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Before Ida B. Wells Drive, There Were the Ida B. Wells Homes

February 12, 2019 at 2:49 pm / Blog

After today, Congress Parkway will now be known as Ida B. Wells Drive. This dedication marks the first downtown street to be named after an African American woman. Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, civil rights activist, and suffragist. She was also a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as several other national organizations. In the 1890s, she investigated and exposed instances of white mob violence and lynching in the South. Her work against lynching led … Continue reading →
Watch and Share Your Favorite Family Movies at Home Video Day

February 8, 2019 at 9:08 am / Blog

Dig out those old video tapes and bring them to Home Video Day this Friday! We worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Video Data Bank to put on this event that invites you to laugh and cry at the touching and beguiling world of home movies made public. If you don’t have any tapes, you can sit back and watch decades past as captured by others. If you don’t quite remember what’s on a tape, there will be stations … Continue reading →
In Football, It’s All Fun and Games Even If Someone Gets Hurt

February 1, 2019 at 11:19 am / Blog

In anticipation of this Sunday, we pulled a few clips from the archive from TVTV’s coverage of the 1976 Super Bowl that highlight football’s effects on the body. Continue reading →
Remembering Chicago’s 1979 Blizzard

January 25, 2019 at 10:13 am / Blog

It’s going to be a freezing cold weekend in Chicago, with temperatures dropping into the negatives. If you’re avoiding the outdoors at all costs, curl up with some of these videos from the archive about the 1979 blizzard. In January of 1979, a massive blizzard hit Chicago. While only 2 to 4 inches of snow were expected, the city was actually hit with approximately 21 inches. The snow remained on the ground until the beginning of March, which became a political issue … Continue reading →
A Brief History of 1/2″ Video Tape and Why It Needs to be Preserved

January 11, 2019 at 2:24 pm / Blog

By the mid-1960s, broadcast television had firmly cemented its place as the most powerful medium of mass communication in history. Then, in 1965, the Sony Portapak 1⁄2” video camera was released. Since the Portapak was affordable, portable, and easy to use, it was quickly seized upon by artists and activists as a revolutionary tool for communication that had the potential to decentralize television production and distribution; ordinary people could tell their own stories. The vision fit perfectly with the social … Continue reading →
Remembering Chicago Video Artist, Arturo Cubacub

January 4, 2019 at 4:14 pm / Blog

Influential video artist, director, and editor Arturo Cubacub passed away on December 28. The award-winning filmmaker was the president of I-Cubed Productions and was an innovator for new technologies and techniques in filmmaking. After graduating with an M.F.A. in Electronic Visualization from the University of Illinois, Cubacub was an instructor at The Chicago Editing Center. From there, Cubacub worked at various editing houses, working in graphics, post production, and effects editing. Cubacub then moved into directing, creating works such as his … Continue reading →
Ringing In the New Year with Image Union

December 31, 2018 at 11:38 am / Blog

Ring in 2019 with Image Union’s 10th anniversary special and New Year’s celebration. In this special, host and Chicago performer Donna Blue Lachman counted down some of Image Union’s best videos, from comedy sketches to animation. Besides celebrating a new year, the special reinforced the importance of experimental filmmaking and why it needs to be preserved. In the video below, Lachman introduces the special and how the countdown is structured. She’s joined by Image Union’s own Bob, who is featured prominently throughout … Continue reading →
ERWIN HELFER AND MAMA YANCEY AT HUNGRY BRAIN

December 28, 2018 at 3:16 pm / Blog

Media Burn presents a special evening of live music and archival video featuring legendary pianist Erwin Helfer and the late blues singer Estelle “Mama” Yancey on Saturday, January 5, at Hungry Brain in Roscoe Village. In 1982, future Chicago Blues Festival Coordinator Barry Dolins filmed an intimate performance and conversation between Erwin Helfer and an 86 year-old Mama Yancey at the Chicago apartment of blues pianist and singer Little Brother Montgomery. This footage, now part of the Media Burn Archive, … Continue reading →