Tony Conrad

1 2 3 4: A Position Statement on Upstate Media Development Bibliography

Position paper to the New York State Council on the Arts arguing that Upstate New York’s media arts environment differs from New York City and requires targeted State support; it links regional isolation, access to camcorders and editing equipment, and public access cable with cultural heterogeneity and development. The paper proposes a dedicated NYSCA Upstate Media funding category with initiatives including entry-level publications, equipment redistribution, artists’ residencies, small-scale public access TV, organizational development, video rental libraries, micro-grants ($200–500), and encouragement of entry-level videomaking. It also recommends a one-person NYSCA satellite office in Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, or Syracuse and expanded Media Bureau travel guidelines to support intra-State conferences and visiting-artist programs.

Lessons for Localism from the Censorship Wars Bibliography

Essay argues that corporate domination of cultural forms accelerated in the 1980s and that this shift produced political conflicts over censorship and funding; it links the US withdrawal from UNESCO in 1984 and Jesse Helms's censorship campaign to a corporate project to privatize information and undermine the public sector. The author cites Herbert Schiller and Colleen Roach on telecommunications, privatization and transnational corporate interests; describes how postmodernity and multiculturalism fractured a four-way arts coalition and exposed arts organizations to financial warfare. The piece urges artists and regional/local movements to oppose transnational corporate consumerist hegemony while using corporate information networks; it predicts that video and data networking will transform the geographic basis of localism.

NYMDI Videotape Restoration Program Preservation

The New York Media Decentralization Institute initiated a twofold videotape restoration program comprising sponsorship of research with reprint distribution and development of a method to restore old 3/4" videocassettes. In 1987 Tony Conrad devised a rejuvenation procedure that recovered several 1/2" reel-to-reel artists' tapes; his notes were published by The Independent and in 1989 his procedure will be included in Rick Prelinger's archival guide in NYC. The Institute is a not-for-profit research association promoting understanding of the media arts and industry; it publishes reports and does not grant degrees.

Open Reel Videotape Restoration Preservation

Tony Conrad documents restoration of a 1/2" Sony videotape (presumed 1973) that produced no image on a Sony AV-8650; deposits of backing material and magnetic oxide coating clogged the head drum, guides and skew post. Using a rig elevating the take-up reel with a 45-rpm record and empty audiotape reel, silicone-soaked wipes and repeated head and guide cleaning, the tape ran for 10–15 minute segments, sufficient to re-record a master comparable to 1977 playback though a short section was abraded. Published The Independent October 1987; earlier version Hallwalls March 1987.

The Upstate Issue Primer: Buffalo, the Media Alliance and the Emergence of a Surprising New Decentralized Media Discourse Bibliography