Series: New Television Workshop
Program: Music Image Workshop: Tristan and Isolde
Date: 1975-01-01
Subject: Color; Light
Copyright Holder: Copyright holder is unidentified.

Clip Description
This work features an elaborate play of sound, color and light. Abstract images manipulated into a tunnel effect seem to carry the viewer deeper and deeper into the space of the monitor. Some existing footage is incorporated, including the surface of a body of water. This work appears to have been divided into several sections, including "Prelude" and "The Love Death." The music is Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." Directed by David Atwood.

The Music Image Workshop was primarily a project of Ron Hays, who used the Paik-Abe videosynthesizer to create elaborate visual scores set to music. It was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts from 1972 through 1974. Hays worked closely with WGBH producer and director, David Atwood, to create both live broadcasts and finished works. Additionally, works by other artists were presented under the auspices of the Music Image Workshop.

Program Description
This work features an elaborate play of sound, color and light. Abstract images manipulated into a tunnel effect seem to carry the viewer deeper and deeper into the space of the monitor. Some existing footage is incorporated, including the surface of a body of water. This work appears to have been divided into several sections, including "Prelude" and "The Love Death." The music is Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." Directed by David Atwood.

The Music Image Workshop was primarily a project of Ron Hays, who used the Paik-Abe videosynthesizer to create elaborate visual scores set to music. It was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts from 1972 through 1974. Hays worked closely with WGBH producer and director, David Atwood, to create both live broadcasts and finished works. Additionally, works by other artists were presented under the auspices of the Music Image Workshop.

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/Tristan189.HTML