Series: New Television Workshop
Program: Lown Ranjer Aind Tontow, The
Episode: 308
Date: 1987-01-01
Subject: Performance art
People: Mydlack, Danny
Copyright Holder: Danny Mydlack

Clip Description
Mydlack's eclectic work begins with an explanation. In 1985, he created the idea to tour a series of performances through people's living rooms. The piece that follows shows him performing a spirited ballad about the Lone Ranger, Tonto, and a small child. He accompanies himself on the accordion. Occasionally, somewhat random, misspelled subtitles flash across the screen. In the suburban-style living room in which Mydlack performs, a handful of onlookers observe him while seated on a couch. Their reactions alternate between amusement and blank stares. The work is approximately six minutes long.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features Danny Mydlack's "The Lown Ranjer Aind Tontow," and Doug Hall's "Storm and Stress."

"The Lown Ranjer Aind Tontow," is part of Mydlack's idea to tour a series of performances through people's living rooms. The work is approximately six minutes long. Copyright: Danny Mydlack.

"Storm and Stress" presents images of extreme weather conditions and scientific attempts to monitor them, in a collage format. The work was created by video artist Doug Hall for The Contemporary Art Te"evision (CAT) Fund. It was also broadcast as an episode of "New Television." Kathy Rae Huffman, The CAT Fund curator, served as executive producer. "Storm and Stress" was also an installation (as well as a single-channel video) that was shown at the Institute for Contemporary Art, and included a Tesla experiment within a caged space. Copyright: Doug Hall.

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/Lown219.HTML