. Conversations at the Edge (CATE)

Guerrilla Television

Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | September 20, 2007

Thursday, September 20, 2007, 6pm

guerrillatv450

Skip Blumberg, Nancy Cain, and Chip Lord in person!

The 1970s gave rise to a network of radical video makers who set out to create a feisty alternative to broadcast television. Decades before the so-called media democratization offered by YouTube, cell phone cameras, and hundred-channel cable, these artist-activists turned their Portapaks on protesters, politicians, and the men-, women-, and children-on-the-street to create startlingly candid documentaries that aired on a system of closed-circuit, pirate, and early cable stations—even infiltrating broadcast television itself. Hailing from seminal guerrilla collectives Videofreex, Ant Farm, and TVTV, artists Nancy Cain, Skip Blumberg, and Chip Lord present an overview of their pioneering work and discuss its legacy today. Program includes Ant Farm’s Dirty Dishes (1971, Ant Farm); Four More Years & the World’s Largest TV Studio (1972, TVTV excerpt); Media Burn (1975, Ant Farm, excerpt); Greetings from Lanesville: Home of Probably the World’s Smallest TV Station (1976, Videofreex, excerpt); Flying Morning Glory (On Fire) (1985, Skip Blumberg); Repent Krishna (1989, Nancy Cain); CamNet (ca. 1990s, Nancy Cain, excerpt); Time Capsule 1972–1984 (2000, Ant Farm); Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master (2007, Skip Blumberg). This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly. Co-presented by the Media Burn Independent Video Archive and the Video Data Bank. 1971–2007, various directors, USA, ca. 120 min, various formats.

Category: 2007, Past Programs
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