Critical Writing Index

Manhattan short cuts: Robert Wilson/Video 50, at the Kitchen, New York, December 1982; Ishmael Reed/Personal Problems, at the Kitchen, November 1982; Image Process I/Mimi Marton, Matt Schlanger, Connie Coleman and Alan Powell, Merrill Aldighieri and Joe Tripician, Central Control, Sarah Hornbacher, Julie Harrison, Maureen Nappi and Mark Lindquist, at the Kitchen, December 1982

by Ann-Sargent Wooster

Afterimage, Feb. 1983, v. 10, no. 7, pp. 15-16

Review of three screenings at the Kitchen. Theatre artist Robert Wilson's second experiment with broadcast television, Video 50, consists of multilingual playlets that explore the gap between reality and photographs in esoteric bursts. Ishmael Reed's uniformly black soap opera falls somewhere between video art and broadcast television, but fails to create a convincing picture of black life because of its flat characters. The fourth annual collection of image-processed art at the Kitchen predictably continued to emphasise colour, but favoured hard geometric shapes over the softer forms of other years. Memory, loss, female beauty and the body as well as pop culture pastiche are themes within the collection.

ITEM 1983.078 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

SpacemanRobert Wilson

Video 50Robert Wilson

Deafman's GlanceRobert Wilson

StationsRobert Wilson

Personal ProblemsIshmael Reed

Personal ProblemsBill Gunn

The SubwayMark Lindquist

Pappa Tape IMimi Marton

Apsu and TiamintMatt Schlanger

SkankHenry Linhart

SkankJosh Freed

SkankThe Lubies

Saturday NightConnie Coleman

Saturday NightAlan Powell

Skin Deep From Outer SpaceMerrill Aldighieri

Skin Deep From Outer SpaceJoe Tripician

Out of DreamCentral Control

I/O Disorders MeaningSarah Hornbacher