CONTACT:
Kate Seekings
Curator
dorkbotsea/People Doing Strange Things With Electricity II
dorkbotsea AT dorkbot (dot) org

OR

John Gascon
President of the Board
CoCA (Center on Contemporary Art)
john AT cocaseattle (dot) org


MEDIA ALERT
February 15th, 2005
Kill date: March 3rd, 2005


SEATTLE ART MUSEUM AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS DORKBOT-SEA, CENTER ON CONTEMPORARY ART (CoCA) PRESENT FILM SCREENING OF RARE 1960's ELECTRIC ARTS FOOTAGE

As part of its People Doing Strange Things With Electricity II exhibition and series of events, dorkbot-sea, the Seattle-based branch of the dorkbot family of grassroots technical arts organizations, has partnered with Seattle Art Museum and CoCA to present a screening of rare film and video footage of 1960's electronic art to be held at Seattle Art Museum on Wednesday, 2nd March at 7.30 pm. Curated and introduced by internationally-recognized media arts consultant, historian and curator Robin Oppenheimer, the event is free of charge. DJ Ez-Action will spin tracks from his extraordinary collection of 1960's exotica, yé-yé and lounge music from 7.00 pm in the SAM Lobby, creating a sonic time-travel experience for attendees prior to the start of the screening.

Robin Oppenheimer will present excerpts from the following films:

Homage to Jean Tinguely's "Homage to New York" (1960) - Filmmaker Robert Breer's expressionist documentary of Swiss motion sculptor Jean Tinguely's auto-destructive sculpture as it is assembled and then self-destructs at The Museum of Modern Art

USCO at the Church (1960s) - USCO members Jud Yalkut and Gerd Stern's documentation of several aspects of the USCO (US Company) collective featuring one of their multimedia installations, including the dismantling of all the equipment by the group including a young Stewart Brand

Variations V (1966) - a documentation of a multi-media work performed with dancers (including Merce Cunningham) with choreography by Merce Cunningham, music by John Cage, TV images by Nam June Paik and film images by Stan Vanderbeek in collaboration with engineers Billy Kluver, Cecil Coker and Witt Wittnebert.

Stan Vanderbeek (1968) - excerpts from two Camera 3 television documentaries about this pioneer in the development of experimental film and live-action animation technique

TV as a Creative Medium (1969-84) - Ira Schneider's recording of the first US exhibition devoted entirely to video as a form of art at the Howard Wise Gallery in NYC in 1969.

This original archive film and video footage shows the first artists to work with technologies that we consider 'modern' today, such as infra-red cameras, contact microphones, television, sensors, video and beyond. With these technologies, and in collaboration with engineers such as Bell Labs's Billy Kluver, we watch as the artists create, exhibit and perform work that is radical in scope and execution even in 2005. This evening represents a unique opportunity for local audiences as the material Robin Oppenheimer has researched and located is very rarely available for viewing by the general public.

Other events in the People Doing Strange Things With Electricity II series include the People Doing Strange Things With Electricity II exhibition at CoCA, featuring the work of 31 local and national contemporary artists working with technology and the People Doing Strange Things With Electricity Too double CD, featuring the work of 25 local, national and international experimental musicians, composers and sound artists. The CD is also available online for free download under a Creative Commons license via Net Label Comfort Stand Recordings.

dorkbot-sea is the Seattle-based spin-off of dorkbot-nyc, a monthly meeting of artists of all stripes, designers, engineers, students and other interested parties who are involved in the creation of electronic art in the broadest sense of the term. The purpose of dorkbot is to give artists and technologists an opportunity for informal peer review, establish a forum for the presentation of new artworks and technologies, help build relationships and foster collaboration between people with various backgrounds and interests, and give us all a chance to see the cool things that our neighbors are working on.

CoCA serves the Pacific Northwest as a catalyst and forum for the advancement, development, and understanding of contemporary art. CoCA provides opportunities for the art audience in this region to view new and experimental artwork firsthand in exhibitions which show the work of international, national and local artists.

Robin Oppenheimer is an internationally-recognized media arts consultant, historian, curator, writer, and educator who has worked in the field since 1980. Clients include the University of Washington, Seattle Public Schools, City of Seattle, Museum of Glass, and Bellevue Art Museum. She is also a former Executive Director of 911 Media Arts Center in Seattle, and IMAGE Film/Video Center in Atlanta, where she directed the Atlanta Film & Video Festival. Robin has written an essay to accompany the screening, which is published in the People Doing Strange Things With Electricity II catalog and available by request from dorkbotsea@dorkbot.org .

Seattle Art Museum: Founded in 1933, the Seattle Art Museum consists of three facilities: Seattle Art Museum downtown, Seattle Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park and the future Olympic Sculpture Park. SAM collects and exhibits objects from across time and across cultures, exploring the dynamic between past and present. SAM's web site is www.seattleartmuseum.org.

Resources:
dorkbotsea: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea
Screening: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea/events-electricarts.shtml
Exhibition: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea/events-pdstwe2.shtml
Double CD: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea/events-pdstwetoo.shtml
CoCA: http://cocaseattle.org
Seattle Art Museum: http://seattleartmuseum.org