1989 BIENNIAL EXHIBITION
Richard Armstrong
John G. Hanhardt
Richard Marshall
Lisa Phillips
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
in association with
W W Norton & Company, New York, London
S T E I N A V A 5 U L K A
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, 1940 York, "Electronic Visions"
Studied at the Music Conservatory, Prague (1959-63) University Art Museum, The University of New
lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico Mexico, Albuquerque, "Video as Attitude"
1985 Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, "Kunst
mit Eigen-Sinn"
1976 Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York (with Woody 1986 The Brooklyn Museum, New York, "Best of
Vasulka) the West"
1977 and/or Gallery, Seattle 1987 Phoenix Art Museum, "Soutfivses t Biennial"
1978 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1988 The Carnegie Museum of Art Pittsburgh,
New York (with Woody Vasulka) 'American Landscape Video: The Electronic
The Kitchen, New York Grove" (traveled)
1979 Museum Folkwang, Essen, West Germany
1982 Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute,
Pittsburgh Furlong, Lucinda. "Notes Toward a Hi s tory of
1983 C. B. Rein Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico Image-Processed Video: Steina aqd Wo ody
1984 Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Vasulka-" Afterimage, 11 (December 1983),
Georges Pompidou, Paris pp-12-17 .
1986 The Jonson Gallery of the University of
Greenfield, Amy "Steina's Somersault ." Field of
New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque
Vision, 13 (Spring 1985), pp. 15-16 .
Judson, William D. "Electronic Sculptu re : Video
1971 Whitney Museum of American Art, New Installations in the Museum of Ar t . - Ca rnegie
York, 'A Special Videotape Show" Magazine, 57 (March-April 1985) pp, 74-32 .
1973 Everson Museum of Art of Syracuse and
Willoughby, Dominique, ed . Steih a g, Woody
Onondaga County, Syracuse, New York, "Circuit:
Vasulka: videastes 1969-1984: 15 annees d'isnages elec-
A Video Invitational" (with Woody Vasulka)
troniques (exhibition catalogue) . Paris: Cine -
1976 West Berlin, "26. Internationale
MBXA/Cinedoc, 1984 .
Filmfestspiele Berlin," "6 . Internationales Forum
des Jungen Films" Wilson, MaLin . Scapes of Paradoxy : Th e soutbwest
1977 Ithaca, New York, "3rd Annual Ithaca Video and Iceland (exhibition catalogue) . Albuquerque :
Festival" (traveled) The Jonson Gallery of the University of New
1983 The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New Mexico Art Museum, 1986.
In New York in 1971, Woody and Steina Vasulka, American Southwest that synthesi ze d the manip-
along with Andres Mannik, cofounded The ulation of visual space with colorized and ab-
Kitchen, an alternative space devoted to video, stracted reflections on the environment .
film, music, and performance art. They have also Vasulka's latest videotape, Lilith uses the tech-
had a Tong-term involvement in the media as both niques of focal plane shift (alterig g de pth of field)
artists and developers of new forms of electronic and frame grabbing (which prodkj ces a succession
image processing. In 1975, Steina Vasulka began of frozen images) to manipulate the surface of the
Machine Vision, a series of installations and tapes image. The face of a woman, whose speech is
that joins mechanical systems of image recording distorted, appears to move in and out of the
and transformation, through the use of mirrors, natural environment. In this constantly shifting
prisms, and camera movement, with post-pro- articulation of the visual field, the woman be-
duced electronic image manipulation . Her video comes simultaneously absent and present in a
installation The West (1983) is a multimonitor- genuine fusion of human figure an d landscape .
multichannel reflection on the landscape of the
239
5 T E I N A V A S U L K A Lilitb, 1987
WOODY VASU LKA
Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, 1937 1983 "San Sebastian [Spain] Film and Video
Studied at the School of Industrial Engineering, Brno, Czechoslovakia Festival" (with Steina Vasulka)
(Baccalaureate, 1956); Academy of Performing Arts Faculty of Film and 1985 Whitney Museum of American Art, New
Television, Prague (Diploma, 1964) York, "1985 Biennial Exhibition"
Lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico
1986 ARS Electronica, Linz, Austria,
"Computerkultur Tage, ORF-Videonale 86"
Long Beach Museum of Art, California, "Poetic
1971 The Kitchen, New York (with Steina License"
Vasulka) 1987 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, "The Arts for
1976 Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York (with Steina Television" (traveled)
Vasulka) 1988 Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
1978 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New (LACE), "Ed Emshwiller & Woody Vasulka :
York (with Steina Vasulka) New Works"
1984 Cine-MBXA, Maison des Beaux-Arts, Paris
(with Steina Vasulka)
1986 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (with Cathcart, Linda, ed . Vasulka. Steina : Machine Vision/
