1970
Birth of several artists' collectives in Montreal, including Véhicule, which is committed to new forms of expression like performance and video. Creation of alternative production and exhibition spaces (A Space in Toronto, Western Front in Vancouver).
Austria
Split Reality, the first video installation by Austrian artist Valie Export.
France
The beginning of the decade is marked by the spread of video, not only as an art form but also as a sociological phenomenon. Through local distribution networks, it becomes a means of information and communication among individuals and groups.
At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Paul and Carole Roussopoulos set up the "Vidéo Out" collective. Its first video, featuring Jean Genet speaking about Angela Davis, is a kind of counter-television. A series of political videos defend the cause of women and workers (January).
The first cable TV experiments take place in Paris, and cable spreads in France's new towns (Villleneuve-de-Grenoble, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Créteil, Cergy-Pontoise) and the provinces (Grenoble, Metz, Chamonix, Nice, Rennes) (March).
A "guerrilla television" project, aimed at combatting the ORTF monopoly with local TV, is set up by ACT and a group from the Beaux-Arts. They work out of a Montparnasse apartment in Paris, with two video cameras and a control panel.
The Ligue française de l'enseignement tapes a neighborhood news program in Bourges with a light video camera; twenty minutes of news are broadcast daily on a "mini-network."
Jean-Pierre Beauviala of the A.A.T.O.N. Company invents the "paluche" (paw), a miniature video camera measuring some 20 cm, which is intended to be mobile, easily manipulated and held in the hand.
Germany
Harald Szeemann and Hans Sohm organize Happening Fluxus at the Kunstverein in Cologne (November).
Identification broadcast on Westdeutscher Rundfunk I (Gerry Schum's "TV Gallery") with artists Giovanni Anselmo, Joseph Beuys, Alighiero e Boetti, Pierpaolo Calzolari, Jan Dibbets, Gilbert & George, Mario Merz, Ulrich Rückriem, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Lawrence Weiner, and Gilberto Zorio.
Great Britain
Exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, "3>Ï: New Multiple Art," featuring Joseph Beuys,
Robert Filliou, and
Bruce Nauman (19 November 1970-3 January 1971). Their works are also shown at two international exhibits partly devoted to video art, Expo 70 in Osaka and the Sixth Tokyo Biennale, organized by art critic Yusuki Nakahara.
Japan
At the end of the 1960s, during a period of intense artistic activity and soon after the arrival of the portable video camera on the market, the medium attracts the attention of Japanese artists coming from film, photography, acting, painting, sculpture, music, journalism, or publishing.
Among the new groups are Video Hiroba and Video Earth, created by Ko Nakajima.
Three Western video artists, the Americans John Reilly and Rudi Stern and the Canadian Michael Goldberg, head Video Hiroba, which includes some thirty artists. They acquire a portable video camera, rent a space in Tokyo, and undertake collective projects.
United States
First issue of Afterimage, edited by Simon Fields and Peter Sainbury (April).
Publication of The Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York presents the "Information" show, curated by Keniston McShine, on the different currents in Conceptual Art. Artists include Vito Acconci, Art & Language, Joseph Beuys, Gilbert and George, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Bruce Nauman, and Lawrence Weiner (2 July-20 September).
Willoughby Sharp founds the magazine Avalanche in New York. Devoted to avant-garde activities and particularly video art, it continues publication until 1976.
Creation of the magazine Radical Software, edited initially by Beryl Korot, Ira Schneider, Phyllis Gershuny, and Michael Sheberg and later by Korot and Schneider alone. It features texts on the video medium but also philosophical and critical reflections and is published until 1974.
Creation of the Synapse Video Center in Syracuse, a group for production and distribution of videotapes (Gary Hill, Bill Viola, etc.).
Tom Mariani founds the Museum of Conceptual Art in San Francisco, an alternative space presenting performances and multimedia artworks.
The "Bodyworks" exhibition, curated by Willoughby Sharp, presents videotapes by Vito Acconci, Tery Fox, Dennis Oppenheim, Keith Sonnier, and William Wegman.
The "This Is Your Roof" exhibition is presented at the international art festival held in Pamplona, Spain. Willoughby Sharp produces a series of videos, mainly documentaries on the activities of New York artists, for the same event.
1971
Jean-Pierre Boyer creates the
Montréal Vidéographe, a space for creation and distribution that invites city residents to make their own videotapes and distribute them upon request. Grants from the National Film Board will allow some 140 projects to be carried out.
Belgium
"Artists' Propositions for Closed-Circuit Television," presented at the Yellow Now Gallery in Liège, is the first real video event in Belgium. The minimal setup consists of a camera and a monitor. Guy Jungblut invites some fifty artists to offer their ideas on information. Among those participating are Jacques Lizène, Jacques-Louis Nyst, and Jean-Pierre Ransonnet.
France
Anne Couteau and Yvonne Mignot-Lefebvre create the Paris video collective Vidéo 00. With a dozen members, this Leftist group takes on the defense of immigrants, workers, and other minorities (June).
Vidéogrammes de France is set up by the ORTF and the publisher Hachette for the manufacture and distribution of mass-market videotapes.
For the first time, artist Gina Pane has herself filmed with a video camera in order to document her action Nourriture / Actualités TV / Feu in a Paris apartment (24 November).
Martial Raysse makes a 3/4-inch video with Alain Jacquier, En prime Pig Music.
Germany
Ouverture à Dusseldorf, par Gerry Schum et Ursula Wevers, de la "TV Gallery" Schum.
Les galeristes Konrad Fischer et Hans Strelow, ainsi que Karl Ruhrberg et Jürgen Harten organisent à la Kunsthalle de Dusseldorf une exposition consacrée aux nouveaux médias : Prospekt '71, qui propose des photographies, films et vidéos de Vito Acconci, Joseph Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Marcel Broodthaers, Gilbert & George, Dan Graham, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Dennis Oppenheim, Klaus Rinke, Wolf Vostell, Andy Warhol, Lawrence Weiner (oct
Great Britain
Scottish television retransmits ten works by video artist David Hall. This program, "TV Interruptions", is the first artistic broadcast on British television.
Netherlands
The Lijnbanncentrum in Rotterdam opens a video studio producing documentaries and educational tapes. It also shows tapes by Dutch artists (Van Elk, Ben d'Armagnac, Jan Dibbets) as well as Americans (notably Terry Fox, Dan Graham, and Dennis Oppenheim).
Spain
The first Spanish installation of TV screens is presented at the Galería Vandrés in Madrid: Espacio (Acción/Interacción)/Space(Action/Interaction) by Antoni Muntadas, a member of the first generation of Spanish video artists.
United States
Steina and
Woody Vasulka create the Kitchen Center for Video, Music, Performance, and Dance in New York; it presents, produces, and distributes artists' works, notably in video.
Howard Wise founds Electronic Arts Intermix, which funds other organizations like the Kitchen Center and the annual New York Avant-Garde Festival for projects in video as a medium of personal expression and communication. In 1973, it begins distributing artists' videotapes.
"Electronic Art III" exhibit at the Bonino Gallery in New York. Presentation of the Paik/Abe synthesizer.
"A Special Video Show" at the Whitney Museum in New York presents works by Stephen Beck, Douglas Davis, Nam June Paik, and Steina and Woody Vasulka.
On the initiative of its curator, David Ross, the Everson Museum in Syracuse inaugurates the first video art department created in a museum. In collaboration with major New York galleries (Leo Castelli, Sonnabend, Howard Wise), the museum also establishes a network for the presentation of video productions by organizing regular exhibitions around the medium.
1972
The group General Idea starts its own magazine, File, in Toronto.
Austria
Peeling Off, Richard Kriesche's first video presentation, at the Innsbrucker Galerie in Innsbruck.
The MLT Gallery, directed by Fernand Spillemaeckers, distributes tapes by Gerry Schum.
Belgium
First appearance of "video art" at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels with a performance-video installation by William Wegman for the group exhibit "Onze Artistes de la West Coast" (February).
First presentation of Gerry Schum's Land Art and Identification organized by Annie Lummerzhzim at the RTBF in Liège (April).
Denmark
"Projektion" exhibit at the Louisiana Art Gallery in Humlebaek (January-February).
France
Fred Forest begins interventions on State-run television (second channel). He broadcasts "one minute of white" in the middle of the news on Télé-Midi (January).
Gina Pane uses a video camera herself to tape the reaction of the public during Le Lait chaud, an action in a Paris apartment (31 March).
The Vidéogazette, a studio for local video production and distribution, is set up in Grenoble (September).
Martial Raysse makes Le Grand Départ with the help of the ORTF's Research Department.
Germany
Jochen Gerz tapes a video with Sarkis in which each of them speaks his native language, German for Gerz, Turkish for Sarkis.
Germany-Italy
Daniel Buren develops a project for a video installation before the closing of Gerry Schum's TV Gallery in Disseldorf. Recouvrement-effacement, presented in Venice in 1973 and in Florence in 1974, will be dedicated to Schum.
Gerry Schum presents videotapes at Documenta 5 in Kassel and at the Venice Biennale.
Great Britain
The House Gallery in London presents 60 TV, the first video installation by David Hall and Tony Sinden, in the exhibition "A Survey of the Avant-Garde in Britain" (including objects, performances, films, and conceptual works).
Japan
Environments and other forms of video art are presented in galleries, museums, theaters, and specialized centers, including the American cultural centers in Tokyo and Kyoto, Sony headquarters, the underground cinémathèque, the Maki, Tamura, and Shirbakaba Galleries in Tokyo, the 16 and Art Core Galleries and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.
United States
Creation of the California Art Institute (CalArts), with a teaching program specialized in multimedia performance. Personal initiatives of artists such as John Baldessari, Mike Kelley, and Paul McCarthy are encouraged.
The Everson Museum in Syracuse organizes a Douglas Davis show including videotapes and projects for communication by television.
Ed Emshwiller's Scape Mates, a complex mix of computer drawings and tapes of actors, is produced in the laboratories of WNET-TV.
1973
Austria
The first major video exhibition in Austria, "Trigon: Audiovisuelle Botschaften," organized by Austria, Italy, and Yugoslavia, is held in Graz. Ii features works by Austrian, Italian, and Yugoslav artists, American video retrospectives, and video workshops.
Belgium
In Antwerp, Flor Bex opens a video department at the Internationaal Cultureel Centrum (ICC), which then becomes the main center for video production and distribution in Belgium (and Europe).
Peter Beyls begins his projects for televisions, involving the generation of abstract images with analog computers, with the installation TV Tower at the IPEM in Ghent.
First contacts between Raymond Zone of the Video Chain group, which has one of the first studios in Belgium, and Jacques Lennup, Jacques Lizène, and Jacques-Louis Nyst (December).
France
"Canada Trajectoires 73" festival at the ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (curator, Suzanne Pagé): painting, sculpture, installations, ceramics, video, and film. Video artists include Joseph Bodolai, Robert Bowers, Gilles Chartier, Stephen Cruse, Ernest Gusella, Robert Lewis, Tom Sherman, Lisa Steele, and Jane and Walter Wright. Presentation of the Vidéographe, a department of the National Film Board of Montreal, which functions as a workshop permitting the French public not only to view tapes but also to experiment with video equipment (14 June-15 August).
Lyons becomes a center for video distribution with the creation of the CREDA (Centre de Recherche et d'Entraînement aux Disciplines Artistiques), which offers regular programs of screening-discussions as well as a workshop for video, Super 8 and 16 mm film.
The Galerie Numer shows performance videos.
ORTF technician Marcel Dupouy invents the "Movicolor" synthesizer (colorizing and special effects), which combines three kinds of functions: generation and combination of synthetic, geometric, or abstract forms and colorizing (which, with the help of an electronic palette, allows color to be added to a black-and-white video signal as well as other modifications of the electronic signal).
Eighth Paris Biennale at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: the German group Telewissen makes a videotape with the public (14 September-21 October).
Germany
Opening of the Berlin Videothek (videotapes by Hans Hodicke, Rebecca Horn, Taka Iimura, Wolf Kahlen, Allan Kaprow, Wolf Vostell).
Italy
In Florence, Maria Gloria Biccochi founds Art/Tapes/22, a center for the production of artists' videos and their distribution, not only in Europe but also in the United States and Japan.
Japan
Toshio Matsumoto makes Mona Lisa, the first Japanese work to use the Scanimate synthesizer.
United States
Nam June Paik's video
A Tribute to John Cage is shown in the "Video'n Videology" exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse (January).
The Everson Museum of Art organizes "Circuit: A Video Invitational," a traveling exhibition featuring video works by 65 artists.
Working in the research laboratory of WNET-TV in New York, Nam June Paik completes
Global Groove, a tape made from TV images with the Paik/Abe synthesizer.
In Syracuse, Bill Viola meets David Tudor, with whom he founds "Composers Inside Electronics." This group organizes numerous sound performances throughout the world from 1974 to 1980.
1974
Belgium
The studios of the Internationaal Cultureel Centrum (ICC) go into operation under the direction of Flor Bex and in collaboration with Chris Goyvaerts and Yvan Bekaert of Continental Video. Numerous Belgian artists will be produced by the ICC, including Alessandro, Gary Bigot, Leo Copers, Pierre Courtois, Daniel Dewaele, Edit Dewitt, Danny Matthijs, Guy Mees, Ludo Mich, Nicola, Hugo Roeland, Carl Uytterhaegen, Christine Van de Moortel; Raoul Van den Boom, Hubert Van Es, Frank Van Herk, Raf Verjans, and Daniel Weinberger.
The Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Ypres acquires its first videotapes.
Peter Beyls creates On the Origin, a performance with live electronics, television, and film, at the Scoop studio in Ghent, and Transformation, a multimedia project, at the Vrije Akademie in The Hague.
Don Foresta, director of the American Center in Paris, organizes an evening on the theme of "Television Used as a Medium for Art" at the RTB in Liège (25 April).
At the Bruges Triennale, a film and video selection by Michel Baudson includes Marcel Broodthaers, the CAP group, and Jean Antoine, among others (26 June-1 September).
Opening in Brussels of the Cologne-based Oppenheim Gallery and the Galerie Guy De Bruyn, which will present the Castelli-Sonnabend video collection.
