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Phenomenology (Parts A, B, C)":Phenomenology (Parts A, B, C)": was created at the Boston Film and Video Foundation as a New. . . > more |  |
Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 604
Date: 1988-01-01
Subject: Brazil; Brazilians; Identity
People: Afram, Silvana
Copyright Holder: Silvana Afram
Clip Description
"A video poem on colonialism, ‘Darkness of My Language' reveals how this system defines personal identities and perpetuates cultural ignorance. Produced in Canada by Brazilian Silvana Afram, the program is both documentary in nature as well as subjective in tone. While the soundtrack is composed of tourists' exasperating questions, the images evoke the artist" distance from home." -- WGBH press release
In black and white, closeups of faces are accompanied by voiceover attempts to respond to questions about Brazilian identity. It incorporates text in Portuguese by Carl Jung. Little credit information accompanies this short work.
The piece was broadcast as a segment of episode 604 (1990) 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/Darkness207.HTML
