Series: Frames of Reference
Program: Artist in the Seventies, An: Peter Campus
Date: 1976-01-01
Subject: Video art
People: Campus, Peter; Erdman, John
Copyright Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation and Peter Campus

Clip Description
In "Third Tape" John Erdman wraps a fishing line around his face, causing his features to appear broken up and distorted. By stacking small mirrors on top of one another, his reflection is pieced together and deconstructed. Erdman's face emerges from a pool of water and disappears again. Produced by Fred Barzyk, the piece is approximately five minutes long.

Program Description
" Artist in the Seventies" is a documentary-style compilation of works by video artist Peter Campus. In addition to the four short works presented, the program features interviews with Fred Barzyk and Olivia Tappan of WGBH, Barbara London of the Museum of Modern Art, Joyce Nero of the John Weber Gallery, and the critics and funders Russell Connor and Brian O'Doherty. These individuals analyze and discuss the importance of Campus' work and the emergence of video art as a new field, emphasizing the ways that art-making practices of the 1970's differ from those of the previous decade. The works themselves feature portraits, mostly self-portraits, which play with camera techniques and props to create the illusion that figures are disappearing and emerging. The works included are "hree Transitions," "Four Sided Tape," "East Ended Tape," and "Third Tape."

In "Three Transitions" Peter Campus uses video techniques to create illusions, wherein his image is erased and sometimes reconstructed.
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In "Four sided Tape," Peter Campus uses video techniques to explore the idea of multiplicity.

In "East Ended Tape" Peter Campus and Susan Dowling are the subjects of a series of video portraits centering on their faces.

In "Third Tape"John Erdman wraps a fishing line around his face, causing his features to appear broken up and distorted.

"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.

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/Third352.HTML