Creative Artists Public Service Program (CAPS). Annual Report 1976-77

The Creative Artists Public Service Program (CAPS) serves  both artists and the public by assisting individual artists in the  creation of new works, and by bringing them and their work to the attention of a broader audience.

1976-77

Awards for Video:

Artists’ Bios: 
VITO ACCONCI (NYC) makes video-essays and video-fictions based on the physical, psychological or cultural relationships of on-screen persons to off-screen persons. Excerpted versions of The Red Tapes (1976) have been shown at Anthology Film Archives (1976-NYC), Sonnabend Gallery (1976-NYC), and on WNET (1976-NYC).  Command Performance (1974) was shown at 112 Greene Street Gallery (1974-NYC), Sonnabend Gallery (1974-NYC), and ICA (1975-Chicago).  Theme Song (1973) has received showings at The Museum of Modern Art (1975) and Chicago Institute of Contemporary Art (1975).  He received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1976.  Mr. Acconci is working on a video installation piece tentatively entitled. Meeting of Two Americans.

JUAN DOWNEY (NYC) uses a color portapak to capture the essence of culture-determined behavior. In an effort to promote cultural exchange, he records the daily lives of  Spanish-Americans in terms of conversations, street events, customs and festivals.  Video Trans-Americas has been exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art (1976-NYC), Contemporary Arts Museum (1976-Houston), and Long Beach Museum (1976-California).  Bi-deo has received showings at Anthology Film Archives (1976-NYC),  Richmond College (1976-Staten Island), and Everson Museum (1976-Syracuse).  Mr. Downey received Guggenheim Fellowships in 1971 and 1976, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1975-76), and a prize from the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T, (1975).  Mr. Downey is Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture, Pratt Institute (NYC), and is working on Video Trans-Americas in South America.

GERRIT-JAN FRANK (NYC) uses video for a reference, locating shapes in relation to situations.  His concern is not so much with videotape images, but with spatial situations that result from boundaries set up by the V.T.R.  He has successively done installation pieces in his studio:  Corner Work (1975-76), Up Above (1975-76), and Shot #3 (1976). Mr. Frank has shot documentary educational tapes in northern Europe, received grants from varied sources, and is presently working in his studio on a new educational series.

CHRISTA MAIWALD (NYC) creates videotapes which deal with love/sexual relationships in relation to the energy of creative art processes.  She also explores the relationship of video to film by simultaneous projection of video and film images. Love and Sex Acts 1-5 has been shown at Anthology Film Archives (1976-NYC), Deception at the M.L. D'Arc Gallery, Sarah Lawrence College (1976-Bronxville), and Screwing the Camera at Hallwalls Gallery (1976-Buffalo).  Ms. Maiwald received an award from Change,Inc. (1976), and a Chicago Art Institute Graduate Fellowship (1973).  She works in sculpture, installations, performance, and mixed media, as well as film and video.  Her project, Sexual Manifestations Acts 6-10, is in progress.  She is involved in commercial filming, underwater filming, and soundtrack performances.

BILL MARPET (NYC) works in film and photography using portable videotape to shoot intimate, documentary material that allows the subject and situation to dictate the style.  Five Day Bicycle Race (1976) has received showings on WTTV (1976-Chicago), at Whitney Museum of American Art (1976-NYC), and on Channel 10, Manhattan Cable TV (1976). Vendenge (1975) has been shown at Anthology Film Archives (1976), Woodstock Community Video Festival (1976) and SoHo Artists Day (1976). In 1975 he received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.  He has been working with Merce Cunningham in creating dance for television and on a collaborative documentary about the Twyla Tharp Dance Company for WNET-TV.

RITA MYERS (NYC) creates installations, usually for a specific space, with multiple-channel video, audiotapes and auxiliary props.  Line-Up/With and Against Them was executed and exhibited at the University of Colorado (1976-Boulder) while she was a Visiting Artist there. Once Before You was exhibited at The Kitchen (1976- NYC), and Forward was executed and exhibited at Hallwalls Gallery (1976-Buffalo).  Ms. Myers received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1976.

TOMIYO SASAKI (NYC) works in sculpture, painting, printmaking, film, and photography as well as video.  As a video artist, she presents everyday reality using the portapak for initial shooting.  In editing she takes short segments out of the original context (real time), and repeats them until they form a new configuration. She has recently exhibited at Media Study (1976- Buffalo), Women's Video Festival, Women's Inter-art Center (1976-NYC), Visual Studies Workshop (1975-Rochester), Hallwalls Gallery (1976- Buffalo), and Bard College (1976-Annandale-on-Hudson).  Ms. Sasaki has received Canadian Council Grants (1969-75 and 1976-77).

ANNA MARIA SOARES (CORTLAND) effects reassemblage and addition to the video image by post-production techniques utilizing other media forms.  Recent works are Hostos Community in Revolt (1976), Black Stump (1974), and Invisible Barriers (1973), which was exhibited that year at the Sydney Filmmakers Co-op (Australia).  In 1973, Ms. Scares received a Video Grant from the Australian Council for the Arts.  She is doing research and preparing the script for Miras, a mini-biography of a quasi-religious Hispanic "Mulher de la casa."

BILL VIOLA (WESTBURY) works extensively with electronic and acoustic sound, videotape, closed circuit and cable TV, and various forms of projected images.  His videotape Junkyard Levitation (1976) was shown at The Art Gallery, California State University (1976-Long'Beach) and at Synapse, Syracuse University (1976).  A section from Red Tape (1975) received showings on "VTR Series," WNET-TV (1976-NYC), at San Francisco Museum of Art (1976), and at Everson Museum of Art (1975-Syracuse).  August '74 was shown at Media Study, Inc. (1975-Buffalo), Visual Studies Workshop (1975-Rochester), and La Rotonda de Via Besana (1975-Milan, It.). He is artist-in-residence at the TV Lab of WNET.

Panelists for Video:

Consultant: Carlota Schoolman