"Expmtl 5" in Knokke: the video section of the fifth international experimental film competition includes works by Peter Campus, Wendy Clark, Ed Emschwiller, Nam June Paik (TV Buddha), and Woody and Steina Vasulka (25 December 1974-2 January 1975).
France
Creation of the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA), which absorbs the ORTF's Groupe de Recherche Image (GRI) to create its own research and creation studio. Thierry Kuntzel, Robert Cahen, Dominique Belloir, and Patrick Prado create their first video works at the INA.
Founding of "Mon Oeil," a collective bringing together the existing Cent Fleurs, Vidéo 00, Vidéodeba, and Vidéo Out collectives.
"Art vidéo couleur" exhibit at the American Center in Paris, featuring videotapes by Nam June Paik, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ed Emschwiller, Bill and Louise Etra, and others.
Using Sonimage video editing equipment,
Jean-Luc Godard and
Anne-Marie Miéville complete the film Jusqu'à la victoire, shot in the Middle East in 1970, and now renamed Ici et ailleurs.
Formation of the feminist video group Vidéa (September).
Manifesto of the Collectif d'art sociologique, created by Fred Forest, Jean-Paul Thénot, and Hervé Fischer. One of its interventions will take place in Perpignan in September 1976. The collective will break up in 1981.
"Art/Vidéo Confrontation 74" at the ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Organized by ARC 2 and the CNAAV (Centre National pour l'Animation Audio-Visuelle), this is the first major exhibition to show tapes and video installations by American and Canadian artists (such as Fred Forest, Kit Galloway, Frank Gillette, Dan Graham, Taka Iimura, and Nam June Paik) loaned by the American Center and the Canadian Cultural Center, and to produce tapes by French artists (Roland Baladi, Christian Boltanski, Bernard Borgeaud, Robert Cahen, Paul-Armand Gette, Françoise Janicot, Bertrand Lavier, Léa Lublin, Gina Pane, Martial Raysse, Bernard Teyssèdre, Tomek, Nil Yalter). The Movicolor video synthesizer, developed by the ORTF in 1973, is placed at the disposal of the public (8 November-8 December).
Germany
"Video Tapes" exhibit at the Cologne Kunstverein (with Vito Acconci, Chris Burden, Bruce Nauman, Dennis Oppenheim, etc.). At the Kunstverein and the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Projekt '74, which opens with a concert by Philip Glass, brings together 75 international artists for performances, video screenings, and discussions (July-August).
Italy
In Florence, the opening of the Art-Tapes Gallery, which publishes tapes by Italian artists (Chiari, Vaccari), other European artists (Christian Boltanski), and Americans (John Baldessari,
Joan Jonas, Paul Kos).
Spain
Antoni Muntadas exhibits for the second time at the Galería Vandrés in Madrid: Arte Û Vida.
Switzerland
"Impact Art Video 74" at the Musée des arts décoratifs in Lausanne. Belgian video with the CAP group (8-15 October).
United States
The Anthology Film Archives in New York, the first film museum, founded in 1970 by Jonas Mekas, opens its collection to videos.
The Everson Museum in Syracuse presents a closed-circuit installation by Peter Campus, Circuit: A Video Invitational. It organizes a series of talks and video screenings on "Video and the Museum."
Performance video by Vito Acconci, Command Performance, created at 112 Greene Street in New York.
"Video Projects," the beginning of a series of presentations of video works by Barbara London, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
1975
The magazine Parachute is founded by Chantal Pontbriand and France Morin on the basis of an idea of René Blouin and Chantal Pontbriand.
Belgium
"Artists' Video Tapes", an exhibition organized by Michel Baudson at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, with Joseph Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Allan Kaprow, Nam June Paik, and Wolf Vostell. Belgian artists include CAP group, Jacques Charlier, Leo Copers, 50/04 group, Mass Moving, Danny Matthijs, Hubert Van Es, and Mark Verstockt (25 February-16 March).
Jan Veercruysse organizes the exhibition "Kunst als Film" at the Elsa Von Honolulu Gallery in Ghent. The video section includes Jacques Charlier, the CAP group, the 50/04 group, Leo Copers, Eddy Devolder and Carl Uytterhaegen, Lili Dujourie, Danny Matthijs, Guy Mees, Hubert Van Es, and Mark Verstockt (14-16 March).
The RTBF Liège creates the "Vidéographie" program, produced by Jean-Paul Tréfois. This is the first European broadcast devoted exclusively to video. Topics for 1975-1976 include: cable TV, Fred Forest, Léa Lublin.
Flor Bex, director of the ICC, joins with Integan to propose the screening of artists' videos on Antwerp cable TV. The city refuses to approve the project.
Video installations by Dan Graham at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels: Double Mirror and Double Time Delay
Denmark
"Video International" exhibition at the Arhus Art Museum in Copenhagen.
