"A hand made raster deflection unit was used, inspired by Nam June Paik's video synthesizer system. I also used a TV repair person's test signal grid, early digital. Two b+w video cameras, audio oscillator sweeping up and then down. More keying permutations. Video, oscillator, keying, graphic timing buzzes."
– Peer Bode
Video artist Peer Bode, in a career spanning over five decades, has created an extensive body of work that experiments with electronic media events, active perception systems, and culture. A graduate of Binghamton University’s Cinema Department, Bode studied with Larry Gottheim, Ken Jacobs, Nicholas Ray, Peter Kubelka, Ralph Hocking, Sol Levine, Daniel Barnett and later with Woody and Steina Vasulka, Paul Sharits, Tony Conrad and Hollis Frampton at SUNY Buffalo’s Media Study Program.
From 1974-1987, Bode worked at the Experimental Television Center (ETC), which was established in 1969 by his lifelong mentor and friend Ralph Hocking. Bode made his foundational early works with the Paik-Abe Synthesizer and Jones Colorizer at ETC, and later used the Rutt-Etra Synthesizer at Media Study Buffalo. Working together with video engineer David Jones at ETC, Bode built and created extensive recordings with two digital video prototype instruments, which became a significant tools within his oeuvre. The two real time, analog/digital prototypes he built, evolved to become the Jones FB-1 Buffer, used by communities of artists in numerous video studios.
Bode’s work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including: MoMA, The Whitney Biennial, The Anthology Film Archives, The American Center (France), The II Biennial International Video Festival (Colombia), The European Media Art Festival (Germany), The Impakt Film and Video Art Festival (the Netherlands), The Viper Festival (Switzerland), Image Farm (Japan), and B.S.1 (China). Bode headed the Video Arts Program at the School of Art and Design, NYSCC at Alfred University,1987-2020, where he introduced and co-founded and co-directed, together with Jessie Shefrin and Joseph Scheer, the Institute for Electronic Arts (IEA),1998-2020. Bode is Professor of Art, Emeritus at the School of Art and Design, NYSCC at Alfred University, Alfred, NY.
In 1998 Pauline Oliveros, Peer Bode and Andrew Deutsch founded the electro-acoustic project, Carrier Band. Currently, Carrier Band is comprised of Peer Bode, Andrew Deutsch and Rebekkah Palov.