{"id":4766,"title":"Early Video History at Visual Studies Workshop","kind":"biblio","url":"https://www.videohistoryproject.org/early-video-history-visual-studies-workshop","version":"f15b7bd8b12a921609218d14828b3a2c7ed587942077bb7cca074867b65a5ebf","modified":"2026-09-13T21:52:08.1987426+00:00","credits":[{"role":"Author","name":"Cynthia Young"}],"authorKeys":["Young, Cynthia"],"subjects":["Groups"],"metadata":[{"label":"ETC archive","value":"ETC1065","url":null},{"label":"Group dates","value":"1973 - present","url":null},{"label":"Group location","value":"Rochester, New York","url":null},{"label":"Group","value":"Visual Studies Workshop - Media Center","url":null}],"citations":{"page":"\u0022Early Video History at Visual Studies Workshop.\u0022 Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2026. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/early-video-history-visual-studies-workshop.","publication":"Cynthia Young. Early Video History at Visual Studies Workshop. 1999.","risUrl":"https://www.videohistoryproject.org/citation/4766.ris"},"links":[{"label":"Scanned document","url":"https://archive.org/details/ETC1065","relationship":"linked document; contents not retrieved","contentType":"application/pdf"},{"label":"Early Video History at Visual Studies Workshop","url":"#Early Video History","relationship":"record body link","contentType":null},{"label":"Visual Studies Workshop","url":"https://www.vsw.org","relationship":"record body link","contentType":null}],"sections":[{"name":"body","source":"VHP record body","generated":false,"characters":26021},{"name":"summary","source":"existing VHP generated summary","generated":true,"characters":730}],"content":{"section":"body","source":"VHP record body","generated":false,"text":"Early Video History at Visual Studies Workshop Cynthia Young 1999 To visit the Visual Studies Workshop website Early Video History at Visual Studies Workshop Cynthia Young 1999 Director Nathan Lyons. In 1973 the media center was established, with production facility, workshops and exhibition. Media Center coordinators included: Wayne Luke, Laddy Kite, Arthur Tsuchiya, Nancy Norwood, Mona Jimenez, Robert Doyle, James Lohrey. Afterimage begins publication in 1973 and offered coverage of video. Publication by VSW of Spaghetti City Video Manual, in exchange for staff training in video by the Freex, the first outside book published by the VSW Press. General Description Serious video activity at the Visual Studies Workshop started in the early part of 1974. The first student to graduate with a concentration in video was Larry Gale in 1973, whose project investigated the use of video with young people in schools, library programs, in video groups, in workshops and related situations, through three pilot programs. The first workshop in video was conducted by John Randolph Carter, a video artist with a strong background in graphics. Carter taught three separate workshops utilizing his own equipment. Although fundamental technological considerations were presented, Carter explained that \u0022the main thrust was toward the use of closed circuit television to facilitate creative interaction and improvisation. There was no attempt to duplicate commercial television procedures, and all participants were encouraged to collaborate and initiate activities as part of an ensemble.\u0022 Also in place at this time, and continued throughout the 70s and early 80s, were free weekly film screenings at VSW, either outside in the parking lot of the building, or inside as the weather became colder. The programming was begun by Scott Hammen (a VSW student) in 1973 and was then continued by other VSW students. The films came from those available at the Rochester Public Library or rented from MoMA and other rental facilities. The selection of different traditions of experimental and documentary films clearly reflected a sophisticated community that was interested in the history of moving images. In the spring of 1974, the Visual Studies Workshop, with the assistance of a 1973-74 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, purchased its first package of video equipment. This initial equipment was very much \u0022studio\u0022 oriented, with its primary utilization being toward in-house productions. During the Summer Workshop program of that year, the Videofreex, an independent video group, conducted a video workshop utilizing the new equipment in exchange for printing the handbook of the medium called The Spaghetti City Video Manual. It was the first outside book published by the VSW Press. The workshop was designed to explore video as a creative visual and audio medium. At the time, the Videofreex also had an exhibition of video work in the VSW Gallery. The Videofreex conducted another workshop in the summer of 1975. In the beginning of the \u002774-\u002775 academic year, 25 students took part in a series of two-week, basic instructional workshops using the newly acquired equipment. During these two-week workshops, students gained a working familiarity with the video tape hardware, and were able to set up and operate a closed circuit system involving three cameras, switcher, keyer, monitors and the accompanying audio systems. These students also were given an introduction to the process of electronic editing. The syllabus for the two-week workshop stated: \u0022With the acquisition of these basic skills, the student will be better able to utilize the medium to further his personal creative explorations and involvements with his own projects and surroundings.\u0022 At the end of the initial two-week workshops, longer more intense workshops were conducted on an on-going basis. A nucleus of interested students participated through all of these, and were responsible for most of the subsequent video projects and activities. [The following is a brief explanation of various video projects and activities that were undertaken during the \u002774-\u002775 academic year. This extensive report was probably compiled by Laddy Kite, Media Center Coordinator 1974-78, in preparation for a NYSCA grant proposal, and although some of the facts have been updated, many of the statements reflect the situation in the mid 1975.] The first major event that utilized the Workshop\u0027s equipment outside of the Workshop, occurred at the Strasenburgh Planetarium in Rochester on September 20 and 21, 1974. The event, called Polyfusion, was a multi-media performance involving audio and video hardware, technicians, musicians, instruments and performers from several of the northeast states, with music by the Central Maine Power Company and video by Survival Media Arts and Bill Etra on the Rutt/Etra video synthesizer. Additional help was made by Portable Channel, Z.B.S. Media, General Electric, WXXI Channel 21 and Visual Studies Workshop. It took three days to assemble, set-up and test the whole system on the Planetarium dome. There were three evenings of public performances. The Visual Studies Workshop supplied video equipment and support personnel. In addition, post-production work on a booklet evolving from the Polyfusion event was done at the Workshop. This included all aspects of VSW: videotape editing facilities, darkroom facilities, super 8mm film equipment and printshop facilities. After the Polyfusion event, the Workshop provided equipment and/or technical assistance to other Rochester area organizations, including Portable Channel, for the production of their \u0022Homemade T.V.