France
At the Ninth Paris Biennale, Douglas Davis presents a video section with 28 artists, including Christian Boltanski, Pierre-Alain Hubert, Gordon Matta-Clark, Misloslav Moucha, Antoni Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, and Bill Viola. Spanish artists show their first videotapes.
Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville make
Six fois deux: Sur et sous la communication, a series of six videos totaling about 100 minutes for the second channel (coproduced by INA and Sonimage). They will be broadcast as of July 1976. Godard and Miéville also make Comment ça va?, part of which is shot in video, and Numéro deux in color video, with the on-screen image then filmed in 35 mm because of the difficulty of doing a transfer (produced by Sonimage, Bela Production, and SNC Paris).
Lors de la 9e Biennale de Paris, des artistes espagnols montrent leurs premières bandes vidéo.
Michel Jaffrenou and Patrick Bousquet open a projection room for Super 8 and video on a Paris riverboat.
Sony develops Betamax, which allows TV programs to be recorded on video.
First
Body Art exhibition, organized by François Pluchart at the Galerie Stadler in Paris. It includes the work of 21 artists, from Marcel Duchamp to Chris Burden and Katharina Sieverding. The first Body Art manifesto is published at this time.
The CAYC organizes a presentation of Latin American video works at the Espace Cardin in Paris.
"Une expérience d'art socio-écologique" at the ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris presents a video project conducted by various artists (Hervé Fischer, Fred Forest, Léa Lublin, Nil Yalter) in Neuenkirchen, Germany (13 November-14 December).
Heure Exquise! collective is founded near Lille for the promotion of art video. In 1982 the collective will specialize in the distribution of videotapes. In 1985 it will become a video station, as an alternative to TV broadcasting, and in 1992, a training and documentation center.
"Art-animations-video" organized by Pierre Restany and René Berger at the Annemasse city hall. Participants include Jean-François Bory, Fred Forest, Paul-André Hubert, Jeannet, Léa Lublin, Rabascall, and Sosno (13-20 December).
Germany
"Belgian Junger Künstler," an exhibit of young Belgian artists at the Neue Galerie in Aachen, with Jacques Charlier, Filip Francis, Alain d'Hooghe, Jacques Lizène, Bernd Lohaus, Mass Moving, Jacques-Louis Nyst, Henri Pousseur, Philippe Van Snick, and Marthe Wéry.
Great Britain
The "Video Show" at the Serpentine Gallery is the first international exhibition of videos, installations, performances, and films. The main artists include Roger Barnard, David Crichtley, David Hall, Brian Hoey, Steve James, Tamara Krikorian, Mike Legget, Peter Livingstone, Stuart Marshall, Alex Meigh, Steve Partridge, Liz Rhodes, Tony Sindon, and Reindeer Werk.
Netherlands
Nam June Paik retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
United States
Gary Hill presents Synergism, a series of multimedia performances (dance, music, video), in Woodstock.
"Bodyworks" exhibit organized by Jennifer Licht at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Arts, featuring
Vito Acconci, Ben, Joseph Beuys, Günther Brus, Chris Burden,
Marcel Duchamp, Robert Morris,
Bruce Nauman, Gina Pane,
Klaus Rinke,
Lucas Samaras, and William Wegman (March-April).
1976
Belgium
The cover of the contemporary art magazine +–0 features
Dan Graham's exhibition "Mirror Window Corner Piece," organized in Liège at the Véga Gallery run by Manette Repriels (September).
Video evening at the CIAP in Hasselt, with a lecture by Jan Debbaut entitled "Video, een nieuw medium in beeldende kunst" and videos by Hugo Duchateau, Lili Dujourie, Jacques Lennep, Danny Matthijs, and Jacques-Louis Nyst (8 December).
Belgium-Argentina
The Internationaal Cultureel Centrum (ICC) in Antwerp organizes the Fifth International Video Encounter in collaboration with Jorge Glusberg, director of the Centro de Arte y Communicación (CAYC) in Buenos Aires. Twenty-seven countries are represented by some 250 videotapes.
France
Founding of the "Producteurs de vidéogrammes associés," including artists Nicole Croiset, Jean-Paul Cassagnac, Léa Lublin, François Testut, and Nil Yalter. Joining them subsequently are Ronald Baladi, Robert Cahen, Jochen Gerz, Paul-Armand Gette, Alain Jacquier, Françoise Janicot, Martial Raysse, and Jean Roualdès. The PVA group, open to all those working with video (visual artists, graphic artists, students), is intended to distribute artists' videos.
Don Foresta creates a video department at the Ecole nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Dezeuze, head of animated film. ENSAD sets up editing rooms for ¾-inch video and sound, acquires special effects and graphics equipment, and produces tapes by Dominique Belloir and the Wonder Products group. Durnig the 1980s Foresta organizes exchanges with the United States via satellite, telex, and telephone (slowscan).
