Series: New Television Workshop
Program: Storm and Stress
Episode: 308
Date: 1986-01-01
Duration: 00:01:27

Subject: Forest fires; Lightning; Weather
People: Hall, Doug
Copyright Holder: Doug Hall

Clip Description
The work presents images of extreme weather conditions and scientific attempts to monitor them, in a collage format. The inclusion of testing footage from research laboratories gives "Storm and Stress" the suggestion of a documentary. As the succession of images unfolds, the viewer is exposed to violent rainstorms, with much thunder and lightning; tornadoes; a raging fire; and stormy conditions at sea. Each of these weather conditions is set off by images showing human interaction with them. Scientists attempt to recreate and measure thunder and lightning inside a sterile building; a group of individuals driving in a car follow a nearby tornado and measure its force; firefighters attempt to stop a blaze; and men in a boat measure waves. Some of this imagery is shot in a handheld, point-of-view style, as in the case of the tornado chasers and the men on the boat. The sound score consists almost solely of the natural sounds of the footage -- the discussion of the persons depicted and the sounds of the weather itself. At one point, Giuseppe Verdi's "Requiem" mass serves as accompaniment.

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 Television (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/Storm1.HTML