GBH Openvault
Artist's Showcase; City Archives
Part of New Television Workshop.
Approximate date: 1977
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- Series
- Artist's Showcase
- Program
- City Archives
- Series Description
Anthology series of experimental, avant garde video productions. Program titles: "DANCE FOR CAMERA - SHOW I: DISTRICT I and PALE COOL, PALE WARM;" "DANCE FOR CAMERA - SHOW II: TZADDICK;" "DANCE FOR CAMERA - SHOW III: GEORGE'S HOUSE;" "SELECTED WORKS - 1974 - 1975;" "THE GIRL WITH THE FLAXEN HAIR;" "SET OF COINCIDENCE;" "ALL ACROSS BOSTON;" " UNTITLED PERFORMANCE BY ROBERT GOLDMAN;" "QUIDDATAS;" "TELEPORTRAITS;" "FOUR SIDED TAPES;" "AMY LOWELL;" "PRIMORDIAL SOUP;" "HOWARD;" "THIRD TAPE;" "PAST FANTASIES;" "SEMI BUFFET;" "EAST ENDED TAPE;" "A COLOR PIECE FOR TV;" "CONTEXTS AND ONE AND MANY;" "THREE TRANSITIONS;" "CITY SCAPE;" "OUT OF TIME;" "NO TITLE." Series release date: 1975
- Program Description
"City Archives" was written and directed by Richard Foreman, founder and director of the Ontological Hysteric Theater. He serves as the narrator for this work, discussing the power of "the foreign" and images, talking directly into a microphone in a purposely stilted manner and addressing questions to the viewer. A sort of classroom overpopulated by adults sets the stage for the work. Phrases are written and erased on a blackboard, and women gaze out a window, physically supporting planks of wood. The cast gathers around the makeshift bedside of a woman and wanders through what appears to be a library. The performers appear in a small garden and at a movie theater, speaking only to occasionally echo Foreman's remarks and with elaborately choreographed movements and stillnesses. Foreman's text questions strategies for documenting experience, the notion of place and a city, and the process of writing. Produced by the Minnesota Public Programming Corporation. Directed by Richard Foreman. Originally created with the support of the Walker Arts Center, "City Archives" was broadcast as an episode of the WNET Television Laboratory's series "Video/Film Review," ca. 1979. At WGBH, it was broadcast as part of "Artist's Showcase."
- Asset Type
Broadcast program
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Drama
- Ontological-Hysteric Theatre
- Experimental theater
- Topics
- Film and Television
- Creators
- Foreman, Richard, 1937- (Director)
- Susan Dowling (Producer)
- Dowling, Susan (Producer)
- Contributors
- Ward, Melinda ()
- Zarrilli, Phillip ()
- King, Adam ()
- Lazarow, Mike ()
- Anderson, Eric ()
- Nisks, Joni ()
- Gaddis, Pat ()
- Olson, Lora ()
- Grant, Joan ()
- Weise, Richard ()
- Kawamura, Lani ()
- Berlovitz, Barbara ()
- Comer, Mary ()
- Westgate, Jene ()
- Holmes, Scott ()
- Marcus, Steven ()
- Silverman, Robin ()
- O'Brien, Terrence ()
- Western, T. J. ()
- Bjornson, Maja ()
- Fuller, Susan ()
- Pillsbury, Henry ()
- Mussnil, Ann ()
- Schoch, Carlotta ()
- Dillard, Leigh ()
- Lassila, Ruth ()
- Barnard, Jane ()
- Karl, Liz ()
- Cowles, Sage ()
- Braun, Tom ()
- Foley, Melissa ()
- Crepeau, Kathleen ()
- Wood, Rebecca ()
- Isaacson, Pearl ()
- Tilli, Carl ()
- Pierson, Cynthia ()
- Shopmaker, Becky ()
- Mattius, Gail ()
- Cada, Jim ()
- Formanek, Ingrid ()
- Galusha, Emily ()
- Holonbek, JoAnn ()
- Citation
- Chicago: “Artist's Showcase; City Archives,” GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_376DB55FCB26441AB243C5D11E6FF31D.
- MLA: “Artist's Showcase; City Archives.” GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_376DB55FCB26441AB243C5D11E6FF31D>.
- APA: Artist's Showcase; City Archives. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_376DB55FCB26441AB243C5D11E6FF31D