Steina Vasulka) Woody: Descriptions (exhibition catalogue) . Buffalo,
1987 International Center of Photography, New York : Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1978
New York
Dietrich, Frank. "The Computer : A Tool for
1989 The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Thought-Experiments." Leonardo, 20 (1987),
pp, 315-25,
1971 New York, "8th Annual New York Avant- Hagen, Charles. "Breaking the Box: The Elec-
Garde Festival" tronic Operas of Robert Ashley and Woody
1974 Musee d'Art Contemporain, Montreal, Vasulka." Artforum, 23 (March 1985), pp . 55-59.
"L'Image Electronique" (with Steina Vasulka)
1975 Collective for Living Cinema, New York,
Weibel, Peter. Zur Geschichte and Astbetik der digitalen
'Alphons Schilling/Woody Vasulka Binocular Kunst (supplement to ARS Electronica '84 cata-
Works" logue) . Linz, Austria : ARS Electronica, 1984, p. 33 .
Woody Vasulka and Steina Vasulka are pioneering complex and demanding visual fantasy
figures in the history of video as an art form He In Vasulka's new work, Art of Memory, he has
was represented in the 1985 Biennial by his epic moved from the stage of opera to that of history
videotape The Commission (1983) . Loosely based on The videotape develops as a broad pageant of
the life and death of Nicco16 Paganini and his images that interweaves the history of war-torn
dramatic meetings with Hector Berlioz, the Europe with the landscape of the American
videotape sought to translate the forms of opera Southwest, where Vasulka lives; the result is a
into an electronic language of image making haunting memory play of the spectacle of war as
Instead of a traditionally staged melodrama of represented in the cinema and in photographs of
libretto and music, Vasulka used various video our collective past . There is poignancy when we
effects and techniques to establish elaborate hear the voice of J. Robert Oppenheimer talk
metaphors for the contrasting temperaments of about the destructive power of nuclear weapons
the two artists. By developing new technologies while Vasulka superimposes a ribbon of powerful
for electronic imagery, he was able to synthesize wartime footage over vistas of the American
the various narratives within the very process of landscape . The artist collapses history and mem-
image making. The videotape did not simply ory into a moving commentary on politics and
record narrative action but used abstract and war as expressed in the history of cinema .
representational forms to interpret the story as a
241
WOODY VASU L K A Frames from Art of Memory, 1987
T O M W U D L MICHELE Z A L O P A N Y
Veil IV, 1986-87 Bequest, 1987
Oil on canvas, 84 X 122 (213 .4 X 309.9)
Charcoal and pastel on paper mounted on canvas,
The Capital Group, Inc , Los Angeles 85 X 120 (215_9 X 304 .8)
The Eli Broad Family Foundation, Santa Monica,
Untitled (Underwater), 1987
California
Oil on canvas, 81 X 18 (205.7 X 45 .7)
Collection of Eli and Leatrice Luria
1987
Chinese Celebration,
Charcoal and pastel on paper mounted on canvas,
The Birtb of Jan Van Eyck and the Extent of His Influence
110 X 119(279.4 X 302 .3)
600 Years, 1988-89
on the Art of Painting for a Period of
Petersburg Inc, New York
Oil on canvas, 96 X 60 (243 8 X 152 .4)
The Edward R Broida Trust, Los Angeles Home Triumphant,1988
Charcoal and pastel on paper mounted on canvas,
1193/4 X 101 (304 2 X 256 5)
Massimo Audiello Gallery, New York
FILM AND VIDEO
J A N E A A R O N H A N S B R E D E R
This Time Around,1989 Under a Malicious Sky, 1988
16mm film, color, sound; 5 minutes Videotape, color, sound; 10 minutes
Lent by the artist; distributed by The Museum of Lent by the artist
Modern Art, New York
A B I GA I L C H I L D
ELEANOR ANTI N
Maybem, 1987
The Last Nigbt of Rasputin, 1989 16mm film, black and white, sound; 20 minutes
16mm film, black and white, silent with titles Lent by the artist ; distributed by Canyon
and music soundtrack, with performance ; film, Cinema, San Francisco, and Film-makers'
37 minutes; performance, 25 minutes
Cooperative, New York
Film lent by the artist, courtesy Ronald Feldman
Fine Arts, New York
CHRISTINE C H O Y AND
R E N E E T A J I M A
JOHN A R VA N I T E S
Wbo Killed Vincent Cbin?, 1988
Piggy, 1987
Blues for
16mm film, color, sound; 87 minutes
Videotape, color, sound; 12 minutes Lent by the artists, courtesy Film News Now
Lent by the artist Foundation, New York
C H I P L O R D NAM JUNE P A I K
C O N S T A N C E D E JON G L A R R Y G O T T H E I M
AND TONY O U R S L E R Motorist, 1989 1989
Living with The Living Theater,
The Red Thread, 1987
Videotape, color, sound; 69 minutes In collaboration with Betsy Connors and
1988
Relatives, 16mm film, color, sound; 16 minutes.
