking place off
camera which cannot be verified. As Benglis' narration
degenerates into a meaningless, repetitive pulse, Mumble disrupts the convenient fiction that
the image presented on screen is complete unto itself. 1972. 21 min. Video/C 5211
- Benglis Lynda
- Now
- Throughout this video, Benglis asks "Now?!" as she makes
faces and sounds and even kisses her own image on a
monitor. The word "Now" used here as both question and
command focuses attention on the deceptive "real" time
of video. As her first color tape, Benglis experiments
with the effect of unnatural color, turning up the
levels until the colors are very high and artificial,
which again disperses the idea of video as an impartial or "direct" medium. 1973. 13 min. Video/C 5208
- Birnbaum, Dara
- Technology/Transformation: Wonder
Woman.
- Utilizing segments from the original television program,
Wonder Woman, this art video piece is a stutter-step
progression of "extended moments" which unmask the
technological "miracle" of Wonder Woman's
transformation from a secretary into a "wonder" woman. Birnbaum considers this tape an "altered
state" that "renders the viewer capable of
re-examining the fodder that is our average television
diet." 1978. 7 min. Video/C 5209
- Burden, Chris.(On art and Artists)
- In this documentary Chris Burden talks about his works
of the past twenty years, from the performances of the
seventies to the sculpture and installations of the
eighties. 1989. 28 min. Video/C 5145
- Burden, Chris.
- Willoughby Sharp Videoviews Chris Burden.
- Willoughby Sharp conducts an informal interview with
modern artist and performer, Chris Burden. 1975. 28 min. Video/C 5241
- Campus, Peter
- Three Transitions.
- In three short exercises, Campus uses basic techniques
of video technology and his own image to create
succinct, almost philosophical metaphors for the
psychology of the self. In the first "transition," he
appears to stab himself in the back, climb through the
rupture in his body, and emerge whole on the other
side. In the second execise, Campus wipes his face
with his hand and "erases" its surface--only to reveal
another image of his face underneath. Finally in
conclusion, he appears to burn the living image of his face (as if it were a photograph), leaving
only blackness. 5 min. Video/C 5153
- East Coast, West Coast.
- Artists Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson, a married couple
until Smithson's death in 1973, filmed their 1969
discussion of contrasting lifestyles and approaches to
artistic creation. Smithson championed a relatively
loose, free-wheeling approach while Holt argued for a
greater degree of order and conceptualization in life
and art.
23 min. Video/C 5150
- Ecstasy Unlimited: The
Interpenetrations of Sex and Capital
-
Summary: A montage of skits, songs, and narrated film clips
depicting the close connections of economic, political,
and social systems with sexuality. Specifically, the film discusses how a capitalist society, the
United States, can shape the way we view sex and
sexuality.
60 min. Video/C 5244
- Fox, Terry.
- Children's Tapes
- In this classic early video work, Fox constructs
phenomenological dramas from the science of the
everyday using fruit, a balanced spoon, a candle and
other common items. Fox builds dramatic tension with
an extreme economy of means while demonstrating basic
physical phenomena. Focusing the camera close to his
still-life objects, he constructs a series of
elementary experiments that illustrate fundamental principles of physical science. The intimate
scale, magnified view, and suspenseful unfolding of
minute events in real time all serve to intensify the
viewer's perceptions in these engaging
mini-narratives. 1974. 30 min. Video/C 5245
- Graham, Dan.
- Performance/Audience/Mirror
- Recorded at Video Free America in San Francisco, this
video art work is a phenomenological inquiry into the
audience/performer relationbship and the notion of
subjectivity/objectivity. Graham stands in front of a
mirrored wall facing a seated audience; he describes the audience's movements and what they
signify. He then turns and describes himself and the
audience in the mirror. First, a person in the
audience sees himself 'subjectively', next he hears
himself described 'objectively' in terms of the
performer's perception. 1975. 23 min. Video/C 5239
- Hill, Gary.
- Around & About
- A speech-driven video art piece that self-consciously
addresses the nature of a shared reality with the
viewer. Around & About is an eloquently concrete
conjunction of interiors and closed openings which
provides a percussive backdrop for Hill's struggle to
break through to the viewer, functioning both on the
level of intimate dialogue and universal plea. 1980. 5 min. Video/C 5236
- Hill, Gary.
- Selected Works, I
- Contents: Objects with destinations (1979, 3 min.) -- Windows
(1978, 8 min.) -- Bathing (1977, 5 min.) -- Bits
(1977, 3 min.) -- Mirror Road (1975-76, 7 min.).
Early formalist works which explore the manipulation of
electronic color and image density through the camera
obscura and image processing devices. In Objects With
Destinations, ordinary objects move in staccato rhythm across the screen, washed with subtle hues.
In Windows, the image of windows in a darkened room is
digitized, densely layered, and otherwise abstracted
in a series of graphic compositions. In Bathing, Hill
transforms the traditional image of a bathing figure
by subtly integrating color video and digitized,
re-scanned stills. Bits is an abbreviated study of
minutiae, textures and patterns, in which Hill
explores editing techniques and rhythm. In Mirror Road,
Hill creates an increasingly abstracted harmony of
landscapes in layered compositions of movement. 1989? 27 min.
Video/C 5237
- Hill, Gary.
- Selected Works, II
- Contents: Electronic linguistic (1977, 4 min.) -- Sums &
differences (1978, 9 min.) -- Black/white/text (1980,
8 min.).
In these early works, Hill explores the structural and
organic relation of linguistics to electronic
phenomena. In Electronic Linguistic, small electronic
shapes on the screen move in a gradually accelerating rhythm. In Sums & Differences, images of
musical instruments and their corresponding sounds are
sequentially switched at an increasingly rapid rate.
Black/White/Text is a linguistic deconstruction that
represents the syllabic structure of words as text on
the screen. 1977. 21 min.
Video/C 5238
- Jonas, Joan.
- Glass Puzzle
- This complex and enigmatic work, which is performed by
Jonas and Lois Lane, explores female gestures, poses,
the body and narcissism. Mirroring each other with
synchronized movements as they perform as alter-egos, Jonas and Lane reference archetypal female
gestures and poses from popular and traditional
cultures. This evocative personal theater is a
quintessential Jonas work with its idiosyncratic
vocabulary of gestures, ritual and symbolism. 1973. 18 min. Video/C 5234
- Jonas, Joan.
- Vertical Roll
- Using the technique of a continuous vertical roll, Jonas
constructs a theater of female identity by
deconstructing representations of the female body.
Using her own body as performance object and video as
a theatrical construct, Jonas unveils a disjunctive
self-portrait. As she performs in front of the camera--
masked, wearing a feathered headdress, or costumed as a belly-dancer--her feet, torso, arms and
legs, subjected to the violence of the vertical roll,
appear as disembodied fragments. 20 min. Video/C 5157
- Kubota, Shigeko.
- Video Girls and Video Songs for Navajo Sky (1973)
- A video "diary" of Kubota's stay with a Navajo family on
a reservation. Featuring Kubota's often haunting,
often witty electronic manipulation, this video
document is an autobiographical journal of cultural
identity and difference.
- Luna, James
- The History of the Luiseno People: La
Jolla Reservation, Christmas 1990.
- A Native American man makes Christmas phone calls to
family members that he will not be with for the
holiday, revealing his loneliness and alienation. 29 min. Video/C 5149
- Mendieta, Ana.
- Selected Filmworks: 1972-81.
- A collection of experimental films by the early Cuban
artist, Ana Mendieta.
Contents: Untitled (Chicken piece, shot #2), 1972 -- Body tracks
(Blood sign #2), 1974 -- Laberinth Silueta, Silueta
series (Labyrinth blood imprint), Mexico, 1974 --
Untitled (Grass breathing), 1975 -- Burial of the
Nanigo (Woman candle silueta #2, New York show), 1976
-- Candle Ixchell, Black Ixchell series (Black Ixchell
Candle Ixchell), 1977 -- Volcan de Arena, Silueta series (Filmworks: Rocas y humo, San Felipe),
Mexico, 1980 -- Isla, Iowa, 1981 -- Untitled (Figura
que parece Egypta), Cuba, 1981 -- Untitled (Figura,
Gunpowder en los cracks), Iowa, 1981. 33 min. Video/C 5156
- Nauman, Bruce
- Monk
- In this film an inverted camera catches Nauman standing
at the opposite end of a room, slowly spinning around
on one foot, first head down and then head up. The
tape is an exercise in the human machine becoming some
type of cog or mechanized weather vane. 62 min. Video/C 5148
- Rosler, Martha
- Semiotics of the Kitchen.
- In this visual art piece the filmmaker names a series of
alphabetically ordered kitchen utensils while
demonstrating their use. 1975. 6 min. Video/C 5147 (also on tape Video/C 3181)
- Serra, Richard
- Prisoner's Dilemma.
- Serra here relies on "game theory" to generate a
play-acting situation that criticizes the (television)
medium while remaining within it. He directs and
"art-star" studded cast in a morality play, a mock
game of catch-22. The situation is one of forced,
mutual betrayal; it is impossible to win without
betraying your comrade or without betraying your own
best interest. Performer: Spalding Gray, Jeffrey Lew, Joel Shapiro. 1974. 40 min. Video/C 5204
- Serra, Richard
- Richard Serra Videoworks. Volume One.
- Contents: Boomerang (1974, 10 min., col.) -- Television delivers
people / by Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman
(1973, 7 min., b&w) -- Surprise attack (1973, 3 min.,
b&w) -- Anxious automation (1971, 6 min., b&w).
Bommerang: Delves into the psychological aspects of
video reproduction. Artist Nancy Holt's words are fed
back to her over headphones with a slight delay built
into the feedback, causing a dislocation between the action and the sound of speaking: a
disjunction that makes her cripplingly aware of her
expression. TV Delivers People: While canned Muzak
plays, a continuous scrolling text denounces the
corporate masquerade of commercial television to
reveal the structure of profit that greases the wheels
of the media industry. In Surprise Attack, a metal bar
is tossed back and forth in Serra's hands while his
voice, functioning as a paranoid metaphor, speculates
on the nature and limits of self-defense. Anxious
Automation involves time-space confusion. Two cameras
zoom back and forth, both focused on Joan Jonas who is
moving her arms over her head, resulting in a literal
space jump and apparent time warp. Videocassette release of four films originally produced
between 1971 and 1974. Video/C 5203
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