Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 402
Date: 1988-01-01
Subject: Opera
People: Burlage, Bill; Bush, Billy; Bush, Johanna; Brown, Samuel; Echert, Brandi; Ellis, Isaac J.; Fay, Patti; Ferraris, James; Franklin, Allan; Franklin, Jane; Glass, Julie; Glatzer, Jane; Gregg, Charlie; Hansen, Craig; Krueger, Paul; Logan, Joseph; Ober, Noah; McIntyre, Nancy; Price, Stephanie; Restrepo, Nena; Schroeder, Paul; Smith, Aaron; Tanaka, Janice; Taylor, Glenn; Waters, Garey; Yager, Katherine
Copyright Holder: Tanaka, Janice

Clip Description
"The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle" is divided into several distinct sections, the contents of which are described as follow:
Act 1: The Gloria: Nature scenes accompanied by opera punctuated by flashes of city scenes, followed by shots of city landscapes; Interlude 1: Computer graphic shots of sexless bodies; Act 2: Pursuit for Plastic: Children play among ruins, accompanied by a score of children singing; two boys push and shove before one of the boys runs off into a field; Interlude 2: Computer graphics of sexless bodies; Act 3: Greetings and Salutations: Woman and man run slow motion across a field, then the man and woman are followed by other people; interrupted by flashes of war scenes; groups meet and mill around before running off again; Interlude 3: echoes Interlude 1; Act 4: He Who Dies with the Most Toys Wins: Interior shots of a rich man's house, accompanied by opera; man shown sitting at desk; Interlude 4: echoes Interlude 2; Act 5: Hope Extraordinaire: Children play at ruins; adults gaze into distance as camera pans their faces; old footage of woman giving birth; nature scenes; shot of a child at ruins; all accompanied by opera.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features "The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: A Video Opera" by Janice Tanaka and "Digital Speech " by Peter Rose.

"The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: A Video Opera" is a five-act video work incorporating video pieces accompanied by opera, and computer-graphic interludes accompanied by electronic music. Copyright: Janice Tanaka

"Digital Speech" is a a video piece in which the artist illustrates the pitfalls of language by telling a true story of a trip in Turkey. Copyright: Peter Rose.

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/Heisenberg84.HTML