1925-1997. Shirley Clark was a leading figure of the American cinema and a pioneer video artist and practitioner throughout the 1970s. Her works from the early 1960s are major landmarks of the American New Wave movement. During the 1970s Shirley Clarke lived and worked in the CHelsea Hotel, creating video performances, installations and documents with the Video Space Troups, a collaborating group of artists committed to experimental video performance.