Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV is a 2023 documentary film by Amanda Kim about video artist Nam June Paik. The film traces the life of the artist from his privileged childhood in Japanese-occupied Korea up until his death in 2006. The films uses archival footage, interviews with fellow artists who knew him best and written letters to personal friends John Cage and others narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Steven Yeun.It premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by PBS Films and Greenwich Entertainment as an episode of American Masters. Click on the above image for the full film.
Emergency Broadcast Network is the name of a multimedia performance group formed in 1991 that took its name from the Emergency Broadcast System. The founders were Rhode Island School of Design graduates Joshua Pearson, Gardner Post and Brian Kane (author of the Vujak VJ software). Kane left EBN in 1992. The EBN Live Team included DJ Ron O'Donnell, video artist/technologist Greg Deocampo (founder of Company of Science and Art (CoSA), and founding CTO of IFILM.com), artist/designer Tracy Brown and technologist Mark Marinello.
Josh Pearson, EBN's charismatic front man and principal performance artist, was also EBN's music composer and main video editor. The music and video editing techniques he personally developed and refined have been hugely influential on a generation of advertising and music video editors.
The first EBN video project was a musical remix of the Gulf War, created in 1991 as the war was still ongoing. The VHS tape of the remix project, which contained the George H.W. Bush "We Will Rock You" cover, became a viral underground hit, and was distributed widely by fans as bootleg copies. In the summer of 1991, EBN traveled with the first Lollapalooza tour, distributing tapes and showing their videos on a modified station wagon with TVs on the roof. The group also became well known for their media sculptures and stage props which were created by Gardner Post.
The EBN modus operandi was to take cable television broadcasts and remix them with a funky beat, often having the lyrics "sung" not by a singer but by half-second sound clips from TV, spliced together. For example, the lyric "electronic behavior control system" would be created with a clip of Ross Perot saying "electronic", followed by a clip of George H. W. Bush saying "behavior", then Ted Koppel saying "control", and finally a clip of Bill Clinton saying "system". This technique has been named video scratching.
Among their videos are "Get Down and Electronic Behavior Control System" from their 1995 album Telecommunication Breakdown, which mocks the way television controls our lives. Another was a cover of "We Will Rock You" by Queen, with a vocal track made up of remixed clips of George H. W. Bush making announcements about the Gulf War. Bono of U2 took notice of their work and hired them to provide visuals for their Zoo TV Tour. EBN's video work featured prominently into the show, and their "We Will Rock You" cover was played at the beginning of each show. EBN also produced visuals for The Edge's performance of "Numb" on the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. In addition to the visuals, audio from those clips were featured in the live performance to create rhythmic effects.
Brian Kane has since worked a number of times with British AV artists Addictive TV on many of their projects, both live and recorded - including Mixmasters and at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Greg Deocampo continues his video remixes independently today, using footage from the 2003 invasion of Iraq (which he refers to as Gulf War II). In 2006, Deocampo started working with a trio of London video turntablists, Eclectic-method: Jonny Wilson, Ian Edgar, and Geoff Gamlen.
The entire track is constructed out of two of the most well-known songs in the history of music, Let It Be by Beatles and Let It Bleed by Rolling Stones. Each track was sliced up into small pieces and rearranged. Let It Be is panned on the right channel, Let It Bleed is panned on the left channel. This video was first premiered at Given Enough Eyeballs show, The Esther M. Klein Art Gallery PA in 2008.
Psychedelic Death Vomit (EXCERPT) from yoshi sodeoka on Vimeo. Psychedelic Death Vomit (EXCERPT) Excerpt of "Psychedelic Death Vomit", 04 Minutes 50 Seconds, 2008 Screening: Heavy Light at Deitch Projects, New York, NY Floating World Animation Fest 2008, Portland, OR Archaic Vision at Seed Gallery, Newark, NJ Three Rivers Film Festival, PA Select Media Festival, IL
Marlon Brando screentest for Rebel Without a Cause. Why he did not get the part, that James Dean eventually played, is beyond me.
This comes from The Guardian 50 Greatest Arts Videos on YouTube. "YouTube is best known for its offbeat videos that become viral sensations. But among its millions of clips is a treasure trove of rare and fascinating arts footage, lovingly posted by fans. Ajesh Patalay selects 50 of the best - Joy Division's TV debut, readings by Jack Kerouac, a Marlene Dietrich screen test, Madonna's first performance... and much more
Elisabeth Charlotte Rist (born in June 21th 1962 in Grabs, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland) is a well-known video artist. She lives and works in Zurich and Los Angeles. Elisabeth Charlotte Rist was born in 1962 in Grabs, Sankt Gallen, in Switzerland. Since her childhood she has been nicknamed Pipilotti. The name refers to the novel Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. Rist studied at the Institute of Applied Arts in Vienna, through 1986. She later studied video at the School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung) in Basel, Switzerland. In 1997 her work was first featured in the Venice Biennial, where she was awarded the Premio 2000 Prize. From 1988 through 1994 she was member of the music band and performance group Les Reines Prochaines. From 2002 to 2003, she was invited by Professor Paul McCarthy to teach at UCLA as a visiting faculty member. Pipilotti Rist currently lives with her common law partner Balz Roth, with whom she has a son, named Himalaya.
Pipilotti Rist talks about her video installation ‘Show a Leg’ (2001) at the Tramway gallery in an edition of Channel 6 Broadcasting’s television show, ‘Art in Scotland’. Recorded in the gallery Rist says ‘Show a Leg’ is about positive hysteria, our common wish to be special, balanced by a desire not to be crazy. The programme is illustrated with lengthy shots of her ethereal projected videos in the large spaces of the Tramway, which she describes as a moving poem. The dreamlike images take a deliberately female perspective, the viewpoint of a wild strong human being, on the fine borderline between uniqueness and insanity. A former stage designer for musicians, the artist tells Robert Morgan about her influences, her use of new technology and her views about the role of art in the age of television and mass entertainment.
Currently at FACT (Foundation for Art and Technology) in Liverpool Pippilotta is haveing a show and you can download the PDF gallery guide which provides an insight into this amazing artist's work and thought.
