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Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Date: 1987-01-01
Duration: 00:00:43
Subject: Interviews; Demonstrations; Teenage girls
People: Birnbaum, Dara; Ditelli, Georgeann; Hysinger, Pam;
Copyright Holder: Dara Birnbaum
Clip Description
"Charming Landscape," the conclusion to Dara Birnbaum's "Damnation of Faust" trilogy, shows the debris of a demolished city playground. The self-exploratory narration of two teenage girls is played over images of crowd scenes (often violent) from the civil rights movement, student protests, and the Tianenmen Square demonstrations. The work, which is approximately six and one-half minutes long, is dedicated to Pam Hysinger and Georgeann Ditelli, the teenagers whose words serve as narration. Music is by Keith James and Mike Nolan as The Picassos.
The work was broadcast as a segment of episode 313 (1987), and was also shown with the entire "Damnation of Faust" trilogy, as part of episode 106 (1991), of "New Television." Produced and directed by Dara Birnbaum.
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/Damnation109.HTML