Lent by the artist; distributed by Electronic Arts Paul Garrin
Solo performance with 25-inch video monitor Lent by the artist; distributed by Film-makers
Intermix, New York Videotape, color, sound; 30 minutes
and prerecorded video Cooperative, New York, and Canyon Cinema,
Lent by the artist; distributed by Electronic Arts
Videotape lent by the artists San Francisco
VICTOR M A S AY E S V A , Intermix, New York
Produced by The Contemporary Art Television JR .
Fund, Boston SAC H I K O H A M A D A AND Ritual Clowns, 1988
M A R T H A R O S L E R
SCOTT S I N K L E R Videotape, color, sound; 18 minutes.
NATHAN I E L D O R S K Y Lent by the artist Born to Be Sold : Martha Roster Reads the Strange Case of
Inside Life Outside, 1988
Baby $ M, 1988
Alaya, 1976-87 Videotape, color, sound; 57 minutes
In collaboration with Paper Tiger Television
16mm film, color, silent; 28 minutes Lent by the artists; distributed by New Day SHERRY M I L L N E R AND
E R N EST Videotape, color, sound; 35 minutes
Lent by the artist; distributed by Canyon Films, New York LA R S E N
Lent by the artist; distributed by Electronic Arts
Cinema, San Francisco
1987
Out of the Mouth of Babes, Intermix, New York, Paper Tiger Television,
B A R B A R A H A M M E R Videotape, color, sound, 25 minutes New York, Video Data Bank, Chicago, V-Tape,
D A N 1 E L E I S E N B E R G Lent by the artists; distributed by Video Data Toronto, and Video Out, Vancouver, British
1988
Endangered,
Bank, Chicago, and Women Make Movies, Columbia
Cooperation of Parts, 1987 16mm film, color and black and white, sound;
New York
16mm film, color, sound; 42 minutes 18 minutes
Lent by the artist ; distributed by Canyon Lent by the artist; distributed by Canyon J ASO N S I M O N
SA N D Y M O O R E
Cinema, San Francisco, and Film-makers' Cinema, San Francisco, and Film-makers'
Production Notes : Fast Food for Thought, 1987
Cooperative, New York Cooperative, New York
1989
Reverse Transcriptase, Videotape, color, sound; 28 minutes
16mm film, color, sound; 10 minutes Lent by the artist; distributed by Video Data
K E N F E I N G O L D GA R Y H I L L Lent by the artist; distributed by Film-makers Bank, Chicago
Cooperative, New York
India Time (from the series Distance of the 1987-88
Incidence of Catastrophe,
Outsider), 1987 Videotape, color, stereo sound; 44 minutes R E A T A J I R I
Videotape, color, stereo sound; 45 minutes Lent by the artist; distributed by Electronic Arts A N D R E W N O R E N
1987
Hitchcock Trilogy: Vertigo, Psycbo, Torn Curtain,
Lent by the artist, distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York The Lighted Field (from the series The Adventures of the Videotape, color, sound; 15 minutes
Intermix, New York, and Video Data Bank,
Exquisite Corpse), 1987 Lent by the artist ; distributed by The Kitchen,
Chicago
J O N J O S T 16mm film, black and white, silent; 61 minutes New York
Lent by the artist ; distributed by The Museum of
Plain Talk and Common Sense (Uncommon Senses), 1987
S U F R I E D R I C H Modern Art, New York, and Film-makers
16mm film, color and black and white, sound; L E S L I E T H O R N T O N
Cooperative, New York
Damned If You Don't, 1987 117 minutes
Peggy and Fred in Kansas, 1987
16mm film, black and white, sound; 42 minutes Lent by the artist
Videotape, black and white, sound; 11 minutes
Lent by the artist ; distributed by Film-makers' TONY O U R S L E R AND