The exhibition "Art vidéo: recherches et expériences," organized by René Berger at Portes de la Suisse in Paris, presents five Swiss artists (René Bauermeister, Gérald Minkoff, Muriel Oelson, Jean Otth, and Jacob Urban).
Jean-André Fieschi's series "Les Nouveaux Mystères de New York" reveals the stylistic possibilities of his "paluche" miniature video camera (first episode: Enfance, une).
Germany
First Nam June Paik retrospective, organized at the Kunstverein in Cologne.
The exhibition "Soho-Downtown-Manhattan," organized by René Block at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, brings together visual arts, dance, theater, film, music,
performance, and video (featuring works by Robert Morris, Nam June Paik, Richard Serra, and others) (5 September-17 October).
Great Britain
The "Video Show," an exhibition of video installations at the Tate Gallery in London, featuring works by Roger Barnard, Brian Hoey, Tamara Krikorian, Stuart Marshall, and Steve Partridge.
Founding of London Video Arts (LVA), an artists' organization for the promotion and distribution of video.
"Arena," a special program of British and American artists' videotapes, is broadcast on BBC's channel 2. The program is presented by David Hall and produced by Mark Kidel and Anna Ridley. For the occasion, Hall makes This Is a TV Receiver," with Richard Baker.
Italy
Significant video art sections at the Bologna Art Fair (May) and the Venice Biennale (July-October).
Switzerland
Significant video art section at the Basel Art Fair (June).
United States
First issue of Videography, a magazine entirely devoted to video.
Jean Dupuy makes a series of tapes entitled Artists Propaganda I (New York), for which he asks artists to carry out an action of their choice before the camera within a fixed period of time.
1977
Austria
Retrospective exhibition "Art, Artists, and Media" in Graz. International artists and theorists participate in the conference organized in conjunction with this event.
Belgium
Dan Graham exhibition at the Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst in Ghent (27-30 May).
Denmark
Creation of the first and most important workshops: the Danish Video Workshop in Haderslev and the Danish Film Workshop in Copenhagen, both of which are funded by the Danish Film Institute. They provide equipment for persons seeking to express themselves via film and video.
Exhibition "Video International" at the Arhus Art Museum in Copenhagen (autumn).
France
At the Venice Biennale, a seminar on "Art, Artist, and the Media" is organized by Richard Kriesche, Peggy Gale, Wulf Hersogenrath, and Marshall McLuhan.
The Tenth Paris Biennale includes a video section. Among the videos presented is Dawn Burn by Mary Lucier, a video-performance that extends over seven days and includes seven recordings of seven sunrises (September).
At the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris, Pontus Hulten creates a "photo-film-video" department, which is headed by Alain Sayag. Between 1976 and 1978, Mnam buys about fifty videotapes (by Jean Dupuy, Paul-Armand Gette, Suzanne Nissim, Teresa Weinberg, Bob Wilson, etc.).
Jean Dupuy tapes Artists Propaganda II (Paris) at the Centre Georges Pompidou. Among the artists whose short performances are recorded are: Roy Adzack, Ben, Christian Boltanski, André Cadere, Béatrice Casadesus, Jacqueline Dauriac, Charles Dreyfus, François Dufresne, Robert Filliou, Gérard Gassiorowski, Alain Germain, Raymond Hains, Bernard Hiedsieck, Joël Hubaut, Françoise Janicot, Piotr Kowalski, Bruno de Lard, Emile Laugier, Annette Messager, Jacques Monory, Jacques de Pindrey, Guy de Rougemont, Richard Texier, Martial Thomas, Claude Torey, and Nil Yalter (December 1977-January 1978).
First video by Orlan, documenting a performance entitled Mesurage, in which the artist uses her "Orlan-corps" (Orlan-body) unit to measure the Centre Georges Pompidou.
Publication of Fred Forest's Art sociologique. Vidéo.
Germany
Documenta 6 at the Friedericianum Museum in Kassel shows Numéro deux (1975) by Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville and a video by Fred Forest made with Jean-Philippe Butaud (a 1973 project with residents of an old-age home). This year's Documenta, devoted to "Art and Media," presents performances and videos, including Joseph Beuys' Freie Internationale Universität, plus a retrospective of videotapes and installations by over forty American artists (selected by Wulf Herzogenrath). Certain tapes--those by Paik, Beuys, and
Douglas Davis (The Last Nine Minutes)--are retransmitted to the United States by satellite (July-September).
Netherlands
"Video en film manifestatie," an international exhibition and colloquium, is held at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht with British artists including Roger Barnard, David Crichley, David Hall, Tamara Krikorian, Stuart Marshall, and Steve Partridge (February-March).
