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-----Original Message-----
From: Secret Cinema [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Fri 27/02/2004 11:34
To: Secret Cinema
Cc:
Subject: [secretcinema] Vasulka Video: Pioneers of Electronic Art, 5-7 March 2004
LUX presents a unique opportunity to see the work of video pioneers Steina
and Woody Vasulka, who will be present at several of the events
...
VASULKA VIDEO
Pioneers of Electronic Art
5-6-7 March 2004
at Candid Arts Trust & University of Westminster
STEINA & WOODY VASULKA began to use the medium of video as early as 1969,
first documenting jazz performances, rock concerts and the underground
activities of Œillegitimate culture¹. Exploiting the relationship between
the electronic signals for both sound and image, they started a didactic
exploration of the limitless possibilities of video processing using a range
of newly crafted technological tools. Each tape produced was a by-product of
the dialogue between the Vasulkas and their machines, as they systematically
analysed and deconstructed the fundamental materiality of video through
spatial, temporal and sound/image manipulation. The Vasulkas are the
creative pathfinders of the electro-magnetic spectrum, whose works infused
with the fizz and crunch of the analogue age are as mesmerising and
astounding today as in their original moment of discovery.
STEINA and WOODY VASULKA will present three unique events during the
weekend, which includes a continuous one-day gallery projection of key
works.
Friday 5 March 2004, 7pm
at Candid Arts Trust, 3 Torrens Street, London N1
SCREENING
Steina and Woody Vasulka will discuss the formation of The Kitchen, the
electronic arts laboratory they co-founded in 1971, and their early years as
part of the illegitimate counter-culture of New York. Plus screening of
PARTICIPATION (1969-71, 63 mins), an anthology of performances recorded on
their first Sony Portapak, featuring Don Cherry, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix,
Keith Jarrett, Jethro Tull plus Warhol Factory superstars Candy Darling,
Eric Emerson, Taylor Mead, Ondine, Holly Woodlawn and many others.
Tickets £4
Saturday 6 March 2004, 11am5pm
at Candid Arts Trust, 3 Torrens Street, London N1
VIDEO GALLERY
Continuous single-channel projection of image-processed tapes from the
Vasulka archive, made on analogue equipment in the 1970s. Approximately 3
hours of tapes made between 1970-79 will be shown twice throughout the day.
Includes SKETCHES, STUDIES, DON CHERRY, VIOLIN POWER, INTERFACE, SWAN LAKE,
BLACK SUNRISE, SPACES II, DISTANT ACTIVITIES, HOME, THE MATTER, NOISEFIELDS,
SOLO FOR 3, REMINISCENCE, SOUNDGATED IMAGES, 1-2-3-4, TELC, SOUNDSIZE,
HERALDIC VIEW, C-TREND, LAND OF TIMOTEUS, NO. 25, FLUX, BAD.
Free Admission
Saturday 6 March 2004, 7:30pm
at University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1
PERFORMANCE
Steina will present a live adaptation of her seminal tape VIOLIN POWER
(1970-78), using a MIDI violin and customised software to process the video
image in real time. Plus screening of ORBITAL OBSESSIONS (1975-77, 25 mins),
a multi-layered, studio performance/exploration of reshaped video space.
Tickets £4
Sunday 7 March 2004, 3pm
at Candid Arts Trust, 3 Torrens Street, London N1
LECTURE
Woody Vasulka presents an illustrated lecture on audio-visual relationships
in early video and cathode ray tube experimentation, featuring classic works
that explore the similarities between the electronic sound and image
signals. Including tape examples of works by the Vasulkas and others.
Tickets £4
Tickets available only on the door.
All day screening at Candid on Saturday 6 March is free admission.
Candid is behind Angel station.
University of Westminster is just above Oxford Circus.
For more info call LUX 020 7503 3980. www.lux.org.uk
Presented by LUX in association with CARTE, Candid Arts Trust and The Wire.
Steina¹s performance complements the conference IMPACT AND LEGACY presented
by CARTE www.carte.org.uk
Candid Arts Trust events form part of the Islington Art & Design Fair 2004
www.candidarts.com
Read about the Vasulka's in the March issue of The Wire www.thewire.co.uk
Learn more and see QuickTime movies at the Vasulka's website www.vasulka.org
Š
STEINA & WOODY VASULKA: PIONEERS OF ELECTRONIC ART
Since 1969, when they had their first access to primitive video equipment,
the Vasulkas have conducted a dynamic exploration of the electro-magnetic
image. Woody was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937 and trained as an engineer
and filmmaker, Steina was born in Iceland in 1940 and became a professional
musician. They married in 1964 and immigrated to America the following year.
After seeing the ground-breaking TV as a Creative Medium exhibition at the
Howard Wise Gallery in 1969, they devoted their activity to video, first
documenting New York cultural events including jazz and rock concerts and
underground performances using a Sony Portapak camera. Soon after, they
began to experiment with using VCS3 and Buchla audio synthesisers to alter
the electronic video signal, making their first image-processed tapes.
In 1971, together with Andy Mannick, the Vasulkas co-founded The Electronic
Kitchen, an electronic laboratory for experimentation with sounds and
images. The Kitchen soon became one of the artistic centres of New York,
presenting screenings, performances and concerts ranging from the new music
of La Monte Young to the new wave of Talking Heads, and it continues today
as one of the city¹s most prestigious multi-media art spaces.
Throughout the 1970s, the Vasulkas continued their tireless investigations
into the phenomenology of video, with each tape produced being effectively a
by-product of the dialogue between them and their machines. Steina and Woody
did not create their images from video synthesisers; their unique approach
involved the processing of previously recorded material through a series of
modular units, frequently using the input of a separate electronic signal to
control the effects.
Working in collaboration with creative engineers including George Brown,
Bill Etra and Eric Siegel, they developed a new range of tools and devices
with which they can further investigate the image. Their arsenal of analogue
equipment contains the Rutt/Etra Scan Processor, Dual Colorizer, Multikeyer,
Programmer, Horizontal Drift Variable Clock and the Field Flip/Flop
Switcher. Much of their work explores and exploits the similarity of the
sound and image signals, producing a mesmerising range of synaesthetic video
before the onset of the digital age.
In 1973, the Vasulkas moved to Buffalo to teach at the Media/Study Center,
where they become part of a faculty including filmmakers and theorists Tony
Conrad, Hollis Frampton and Paul Sharits. The pair also began to work
individually during this time. Steina embarked on the Machine Vision series,
developing mechanical systems to control the camera, distancing it from the
human viewpoint. Woody began to explore the digital realm, custom-designing
the Digital Image Articulator. Both subsequently worked on interactive
projects and large-scale installations, adding a sculptural or monumental
element to their practice.
As pioneers of video art, Steina and Woody Vasulka stand alongside Nam June
Paik, Peter Campus and Joan Jonas, with the Kitchen and their own studio as
much a point of focus as the early activist groups Video Free America,
Raindance and Guerilla Television and the innovative American television
laboratories of NCET, WNET and WGBH. This weekend of events is the first
opportunity in decades to see a substantial collection of the Vasulka¹s
early works in the UK, and a rare chance to hear the exuberant and vivacious
duo discuss their work from a practical, rather than theoretical, point of
view.
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