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
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
Spaceman – Robert Wilson
Video 50 – Robert Wilson
Deafman's Glance – Robert Wilson
Stations – Robert Wilson
Personal Problems – Ishmael Reed
Personal Problems – Bill Gunn
The Subway – Mark Lindquist
Pappa Tape I – Mimi Marton
Apsu and Tiamint – Matt Schlanger
Skank – Henry Linhart
Skank – Josh Freed
Skank – The Lubies
Saturday Night – Connie Coleman
Saturday Night – Alan Powell
Skin Deep From Outer Space – Merrill Aldighieri
Skin Deep From Outer Space – Joe Tripician
Out of Dream – Central Control
I/O Disorders Meaning – Sarah Hornbacher