Series: Frames of Reference
Program: Dinner Party: A Semi-Buffet
Date: 1975-01-01
Subject: Modern dance; Landscape; Dinners and dining; Entertaining
People: Dowling, Susan; Gray, Martha; Streep, Harry, III; Wheeler, Ruth
Copyright Holder: William Wegman

Clip Description
Marha Gray's work entitled "Images Diffused by Time" is re-titled as "Out of Time." In this moody work, filmed at Fort Strong on Long Island in Boston Harbor, three dancers (a man and two women) move through the rocky landscape. Against the backdrop of the ruins of the fort, the reaching and curving gestures are lyrical in tone. Susan Dowling works her way down a misty path at the work's completion. Unidentified classical music accompanies the work.

This work was broadcast as a segment in the "Frames of Reference" dance showcase "A Place to Dance."

"Frames of Reference" was a series that began circa 1978. Half-hour shows were produced to showcase commissioned and already created works. It was around this time that the focus of the Workshop shifted, to concentrate more heavily on creating works for broadcast. During its time, "Frames of Reference" was the focus of the Workshop's national arts programming effort. The series ended circa 1983.

Program Description
This episode of "Artist's Showcase" features "Dinner Party: A Semi-Buffet" by William Wegman.

William Wegman's "Dinner Party" "Dinner Party: A Semi-Buffet" was created by video artist William Wegman in 1975. Dorothy Chiesa is credited as the coordinator. It shows the conflicts that arise when two different types of dinner parties occur simultaneously. Guests arrive for a more formal party and are served accordingly. Once the dinner is underway, another set of guests arrives for a buffet-style meal, which is more casual in tone. The same hosts attend to both sets of guests, attempting to observe the proper codes of etiquette in each case. Workshop director Fred Barzyk appears as one of the performers.

"Dinner Party" was created when Wegman was an NEA Artist in Residence and was probably broadcast on "Artist's Showcase."

"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/Dinner36.HTML