Mixed Messages

Hello group, below is the curatorial statement for my project. Your comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Mixed Messages – Reimagining Television 1969-1990

Mixed Messages is a historical overview of artist videos made specifically for broadcast television or works which consciously reflect the context and structure of televisual culture. With the increasing use of video technology in contemporary art in the 1960s, many artists were eager to embrace the notion of art that could be seen on television. Television, as the dominant medium of the era, was seen as a potential—and potentially subversive—tool for expanding the reach of contemporary art to unsuspecting viewers. Despite television’s image as the corporate-controlled, out-of-touch parent to the nascent rule-breaking video art generation, a considerable amount of innovative and challenging work was created for television—this, during the very time when the medium was reaching its widest audience. Collecting a wide range of works created for television, as well as works that comment on the medium and/or recreate the experience of watching TV, Mixed Messages situates all of the above within the familiar broadcast format. Television commercials, music videos and episodic short form videos are all presented as an idealized alternative to commercial television.

Includes works by:
Peter Greenaway
Chip Lord
Bill Viola
Nam June Paik
Alan Kaprow
Ilene Segalove
Chris Burden
Tom Sherman
Robert Longo
Aldo Tambellini
Robert Breer
Connie Coleman & Alan Powell
MICA TV w/ Dike Blair & Dan Graham
Dara Birnbaum
Joan Jonas
Charles Atlas
Joseph Beuys
Tony Oursler
William Wegman