Peru
Eighth International Video Encounter, organized in Lima by the Centro de Arte y Communicación (CAYC) of Buenos Aires.
Réalisation de Phase I, Send Receive Satellite Network, premier projet de Lisa Bear et Keith Sonnier utilisant un satellite, mis au point par des réalisateurs vidéo indépendants.
Spain
VII Encuentro Internacional Abierto de Vídeo organized at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona by the CAYC of Buenos Aires.
United States
"A View of a Decade" is presented at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, including works by Vito Acconci, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Lucas Samaras, Richard Serra, Lawrence Weiner, and others (10 September-10 November).
"Artists' Video, An Alternative Use of the Medium," at the Biddick Farm Center in Washington includes videotapes by British artists Doron Abrahami, Lindsay Brufton, David Crichley, Peter Donebauer, Keith Frake, Mike Hartney, Brian Hoey, Tamara Krikorian, Stuart Marshall, and Steve Partridge.
Video installation at the Kitchen in New York (
Bill Viola, Peter Campus, and Ed Emschwiller).
1978
Brazil
First International Video Encounter, organized by Walter Zanini at the Museu da imagen e do som in São Paolo.
Denmark
Creation of the Arhus Film Workshop, which will organize video festivals and exhibitions during the 1980s.
France
Nam June Paik's installation T.V. Garden is presented at the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris (8 March).
In conjunction with the "Paris-Berlin" exhibit, the Centre Georges Pompidou presents filmmaker
Chris Marker's first installation, Quand le siècle a pris formes (Guerre et Révolution), composed of twelve monitors with solarized images (12 July-6 November).
The Espace Lyonnais d'Art Contemporain (ELAC) in Lyons sets up a department for the promotion of video and art films (artistic director, Georges Rey). The ELAC is the first such institution in France to present video on a weekly basis (documents touching on visual arts, television, dance, music, architecture, and society in relation to contemporary art), as well as installations and events involving state-of-the-art technology.
Creation of Vidéoglyphes, an association for the promotion of research on the electronic image. In collaboration with the Audiovisual Activities unit of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Vidéoglyphes organizes four visits to the U.S. for four artists (Paul-Armand Gette, Philippe Guerrier, Thierry Kuntzel, and Philippe Oudard), which result in four productions in the studios of the Educational TV Office-Berkeley and two exhibitions (New York and San Francisco).
Second episode of Jean-André Fieschi's Nouveaux Mystères de New York: L'Ile de la Vierge.
Don Foresta becomes artistic director of the Center for Media Art at the American Center in Paris (1978-1981). He presents video programs from the Buffalo Museum and the Kitchen in New York and invites American artists including Juan Downey, Kit Fitzgerald,
Gary Hill, Joan Logue, John Sanborn, and Bill Viola. Nam June Paik gives a year-long seminar there. Among the French artists working at the American Center in the early 1980s are Hervé Nisic, Alain Longuet, Patrick Prado, Jean-Louis Le Tacon, Orlan, Pierre Lobstein, and Catherine Ikam. After Don Foresta, the Center for Media Art will be directed by Anne-Marie Stein (1980-82) and the Canadian Scott MacLeay (1982-87), who will enlarge the perspective by creating the Center for Media Art and Photography.
Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville make
France Tour Détour Deux Enfants, a series of 12 programs of 26 minutes each (produced by INA and Sonimage), for France's second channel (broadcast in April 1980).
Léa Lublin makes Discours sur l'art, interviews with twelve artists: a camera films the scene in a static shot while Lublin films the artist with a portable camera. The images shot by the two cameras are shown live on three video monitors.
Robert Wilson makes
Video 50, fifty 30-second videos conceived as interludes, in the Centre Georges Pompidou's studio (co-produced by INA, CNAC-CGP, NIRT, ZDF).
At the Centre culturel de l'Abbaye ("Vidéo ABI") in Paris, video screenings and "vidéothéâtries" performances are organized by Michel Jaffrenou and Patrick Bousquet.
Nam June Paik retrospective at the ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: Fluxus installations Moon Is the Oldest TV and TV Clock. In conjunction with this retrospective, the American Center shows his recent tapes (
Global Groove,
Guadalcanal Requiem,
Merce by Merce by Paik, etc.) and organizes interventions by Paik and Charlotte Moorman. Paik also gives two workshops for video professionals (22 November 1978-8 January 1979).
Germany
"Video + Fernsehen" conference at the Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig in Aachen. Participants include Hans Backes, Wolfgang Becker, Wibke von Bonin,
Klaus Vom Bruch, Wulf Herzogenrath, Nan Hoover,
Marcel Odenbach, Ingrid von Oppenheim, Ulrike Rosenbach, and Mike Steiner (March).
