Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 303 (1987)
Date: 1984-01-01
Subject: Mass media
Copyright Holder: Terri Hanlon?

Clip Description
"Way Downtown" combines animated and electronically enhanced still images with scenes of public life from an Asian culture. In the opening sequence a still image is slowly animated to show frantically ticking clocks. Images from advertising and mass media are juxtaposed against scenes of window washers and street crowds. Driving rock music, "Guitar Trio," by Rhys Catham accompanies the work.

The piece is approximately eight minutes long and was broadcast as a segment of episode 303 (1987) of "New Television."

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Way106.HTML