[Peer Group Pressure, 1st Rough Edit]

A documentary about the art fair Art 1980, held in May 1980 at the Navy Pier in Chicago.

00:37Copy video clip URL A boy, wearing a bow tie, approaches the camera in what seems to be a banquet hall. He introduces the tape: “What you are about to see is a videotape of Peer Group Pressure. I hope you enjoy it.”

01:05Copy video clip URL Scenes from inside and outside Art 1980, an exhibition in the Navy Pier in Chicago.

01:53Copy video clip URL A woman wearing a baseball cap reading “NAG” discusses the show as an enriching and educational experience. Another woman – an art dealer – talks about the exhibition as “a boat show” for art dealers. “This is strictly business. It’s strictly about selling art, marketing art.”

03:05Copy video clip URL A man in sunglasses is interviewed about the exhibition he’d just seen. He finds the show to be elitist, excluding crafts and local artists in favor of big names who are favored by the art establishment. 

04:46Copy video clip URL More interviews with patrons, who focus on the monetary aspects of the art world.

06:49Copy video clip URL A man with curly gray hair and a bushy mustache talks about Buckminster Fuller, who he calls “the grandfather of conceptual art,” and other artists, like John Cage and Milton Glaser, who produce important work that does not fit into the framework of the art establishment. 

08:36Copy video clip URL A musical performance with saxophone and wind chimes. 

09:42Copy video clip URL An artist discusses her work, in which the words “Greetings from Chicago” frame views of the city, replicating a postcard. She expects that Art 1980 will make art more accessible to the public. 

11:24Copy video clip URL A German couple talk about the exhibition. An elderly American woman proclaims the show to be “the most beautiful show I’ve seen in 47 years.”

13:54Copy video clip URL A dealer talks about the show, calling it “one of the best art fairs I’ve ever seen.” He discusses the effects of money and the art market on artists.