\u0022 series (aired on WXXI Channel 21) and for a video workshop involving Walter Wright (video artist in residence at the Experimental Television Center in Binghamton), and the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, for an on-going exhibition of video tapes, and once for a presentation by Canadian video artist Colin Campbell. This arrangement was a two-way street in that the Workshop borrowed equipment from both of these organizations on several occasions. On a few occasions, the Workshop made its video equipment and people available for projects involving people outside the Workshop. This has so far proved beneficial for all parties concerned. The outside people have use of a \u0022production facility\u0022 for the cost of blank tape, and workshop students get experience on real productions for a specific purpose. The first of these involved assistance on the production of a tape segment for video artist Sandy Rockowitz. Another, involved the production of a tape for interpretive dancer Lois Fulton. This tape was later used in conjunction with an application for a C.A.P.S. grant. A promotional tape for a circus/vaudeville group called \u0022Flash in the Pan\u0022 was also produced during this period. Just about mid 1974, the Workshop was able to make an additional equipment purchase, again with the assistance of the New York State Council on the Arts. This additional equipment greatly increased production capabilities both for video and audio. Along with video projects for other people and organizations, a nucleus of students produced several tapes involving projects of their own. These tapes cover a wide range of video work from pure documentary to abstract, synthesized imagery. A great deal of time has been spent just exploring the parameters of the equipment as well as the medium itself. However, all of the tapes, explorations and activity have utilized the medium to further expand the individual student\u0027s means of self expression and creativity. Another application of the Workshop\u0027s video system, was recording the presentations and lectures of visiting artists and speakers. Artists of all media were visiting the workshop on a regular basis and giving lectures and showing their work through the Visiting Artist Program. (Detailed list follows.) Often these presentations were audio and/or video tape recorded. The presence of Afterimage was another critical element in the media activity at VSW. Afterimage began in 1972 and in October 1974 the first article on video was published. Since then Afterimage has been committed to coverage of the media arts in conference and festival reports and exhibition reviews as well as interviews with important makers and critics, many of whom gave presentations at VSW. Aside from the actual production of tapes, the Workshop was represented at a number of video conferences or activities. Early in 1974, representatives were sent to the major video conference at the Everson Museum in Syracuse. Since that time, Workshop students have attended conferences across the United States. Several students traveled to Synapse in Syracuse to view the entries submitted for the C.A.P.S. grants in video. Other \u0022field trips\u0022 include excursions to General Idea and Art Metropol in Toronto to view examples of Canadian video art. Many Workshop students have also gone through WXXI Channel 21, the P.B.S. broadcast facility in Rochester. Students also participated in technical and synthesizer workshops given by Portable Channel. One Workshop student was asked to sit on a panel during a conference designed to acquaint local civic groups of video activity in the Rochester area. A workshop student always sat on the project review committee at Portable Channel. One of the on-going projects at the Visual Studies Workshop, involves the exploration of possible uses of video graphics. To this end, video imagery has been translated into various other media, and used for cover graphics for Afterimage, membership leaflets, gallery posters, etc. Several issues of Afterimage used video imagery in various ways. Four students had video imagery exhibited at Rochester Memorial Art Gallery in the form of still photographs. Extensive use of video graphics was made in the production of the Polyfusion booklet. Additional uses of the video system involve the documentation of various workshop activities. For example the opening of the Workshop Gallery and Print Sales Office was recorded on video tape. Several students constructed a video installation/exhibition involving various aspects of the medium, perception and communication in general. The construction of the installation was recorded on video tape as well as the various video elements of the construction itself. A visiting artist program in video was established in 1974-75. The Visual Studies Workshop received a grant of $7000 from the New York State Council on the Arts to bring five video artists or groups to the Workshop for a period of from one to two weeks each. They included Nam June Paik, Louise Etra, Bill Viola, Ernest Gusella, Peter Crown, David Cort and Davidson Gigliotti. In conjunction with the visiting artist program, the Workshop worked with WXXI Channel 21 to produce tapes by video artists that were part of a special four-hour live broadcast aired in late May, 1975. A post-production brochure was also published at the Workshop which documented the event. In addition to the other activities in the media center, students explored the medium of slide/tape, a slide presentation with the addition of a synchronized, programmed audio tape. There were several image makers using this medium that gave presentations at the Workshop. Among them are David Heath, Photography Instructor at Ryerson Institute of Technology, Toronto; Dana Atchley, originator and perpetrator of Ace Space; and Tom Porrett, Assistant professor at the Philadelphia College of Art. Tom Porrett also conducted a workshop on slide/tape presentations during the summer program. A student produced slide/tape presentation was shown at local high schools and at least one New York State prison in conjunction with a one day workshop for prisoners. 1975-76 Video activities continued to proliferate. Equipment exchanges continued between VSW and several local organizations, including Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and a perform","offset":0,"nextOffset":12000,"totalCharacters":26021,"complete":false},"rightsUrl":"https://www.videohistoryproject.org/terms-service"}