Early Video Art
Early Video Art is a collection of over 200 titles that are central to an understanding of the historical development of video art. This collection includes, but is not limited to, many titles from the original Castelli-Sonnabend collection, the first and most prominent collection of video art assembled in the United States. All of the work in this collection was produced between 1968 and 1980. These works represent important examples of the first experiments in video art, and include conceptual and feminist performances recorded on video, experiments with the video signal, and "guerilla" documentaries representing a counter-cultural view of the historical events of the 1960s and 70s. Many of these tapes represent a desire for a radically redefined television experience that is centered on the innovative, the personal, the political and the non-commercial.
  Originally presented as a live performance piece using actors, multiple monitors, and music, Modern Times is a consolidation of seven short chapters in the life of a modern woman. In the first sequence, the objects in a suburban home are...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: consumer culture, feminism, gender, performance, video history |
Segalove takes her mom as subject in these short pieces, recording her stories, her advice, and her daily routine. What results is a portrait of a contemporary mother-daughter relationship, touchingly devoid of drama and full of whimsical humor....
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: autobiography, family, feminism, performance, video history |
Segalove gives us another series of true incidents involving the powerful influence of television on life, relationships, and attitudes. Among them is the tale of a family in serious dialogue about their decision to censor the tube. After...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: family, media analysis, television |
Part of an ongoing video correspondence with sculptor Robert Morris, Mumble brings together repeated scenes and gestures, featuring Morris and Jim Benglis (the artist's brother), and a narrative of irrelevant, confusing, and often...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: conceptual art, performance, video history |
Characteristic of much of Gillette's work—which treats video as a field of light, movement and reflection—Muse extends beyond optical sensation to engage the viewer in metaphysical contemplation. The dilemma of human rationality in the...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: landscape, video history |
In this classic personal elegy, Kubota mourns her father's death and recounts the last days of his life. Reflecting on Kubota's use of the video medium, the television emerges as the link between Kubota and her father, with the melodramatic...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: death and dying, family, feminism, performance, post-colonialism, television, video history |
Footage of a May 1970 rally featuring political speakers, including members of the Black Panther Party. Abbie Hoffman talks about fighting imperialism at home, and the Chicago 7 Conspiracy Trial. As the crowd chants “Free Bobby Seale,” the...
Collection: Videofreex Archive, Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: activism, documentation, history, politics, war |
In a tape that stands out as one of the earliest examples of the use of appropriated television footage, Freed assembles a collage of images representing American media icons, from Mickey Mouse and Richard Nixon, to The Wizard of Oz and...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: found footage, television, video history |
The earliest of Benglis's videoworks, Noise calls attention to the assemblage element of video by allowing the image to disintegrate into static between edits. Benglis also plays back several generations of image and soundtrack to...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: conceptual art, performance, sound, video history |
