Series: Rockefeller Artists in Television
Program: Zone in Three Parts
Date: 1969-01-01
Duration: 00:01:29

Subject: Television; Image-processed works
People: Barron, Ros
Copyright Holder: Copyright holder is unidentified.

Clip Description
This excerpt from "Zone in Three Parts" features Ros Barron's "Headgame." Ros Barron juxtaposes images of a man seated in front of a television set, and close-ups of his face with archival still photographs, men in groups, and "psychedelic" color images.

Program Description
This episode of "Rockefeller Artists in Television" features three works created by the theater artists Collective Zone (comprised of Ros and Harris Barron and Alan Finnerman).

"Zone in Three Parts" features Ros Barron's "Headgame," Harris Barron's "Glide," and Alan Finneman's "Water Bodies." All employ collage techniques and are shot in both color and black-and-white. No credit information is included outside of the artists and titles of segments.

"Headgame," by Ros Barron juxtaposes images of a man seated in front of a television set, and close-ups of his face with archival still photographs, men in groups, and "psychedelic" color images.

"Glide," by Harris Barron, features images of flight, including still photographs of birds and gliders, color footage of airplanes taking off, footage of landscapes taken from airplanes, and portraits of a nude woman costumed in a pilot's hat, scarf, and goggles.

"Water Bodies," by Allan Finneman, is a study of a beach environment, showing people walking along the beach, a lighthouse, a woman inside a room, and rolling in the sand. The soundtrack is composed of found sounds, such as chirping crickets, crashing waves, and a striking clock.

The "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" materials were created before the creation of the New Television Workshop. They were processed as part of this Collection because of their relationship to video art and experimental work.

The "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" residency program was created to support artists working in television. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation from 1967 through 1970, it was replaced by "The WGBH Project for 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/Zone19.HTML