Tony Conrad

Related records

• 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.

• Tony Conrad People

  Tony Conrad (b. 1940) is a video, film and music composer and performer who has taught video production and analysis in the Department of Media Study at the University of Buffalo since the 1970s (formally since 1976) and previously held a teaching position at Antioch College in the 1970s. His work includes the film The Flicker and numerous video installations and performances exhibited at venues including Hallwalls, MoMA (NYC), Centre Beaubourg (Paris) and Documenta IX (1992, Kassel), and he had a 1991 video retrospective at the Kitchen. He has produced over 250 public-access programs in Buffalo, issued recordings including Early Minimalism Volume 1 and Slapping Pythagoras, toured internationally in 1997–98, and received support from NEA, NYSCA, SUNY, The Rockefeller Foundation and NYFA.

• Video Preservation: A Report from the Trenches Preservation

  A Video Data Bank author reports on videotape preservation practice and supervised preservation of the Castelli-Sonnabend collection and the compilation of 65 titles for Surveying the First Decade; core procedures described include transfers among formats (1/2" open reel, 1" IVC, 3/4" U-matic, digital), cleaning, reference copies, two masters, cataloging and storage. He details technical problems (drop-out, skew, deck differences, TBC use) and aesthetic/legal dilemmas about edits and distribution; institutional activity by BAVC, Media Alliance and MoMA and funders such as the Andy Warhol Foundation and Getty Grant Program are noted. Events cited include Playback 1996 (SFMOMA, March 29–30) and Library of Congress hearings in March 1996 in New York, Washington, DC and Los Angeles; texts by Deirdre Boyle, Jim Hubbard and Jim Lindner are referenced.

• 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.

• Background and History Preservation

  Experimental Television Center produced this guide and organized the Video History Project, documenting early video art and community television in upstate New York (1968–1980) through oral histories, a website and the Video History: Making Connections conference (Syracuse University, October 1998). The text cites Media Alliance and publications such as Deirdre Boyle's Video Preservation and the Magnetic Media Preservation Sourcebook, and notes IMAP's 1999 formation with New York State Council on the Arts and Rockefeller Foundation support. It outlines archivist functions, videotape deterioration modes and chronology of preservation activities through 2002.

• Cleaning, Remastering and Restoration Preservation

  Survey of videotape cleaning, re-mastering and restoration practices; early experimenters named include Bob Harris (Anthology Film Archives), Tony Conrad (Media Study/Buffalo), Ralph Hocking (Experimental Television Center), videomaker David Schulman and staff at Electronic Arts Intermix. Methods discussed include scraping, wiping, vacuuming and baking for open-reel tape and RTI machines for cassettes; preservation-format considerations include transfer to uncompressed digital (D-2) or analog (Betacam SP) and creating two preservation masters stored in separate locations. Non-profit and commercial service providers are listed (BAVC, Vtape, VidiPax, Roland House and others); the text advises checking vendor inspection procedures, references and preserving hardware, manuals and engineer contacts.