Series: Artist's Showcase
Program: Artists on Artists
Date: 1967-01-01
Subject: Modern dance
People: de Jong, Bettie; Harris, Hilary
Copyright Holder: Hilary Harris Films

Clip Description
A female dancer repeats a short dance theme nine times to a soundtrack of piano and flute. As she performs the theme, the dancer is shot from different angles to yield nine variations. The first variations are composed of longer shots that capture the body and movements of the dancer in full. These variations are accompanied by a soundtrack of slow-tempo piano. The later variations are composed of many shorter shots that capture the components of the dancer's body and movements. These variations are accompanied by an increasingly up-tempo soundtrack of piano and flute. Little credit information is provided.

Program Description
The "Artists on Artists" project was originally intended to create short spots to be broadcast as fills (segments between other programs). Works were acquired and/or produced for the project. The compilation tape, "Artists on Artists" features the following works: Peter Campus On Paul Strand; Louis Zukofsky; 9 Variations On A Dance Theme; Man Ray, Man Ray; Nam June Paik On The Beatles; Northlight.

Peter Campus looks at the images and writings of the photographer Paul Strand.

Jay Anania's " Louis Zukofsky" presents a portrait of the poet and his work.

The work, "9 Variations on a Dance Theme," shows a female dancer repeating a short dance theme nine times to a soundtrack of piano and flute.

In William Wegman's "Man Ray, Man Ray," the biographies of Wegman's dog and of the artist Man Ray merge.

In "Nam June Paik on the Beatles" the epic four-hour-long "Video Commune" is condensed into a five-minute segment.

Bill Charette's "Northlight" looks at three different artists with studios in the same building.

"Artist's Showcase" was a series designed to showcase video art and experimental work from WGBH. The program ran on Sunday evenings at 11 P.M., from the fall of 1976 through 1982. In the early 1970's, "Artist's Showcase" was the only consistent broadcast outlet for many of the Workshop productions. Most materials of broadcast quality created at WGBH in the mid-1970's were shown as part of this series. Additionally, earlier video art experiments and segments of related shows, such as "Mixed Bag" or "What's Happening Mr. Silver" were broadcast under these auspices. This series was also a broadcast outlet for a handful of works by video artists that were not created at WGBH but only acquired for this purpose. Some compilation reels showing highlights of Workshop activity were also broadcast.

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/997.html