Early Video Art | Video Data Bank

Early Video Art is a collection of titles that are central to an understanding of the historical development of video art. This collection includes, but is not limited to, many titles from the original Castelli-Sonnabend collection, the first and most prominent collection of video art assembled in the United States. All of the work in this collection was produced between 1968 and 1980. These works represent important examples of the first experiments in video art, and include conceptual and feminist performances recorded on video, experiments with the video signal, and "guerilla" documentaries representing a counter-cultural view of the historical events of the 1960s and 70s. Many of these tapes represent a desire for a radically redefined television experience that is centered on the innovative, the personal, the political and the non-commercial.

LISTING STYLE:

T.R. Uthco

The Eternal Frame

1976 | 00:24:16

The Eternal Frame

Irreverent yet poignant, The Eternal Frame is a re-enactment of the assassination of John F. Kennedy as seen in the famous Zapruder film.

Doug Hall

The Eternal Frame

1976 | 00:24:16

The Eternal Frame

Irreverent yet poignant, The Eternal Frame is a re-enactment of the assassination of John F. Kennedy as seen in the famous Zapruder film.

Nancy Holt

Revolve

1977 | 01:16:52

Revolve

“Nancy Holt’s Revolve, a videotape where the artist, off-camera, interviews her friend Dennis Wheeler who is dying of leukemia, uses his illness and mental reflection as a metaphysical…

Nancy Holt

East Coast, West Coast

1969 | 00:22:00

East Coast, West Coast

In this rare and humorous record of the art dialogue of the late 1960s, Holt and "guest" Robert Smithson assume opposing artistic viewpoints: the uptight, intellectual New Yorker versus the laid-…

Lawrence Weiner

Broken Off

1970 | 00:00:55

Broken Off

In this video the artist states that a public work demonstrates what qualifies as art within his conception.

Joan Jonas

Upsidedown and Backwards

1980 | 00:29:40

Upsidedown and Backwards

“[This tape] gives a clear picture of the consistency of Jonas’s concerns.

Joan Jonas

I Want to Live in the Country (And Other Romances)

1974 | 00:25:00

I Want to Live in the Country (And Other Romances)

Jonas intercuts scenes of the Nova Scotia countryside with images of a studio set-up reminiscent of a di Chirico painting.

Joan Jonas

Disturbances

1974 | 00:15:00

Disturbances

Jonas uses reflections on a lake as a mirror to displace reality, creating a disruption and the illusion of presence.

Joan Jonas

Vertical Roll

1972 | 00:19:37

Vertical Roll

In this well-known early tape, Jonas manipulates the grammar of the camera to create the sense of a grossly disturbed physical space.

Joan Jonas

Left Side Right Side

1972 | 00:08:50

Left Side Right Side

“In Left Side Right Side, Jonas explores the ambiguities caused by her attempt to identify correctly the spatial orientation of images simultaneously played back by a monitor and…

Shigeko Kubota

My Father

1975 | 00:15:34

My Father

In this classic personal elegy, Kubota mourns her father's death and recounts the last days of his life.

Suzanne Lacy

Learn Where the Meat Comes From

1976 | 00:14:20

Learn Where the Meat Comes From

A classic feminist video, Learn Where the Meat Comes From depicts how “gourmet carnivore tastes take on a cannibalistic edge.