Image Union, episode 0329

Compilation episode of Image Union featuring the work of Ellen and Lynda Kahn, Max Almy, Norman Magdon and Tom Erickson, Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman, Jane Veeder, and Bart Friedman and Nancy Cain.

0:50Copy video clip URL “Instant This, Instant That” by Ellen and Lynda Kahn. Color music video. Two twins get ready for their day. They show us all the quick fixes of modern existence – Eggo Waffles, Tang, electrical can openers, etc. Music by Taste Test.

4:40Copy video clip URL “Modern Love” by Max Almy. Black and white video. Four TV screens appear, each with the same set of lips giving different “love” speeches: the first professes her love, the second nicely breaks up with her mate, the third wants to reconcile, and the fourth wants to be set free to find herself. Describes the stages of a relationship.

10:09Copy video clip URL “Kustom Kwickies” by Norman E. Magdon and Tom Erickson. Color film. Single shots of custom trucks and cars are edited together with increasing speed in this collage.

12:40Copy video clip URL “Television Delivers People” by Richard Serra & Carlota Fay Schoolman. Text scrolls onscreen while benign-sounding Muzak plays in the background. In simple sentences, the text informs us about the true role of television: “Television delivers people to an advertiser.” “Mass media delivers masses of people, at least twenty million per minute.” “The television watcher is a product, which is consumed by advertisers.”

18:46Copy video clip URL Black and white processed video by Jane Veeder.

19:28Copy video clip URL “Human Hair” excerpt by Bart Friedman and Nancy Cain. Color video. Produced as part of the Chicago Editing Center’s Artist-in-Residence program, the tape is a loosely connected experimental piece that borders most often on documentary. Cain and Friedman reference important issues of the day, such as the gasoline shortage and the meltdown at Three Mile Island. The tone of the tape is very light and often humorous.

27:05Copy video clip URL “Television Answer Man.” Color video. A would-be TV anchorman (Marshall Efron, of Great American Dream machine fame) is responding to questions from an imaginary audience. He explains how the Nielsen Ratings work and how they can affect a particular show. Good TV spoof but very real marketing economics. “You think about that – 50 million Frenchmen can’t be wrong, but 50 million Americans can.”

28:55Copy video clip URL Image Union end credits.