Series: Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund
Program: Easy Living
Date: 1984-01-01
Duration: 00:01:21

Subject: Automobiles
People: Lord, Chip; McGowan, Mickey
Copyright Holder: A Lord, McGowan, Backus Production

Clip Description
"Easy Living" follows the movements and activities of individuals represented by miniature objects, most notably the kinds of dolls, locations, and accessories affiliated with model construction. This miniature suburban world traces a typical day in suburbia. Shown here is a short excerpt of a car as it progresses through a miniature car wash.

Program Description
This episode of "Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund" features "Easy Living" by Chip Lord and Mickey McGowan.

"Easy Living" follows the movements and activities of individuals represented by miniature objects, most notably the kinds of dolls, locations, and accessories affiliated with model construction. The objects are manipulated off-camera, and thus appear to be moving independently. A caption indicates that the events begin Saturday, August 23 (year unspecified), at 9:15 a.m. Cars move through parking lots and a car wash. New captions indicate the progression of time as the day moves on. A man is seen playing golf; cars pull up at the beach and a drive-in theater; members of a family watch television at their home, a cop makes rounds, and a drag race takes place. All of these activities are suggested very subtly. The sound score is very minimal, with occasional spoken remarks and sound effects.

The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was a joint venture between Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) and WGBH's New Television Workshop. Funding came from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities' New Works program in 1983. Co-directors were WGBH's Susan Dowling (New Television Workshop Director, 1982-1993), and David Ross (ICA Director). Kathy Rae Huffman served as curator and producer. The Fund's primary objective was to award money to video artists for new works. The goals were to foster excellence in the exploration of television as a creative medium, broaden video arts international audience through broadcast and gallery exhibition, and increase revenues for artists from the distribution of their works in all markets. Many of the works were broadcast as part of "New Television," and appeared in festivals worldwide. The Fund was also used to sponsor international symposia among curators, distributors, and producers to help promote the growth of video art. In 1990, the ICA assumed full sponsorship of the Fund, where it continued for another year.

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/Easy29.HTML