Aldo Tambellini was born in Syracuse, New York in 1930 and was taken to Italy at the age of eighteen months where he lived in Lucca (Tuscany), Italy. At the age of ten he was enrolled in the Scuola D'Arte, Augusto Passaglia and studied there until he was sixteen. His neighborhood was bombed during World War II (21 of his friends and neighbors died). In 1946, Aldo returned to the United States. For his artistic talents, he received a full scholarship to study Art at the University of Syracuse where he earned his B.F.A. in Painting in 1954. Subsequently, Aldo was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the University of Notre Dame studying under World—renowned artist, Ivan Mastrovic graduating with a Master Degree in Sculpture in 1959. Aldo moved to New York City at the end of 1959. He was the founder of the artistic group called "Group Center", an active counter-culture movement organizing group exhibitions, anti-Vietnam demonstrations, multi-media events and collaborative performances. While interacting with other artists, Aldo continued to exhibit as a painter and a sculptor. He founded the Gate Theatre the only daily public theatre showing avant-garde independent filmmakers in New York City. He, also, co-founded with Otto Piene the Black Gate, a second theatre, which held live multi-media performances and installations. In the late '60s he was a pioneer of the movement of alternative video (non-broadcast TV). Aldo won the International Grand Prix, Oberhausen Film Festival, 1969 for his "Black TV" now in a collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where he held a One-Man Film Show. Recognition for his avant-garde work led Aldo to be in the First Video as Art Form Exhibition at Brandeis University Museum, Massachusetts and the First Video Art Gallery Show at Howard Wise Gallery, New York City. With Otto Piene, Aldo Tambellini created the first ever National Television Broadcast by Artists in 1968 in Cologne, Germany and participated in the First Broadcast by Video Artists on WBGH, Boston. For his media work, he was awarded several grants from the New York State Council of the Arts. >From 1976-84, Aldo was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, he worked with Arts, Media and Communication conducting courses, workshops and participated in events in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. He organized a group called "Communicationsphere". His Media and Communication work was exhibited at the Bienale '83, Sao Paolo, Brazil and at the Sogetzu, Japan. Aldo Tambellini biography Aldo Tambellini, Filmmaker, video and Tele-communications artist Born: Syracuse, New York, 1930 Education: Art Institute, Lucca, Italy, 1941-46 Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, B.F.A., 1950-54 Graduate School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1955-56 Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana, M.F.A., 1957-59 Appointments: Director, Pilot Program in Video, Harlem, New York, 1970-72 Visiting Artist, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1976 Director, Media-Environmental Workshop, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1977 Fellow, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976- Awards and Honors: New York State Council on the Arts, 1969 International Grand Prix, Oberhausen Film Festival, 1969 Experimental TV Lab, NET, New York State Council on the Arts, 1973 One-Man Exhibitions: (partial list) Museum Wallraf-Richartz, Cologne, 1968 "Cineprobe," Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, 1971 "From Film to Video," Anthology Film Archives, New York, New York, 1975 The Media Study Center, Buffalo, New York, 1976 Centerscreen Visiting Artist Series, Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1977 "Two-Way Live," Boston Film and Video Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts, 1979 "Photography and Video Work," The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1980 Group Exhibitions: (partial list) "Television as a Creative Medium," Howard Wise Gallery, New York, New York, 1969 "Black Gate Duesseldorf" (with Otto Piene, Duesseldorf, 1969 "A Special Video Show," Whitney Museum, New York, New York, 1971 "15 American Video Artists," Centre Culturel Americain, Paris, 1973 "Projekt '74," Koelnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 1974 ARTTRANSITION, C.A.V.S./M.I.T., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1975 "Centerbeam," C.A.V.S./M.I.T., documenta 6, Kassel, 1977 "Centerbeam" D.C., C.A.V.S./M.I.T., Washington, D.C., 1978 "Aesthetics and Technology," The Institute of Design, Offenbach am Main, 1978 International Biennial Exhibition of Graphic and Visual Art (C.A.V.S. documentation room), Vienna, 1979 Events/Major Works: Founded first electromedia theater in New York, New York, 1967 First videotape shown on ABC-TV News, 1967 "Black Gate Cologne" (with Otto Piene), WDR-TV, Germany, first national television broadcast by artists, 1968 "The Medium is the Medium," (a.o., with Kaprow, Paik, Piene), WGBH/PBL/NET, 1968. First picturephone two-way live event by artists, Illinois Bell Telephone, Chicago, Illinois, with Sonia Sheridan, 1977 "Artists Use of Telecommunications, int'l event, slow scan, computer conference link, C.A,V.S./M.I.T., 1980 Films: (partial list) "Black Is" 1965 "Black Trip" 1965 "Blackout" 1965 "Black Plus X" 1966 "Black Trip 2" 1977 "Moonblack" 1969 Videotapes and Installations: (partial list) "Black Video" 1967 "Black Video II" 1967 "Black Video 2" 1968 "Black TV" 1968 "Minus 1" 1969 "Black Spiral," installation, 1969 "Black" for "The Medium is the Medium," WGBH-TV, 1969 "Day Before the Moonlanding" 1969 "Aldo Tambellini: TV Media Pioneer," WNYE-TV, New York; 1971 Documentary of Italian-Americans (work in progress) 1970- Series documenting Intermedia Performance - Automation House, New York, New York, 1971-72 "Atlantic in Brooklyn" 1971-72 "6673" 1973 "Clone" 1976 "Illinois Bell Picturephone System Event" 1977 "Sonesta Beach" 1979 "TV to TV" 1979 "March 27, 1980" 1980 "Artists' Use of Telecommunications" 1980 Aldo Tambellini: Telecommunication Events, System Design - 1977, 1979-1980 Illinois Bell Picturephone System Aldo Tambellini with Sonia L. Sheridan and participants from the School of the Art Insitute of Chicago - June 8, 1977 The Illinois Bell Telephone Company made two picturephone system locations available in Chicago for this event. Participants were members of a workshop on environmental media at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. Pacific Rim: Slow Scan, Vancouver Art Gallery - May, 1979 Aldo Tambellini and Antonio Muntadas, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T., organized by Bill Bartlett, coordinator, Direct Media Association, Bender Island, British Columbia A visual communication link between members of the PEASESAT users group in the Pacific - using the ATS-1 satellite (NASA). Participation in slow scan link connecting ATS-1 stations in Rarotanga (Cook Islands), Santa Cruz (California), Wellington (New Zealand) and Vancouver via the terminal at Simon Eraser University Communication Studies Department utilizing a telephone link. Two-Way Live Aldo Tambellini - Boston Film/ Video Foundation - May 19, 1979 Two-Way Live used a closed circuit television system - allowing audience participation - and consisting of video monitors two cameras, microphones and audio amplifier. Video and audio were exchanged between the two different locations - indoors and outdoors. Participants engaged in various forms of interpersonal communication. TV to TV The Communicationsphere group, Aldo Tambellini, coordinator, in cooperation with the Center for Advanced Visual Studies and Educational Video Resources, M.I.T. - December 14, 1979 M.I.T. has a bidirectional 300MHZ Bandwidth cable system, which distributes television campus-wide. When video and audio are assigned to a frequency between 0-108 MHZ and modulated on the cable it travels to the control center or hub of the system. A camera, microphone and audio amplifier at each location was coupled with modulators in this 0-108 MHZ range and the signals traveled to the control center where the frequencies were converted to the 175-300 MHZ range which travel from the hub to everyone connected to the cable. This enabled both locations to see and hear each other. -Skip Tenczar, M.I.T. Cable SSTV - Cable and the Arts -M.I.T./Atlanta College of Art The Communicationsphere group in cooperation with the Center for Advanced Visual Studies and Educational Video Resources - August 17, 1980 Center for Advanced Visual Studies - Kunstverein Hamburg The Communicationsphere group in collaboration with artist Bernd Kracke as part of Kracke's installation "Translocation - Ornament der Masse" - October 19, 1980. The German part was executed by the group AG horizont and Steffen Wernery. Artists' Use of Telecommunications The Communicationsphere group in cooperation with the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Educational Video Resources and the Architecture Machine Group, M.I.T., - February 16, 1980 Artists' Use of Telecommunications utilized a live international audio and video link. Communication was via standard telephone lines. Each location had two separate lines - one coupled to a computer terminal - the other to a slow scan transceiver (Robot 530). All computer terminal lines were connected to the I.P. Sharp Electronic Mail Service central computer in Toronto, Canada, which accommodated communication between all locations. The slow scan lines were linked to the Kellogg Conferencing Center in Denver, Colorado. Denver transmitted images to all locations. When one location sent slow scan images, all other locations received them. -Skip Tenczar, M.I.T, Cable, Aldo Tambellini Bartlett/Klinkowstein/Tambellini - Three Artists on Line in Three Countries The Communicationsphere group in cooperation with the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Educational Video Resources and the Architecture Machine Group - June 9, 1980 Each of the three locations used a Robot 530 slow scan transceiver coupled to a standard telephone line. The telephone service in Amsterdam, Holland provided the three-way conference link which enabled one location to talk or send slow scan, while the other two received. Aldo Tambellini The Age of Communicationsphere Ö the electromagnetic spectrum is to be considered a "natural" resource for creative activity Ö new imaging systems are being invented new storage capabilities are being invented new delivery capabilities are being invented reality is being reinvented Ö the age of Communicationsphere brings art into a new parameter the age of Communicationsphere dissolves the line between life and art potentially the globe and solar system become a huge artifact and a big thought Communicationsphere creates a new electronic organism Ö Communicationsphere is the new environment its invisible processes take place through waves in the sky satellites - antennae and cables form a reality - affecting all social and human interaction as we have previously known it to be Ö the telecommunication media experience replaces and mediates the natural experience. September 1980, M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass.