The opening event of the symposium Guerrilla Television: The Revolutions of Early Independent Video, which took place in the University of Chicago's Film Studies Center April 19-21, 2024. This screening on Friday, April 19, features clips and short videos from the 1970s, with introductions by the individual artists, scholars, and curators.
00:01Copy video clip URL Introduction from Douglas McLaren from the University of Chicago Film Studies Center.
03:03Copy video clip URL A speech from videomaker Tom Weinberg, founder of the Media Burn Archive.
08:40Copy video clip URL Videomaker Susan Milano introduces a clip from Introduction to the Sony Portapak and Camera, an instructional video featuring Milano in which she explains and demonstrates the early video camera equipment. She discusses her entry into videomaking through Global Village, including her early experience working on the video The Ballad of A.J. Weberman.
13:04Copy video clip URL A clip from An Introduction to the Sony Portapak and Camera (1973).
17:11Copy video clip URL A clip from Boy in Window Looking (Sucromu, Liberia), a 1972 video by Joan Logue. NOTE: During the live event, Logue’s video Nam June Paik: The Elevator (1979) also screened.
18:03Copy video clip URL Logue discusses her discovery of video and the development of video portraiture as her signature style.
23:38Copy video clip URL Videomaker Barbara Sykes introduces Circle 9 Sunrise, a live image processing performance video from the second Electronic Visualization Event in 1976, with digital computer operation by Tom DeFanti and Drew Browning, analog computer operation by Barbara Sykes, and audio synthesizer operation by Michael Sterling.
31:05Copy video clip URL Sykes discusses the revolutionary nature of “working in real time” and being able to generate and control abstract images with immediate results and feedback.
34:38Copy video clip URL Videomaker Pat Lehman introduces a clip from First Impressions (1977), a documentary about the performers at a Denver drag bar.
41:05Copy video clip URL Tara Merenda Nelson of the Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) introduces a clip from the video Portable Channel Rap: Log Book (1973). Nelson discusses the VSW’s history and Bonnie Sherr Klein’s role in establishing Portable Channel in Rochester, NY.
44:15Copy video clip URL A clip from Portable Channel Rap: Log Book, in which Bonnie Sherr Klein and Sanford Rockowitz go through their “log book” on air, while Klein’s 3-year-old daughter Naomi repeatedly interrupts the proceedings.
45:39Copy video clip URL Videomaker Judy Hoffman introduces a segment from It’s A Living (1975), a documentary produced by Videopolis that was inspired by Studs Terkel’s book Working. In this segment, Hoffman profiles Yolanda Leif, a waitress at Chicago’s Erie Cafe.
49:46Copy video clip URL The segment from It’s a Living about Yolanda.
55:11Copy video clip URL Davidson Gigliotti and Skip Blumberg introduce a segment from the Videofreex’ Greetings from Lanesville (1976), in which Tom Weinberg and Nancy Cain “investigate” a UFO sighting.
65:05Copy video clip URL Ron McCoy introduces a clip from The Business of Local News (1974), a documentary by University Community Video about the corrupting demands for ratings and profits on the style and content of TV news produced in Minneapolis.
68:55Copy video clip URL A clip from The Business of Local News.
73:50Copy video clip URL Jason Nebergahl introduces Spiral 5, PTL (1981), an image processing video made on a Sandin Image Processor with video synthesis by Dan Sandin, computer graphics by Tom DeFanti, and sound synthesis by Mimi Shevitz. Nebergahl discusses the enthusiasm with which contemporary art students respond to the Sandin Image Processor and to the real-time capabilities of electronic image processing.
75:18Copy video clip URL Screening of Spiral 5, PTL.
82:02Copy video clip URL Tracy Fitz and Barbara Jabaily of the LoveTapesCollective (originally known as L.O.V.E. – Lesbians Organized for Video Experience) introduce a montage compilation of videos from their group in the 1970s.
87:05Copy video clip URL A compilation of tapes, edited into a montage by Jabaily, including footage of protests and other political actions, with appearances from figures including Marsha P. Johnson, Flo Kennedy, and Bette Midler.
92:30Copy video clip URL Ariel Dougherty introduces a clip from the Feminist Studio Workshop Videoletter, by Susan Mogul, Pam MacDonald, and Sheila Ruth. Dougherty discusses the history of the International Videoletters network and this specific tape, a “tour” of the Woman’s Building.
94:55Copy video clip URL Clips from the Feminist Studio Workshop Videoletter, in which curator Sheila de Bretteville discusses an exhibition of work by Eileen Gray and Carol Kern discusses her own art and the recent arrest of her friend Z-Budapest.
99:15Copy video clip URL Nick DeMartino introduces a clip from So Far So Good (1977), a documentary produced by Videopolis about the popular response to the election of Jimmy Carter.
103:12Copy video clip URL A clip from So Far So Good in which a choir celebrates Jimmy Carter’s election by singing a patriotic song “I Am an American.”
104:26Copy video clip URL Denise Zaccardi of Community TV Network (CTVN) introduces the short video MaryAnn (1974), a video made by young girls in tribute to their older sister. Zaccardi discusses the formation of CTVN and its history of working with students in Chicago.
106:51Copy video clip URL Screening of MaryAnn, by CTVN.
109:42Copy video clip URL Steve Seid introduces a clip from Media Burn (1975), a classic video/performance art piece by Ant Farm in which a car drives through a pyramid of flaming televisions. Seid discusses the backstory of the video.
114:22Copy video clip URL Clips from Media Burn, including a speech by “John F. Kennedy” (Doug Hall) and members of Ant Farm driving a modified 1959 Cadillac El Dorado Biarritz through the pyramid of TV screens that had been set on fire.
121:40Copy video clip URL Brief closing remarks.
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