C O N S T A N C E D E Lent by the artist ; distributed by Women Make
Cooperative, New York, Women Make Movies, JON G
L I N D A K L O S K Y Movies, New York, and Video Data Bank,
New York, Canyon Cinema, San Francisco, and
1988
IoyndeT`1 , Chicago
Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, Basque del Apache, 1987
Videotape, color, sound; 17 minutes
Toronto 16mm film, color, sound; 17 minutes Lent by the artists; distributed by Electronic Arts Peggy and Fred and Pete, 1988
Lent by the artist Videotape, color, sound; 23 minutes
Intermix, New York, The Kitchen, New York,
Video Data Bank, Chicago, and Video Out, Lent by the artist; distributed by Women Make
Vancouver, British Columbia Movies, New York
FILM AND VIDEO SCHEDULE
F R A N C E S C T O R R E S WOODY V A S U L K A April 27-May 4 June 1-7
Belcbite-South Bronx A Trans-Historical, Trans-Cultural Art of Memory, 1987 Thursday-Sunday at 1 :00; Tuesday at 100 and Thursday-Saturday at noon ; Sunday at 100;
Landscape, 1987-88 Videotape, color, sound; 37 minutes 6 30 ; Wednesday at 1 00 Tuesday at 130 and 6:00; Wednesday at noon
Videotape, color and black and white, sound; Lent by the artist C O N S TA N C E D E J O N G J A N E A A R O N
39 minutes A N D T O N Y O U R S L E R, A N D R EW N O R E N
Lent by the artist; distributed by Zoom M I C H A E L W A L L I N videotape with performance
Television, Barcelona Thursday-Saturday at 3 :00; Sunday and Tuesday
Decodings, 1988
May 9-16 at 4 00; Wednesday at 3 00
16mm film, black and white, sound; 20 minutes
S T E I N A VA S U L KA
S A N DY M O O R E
Lent by the artist ; distributed by Canyon Tuesdays at 1 :00 and 6:30; Wednesday-Sunday
Libtb, 1987 Cinema, San Francisco, and Film-makers' at 1 :00 LA R R Y G OTT H E I M
Videotape, color, sound; 9 minutes Cooperative, New York ELEANOR ANTI N, NATHAN I E L D O R S KY
Lent by the artist L I N D A K L O S K Y
film with performance
May 18-24 June 8-14; June 29-July 5
Thursday-Saturday at noon ; Sunday at 1 :00; Thursday-Saturday at 11-30; Sunday at 12 30 ;
Tuesday at 1 30 and 5:30; Wednesday at noon Tuesday at 1 : 30 ; Wednesday at 11 30
J O N J O S T G A R Y H I L L
T O N Y O U R S L E R A N D
Thursday-Saturday at 3 :00; Sunday and Tuesday CO N ST A N C E D E J O N G
at 4-00 ; Wednesday at 3:00 R E A TA J I R I
M 1 C H A E L W A L L I N H A N S B R E D E R
D A N I E L E I S E N B E R G L E S L 1 E T H O R N T O N
May 25-31; June 22-28 Thursday-Saturday at 2:00; Sunday at 3 :00;
Thursday-Saturday at 11 30 ; Sunday at 12 : 30; Tuesday at 4:00; Wednesday at 2:00
Tuesday at 1 : 30; Wednesday at 11 :30 C H I P L O R D
S A C H I K O H A M A D A A N D VICTOR M AS A Y E S VA , J R
S C O TT S I N K L E R ST E I N A V AS U L K A
J O H N A R V A N I T E S NAM JUNE P A I K
K E N F E I N G O L D Tuesday, June 13, at 6: 30 : repeat Lord
S H E R R Y M I L L N E R A N D
ERN EST LARSEN June 15-21
Thursday-Saturday at noon ; Sunday at I:00;
Thursday-Saturday at 2:00; Sunday at 3:00; Tuesday at 1 30 and 6:00; Wednesday at noon
Tuesday at 4:00; Wednesday at 2:00 CHRISTINE C H O Y AND
WOODY V A S U L K A RENEE T A J I M A
F R A N C E S C T O R R E S
M A R T H A R O S L E R Thursday-Saturday at 300 ; Sunday and Tuesday
at 4 00 ; Wednesday at 300
J AS O N S I M O N
Tuesday, May 30, at 6-. 30 : repeat Rosler B A R BA R A H A M M E R
and Simon A B I G A I L C H I L D
Tuesday, June 27, at 6. 30 : repeat Vasulka S U F R I E D R I C H
and Torres
255
