9/20/07: Guerrilla Television at Conversations at the Edge
Thursday, September 20, 2007, 6pm, Gene Siskel Film Center. 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 Skip Blumberg, Nancy Cain, Chip Lord, and Tom Weinberg present an overview of their pioneering work and discuss its legacy today, in conversation with Amy Beste.