Great Britain
"Video Art '78" at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry: an international exhibition of installations, performances, tapes, and films organized by Steve Partridge, with works by Kevin Atherton, Roger Barnard, Lindsay Bryfton, David Crichley, Keith Frake, David Hall, Brian Hoey, Tamara Krikorian, Stuart Marshall, Alex Meigh, Marceline Mori, and Steve Partridge. European and American artists include Marina Abramovic, Nan Hoover, Friederike Pezold, Ulrike Rosenbach, Bill Viola, and Peter Weibel.
Spain
Exposition Video, entre l'art y la comunicatió. Sèries informatives / Video, between Art and Communication, organisée par la Barcelona Architects' Association, Barcelone. Programmation thématique, conférences (Wulf Herzogenrath, Jo-Anne Birnie Dantzer, Jaime Davidovitch, Dimitri Devyatkin et Ulrike Rosenbach).
"Tot Art", premier programme télévisuel consacré aux artistes travaillant avec les nouveaux médias, diffusé par la chaîne TVE Barcelona.
Présentation de productions de l'INA (Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Wilson, etc.) lors de la XX Setmana Internacional de Cinema de Barcelona, Barcelone.
United States
Phillips introduces the videodisk.
1979
"British Video Art in Canada," curated by David Hall, features a selection of videotapes by British artists (traveling exhibit: Toronto, Halifax, and Queens University in Kingston).
Austria
Ars Electronica '79 festival in Linz on the theme of "Kunst und Technik."
Belgium
Walter Moens creates the Nieuwe Workshop in Brussels for the presentation of work by Belgian and foreign artists. Video workshops, including one run by Chris Dercon, are set up. The Nieuwe Workshop receives funding from the Nederlandse Commisie voor Cultur.
France
"Symposium sur le corps," a program of performances and videos on the body organized by the Centro de Arte y Communicación (CAYC) of Buenos Aires, at the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris, with the participation of numerous international artists.
Porte-vue, an installation by
Keith Sonnier, is presented at the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris: four images are retransmitted on two video monitors (two images from video cameras placed inside the museum, two images from TV screens).
Vidéoglyphes publishes a review of the same name (issue no. 1 on the economics of video, no. 2 on video works, nos. 3-4 on video, landscape, architecture).
Creation of the Video Department at the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris. International video works are collected by Christine Van Assche.
The ELAC (Espace Lyonnais d'Art Contemporain) presents the exhibition "Fluxus International and Co.," curated by Ben Vautier and Marie-Claude Jeune. It also organizes the first International Symposium on Performance Art (curated by Orlan and Hubert Besacier), a Fluxus concert (Ben Vautier, Serge Oldendorf, Giuseppe Chiari), artists performances and actions (Jean-Jacques Lebel, Benito and Cerda) (4 April-6 May).
France's second channel, Antenne 2, broadcasts "Video U.S.A.," a series of five programs by Catherine Ikam and Adrien Maaden on American video and the vast expressive possibilities of the electronic image (June).
Jean-Jacques Lebel presents "Polyphonix I, " an international festival of performance, direct poetry, music, and video, at the American Center in Paris (June).
Arrival of ¾-inch editing decks in France.
Robert Filliou makes his first videotape in French in Montreal: Vidéo-Universecity, Grâce à Fournier.
Thierry Kuntzel makes Nostos I, a color videotape produced by the Groupe de Recherche Image of the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA).
Germany
Purple Cross for Absent Now, a performance/installation by Jochen Gerz, is presented at the Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. Gerz will recreate it in 1987 with Esther Shalev-Gerz at Documenta 6 in Kassel.
Netherlands
Exhibition in homage to Gerry Schum at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Spain
XXI Setmana Internacional de Cinema de Barcelona: presentation of videotapes by Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville.
Switzerland
Le Kunsthaus de Zurich commence à introduire la vidéo dans ses expositions et ses collections.
United States
Aspen Project est l'un des tout premiers vidéodisques interactifs, créé par le Media Lab du Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) : il simule les rues et bâtiments de la ville d'Aspen, dans le Colorado, de telle sorte qu'on peut se déplacer virtuellement à travers la ville en prenant différents itinéraires.
Exposition Re-visions, project and proposals in film and video au Whitney Museum of American Art de New York : présentation d'installations de jeunes artistes peu connus.
Exposition Video from Tokyo to Fukui and Kyoto, organisée par le Museum of Modern Art de New York. Itinérance dans 15 sites à travers les Etats-Unis, l'Asie et l'Europe.
Le Kitchen Center de New York présente une programmation de bandes vidéo d'artistes britanniques : Peter Anderson, David Crichley, David Hall, Mick Hartney, Brian Hoey, Tamara Krikorian, Stuart Marshall, Marceline Mori et Chris Rushton.
Yugoslavia
A Sarajevo, la Moderna Galeria de Ljubjana et le Collegium artisticum proposent une programmation de bandes vidéo européennes et américaines (septembre).