Series: Artist's Showcase
Program: Edit 1
Date: 1976-01-01
Subject: Actresses; Movement
Copyright Holder: Tava-Hudson

Clip Description
In "Edit 1" several experiments address issues of identity and capture unique examples of movement for the camera. A vinyl record is rolled and spun across the surface of the floor. Quick edits heighten the sense of frantic motion. Hands flip through the pages of a thick hardcover book. The moving pages fleetingly reveal images of Hollywood starlets. A woman, probably Jane Tavarelli, has her head covered by a nylon piece of cloth, through which her face can be seen. Enhanced by quick edits, she repositions herself and the cloth, which distorts her facial expressions. Using a split-screen effect, Tavarelli compares herself to still images of Hollywood stars as she positions herself into sometimes uncomfortable positions that mirror these poses. A voiceover comments on the appearance of both images. In the final segment,the screen is divided into three sections, all of which feature Tavarelli's mouth singing "Row Your Boat."

In the first segment featuring the vinyl records the sounds of the Velvet Underground's "Train Around the Bend" are heard. In the third section Jane Tavarelli poses with the nylon cloth to the strains of a female blues vocalist.

This work was created while Jane Tavarelli and Jeff Hudson were in residence at WGBH. It appears to have been broadcast as part of "Artist's Showcase."

"Artist's Showcase" was a series designed to showcase video art and experimental work from WGBH. The program ran on Sunday evenings at 11 P.M., from the fall of 1976 through 1982. In the early 1970's, "Artist's Showcase" was the only consistent broadcast outlet for many of the Workshop productions. Most materials of broadcast quality created at WGBH in the mid-1970's were shown as part of this series. Additionally, earlier video art experiments and segments of related shows, such as "Mixed Bag" or "What's Happening Mr. Silver" were broadcast under these auspices. This series was also a broadcast outlet for a handful of works by video artists that were not created at WGBH but only acquired for this purpose. Some compilation reels showing highlights of Workshop activity were also broadcast.

Program Description
In "Edit 1" several experiments address issues of identity and capture unique examples of movement for the camera. A vinyl record is rolled and spun across the surface of the floor. Quick edits heighten the sense of frantic motion. Hands flip through the pages of a thick hardcover book. The moving pages fleetingly reveal images of Hollywood starlets. A woman, probably Jane Tavarelli, has her head covered by a nylon piece of cloth, through which her face can be seen. Enhanced by quick edits, she repositions herself and the cloth, which distorts her facial expressions. Using a split-screen effect, Tavarelli compares herself to still images of Hollywood stars as she positions herself into sometimes uncomfortable positions that mirror these poses. A voiceover comments on the appearance of both images. In the final segment,the screen is divided into three sections, all of which feature Tavarelli's mouth singing "Row Your Boat."

In the first segment featuring the vinyl records the sounds of the Velvet Underground's "Train Around the Bend" are heard. In the third section Jane Tavarelli poses with the nylon cloth to the strains of a female blues vocalist.

This work was created while Jane Tavarelli and Jeff Hudson were in residence at WGBH. It appears to have been broadcast as part of "Artist's Showcase."

"Artist's Showcase" was a series designed to showcase video art and experimental work from WGBH. The program ran on Sunday evenings at 11 P.M., from the fall of 1976 through 1982. In the early 1970's, "Artist's Showcase" was the only consistent broadcast outlet for many of the Workshop productions. Most materials of broadcast quality created at WGBH in the mid-1970's were shown as part of this series. Additionally, earlier video art experiments and segments of related shows, such as "Mixed Bag" or "What's Happening Mr. Silver" were broadcast under these auspices. This series was also a broadcast outlet for a handful of works by video artists that were not created at WGBH but only acquired for this purpose. Some compilation reels showing highlights of Workshop activity were also broadcast.

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/Edit188.HTML