[-empyre-] media history and more

[Renate Ferro]

Thank you Joanna for posting these curatorial notes. 

These are curiosity questions: Can you tell us a bit more about when you first met Barbara?  How has her work affected your own artistic production?  How did you come to curate her work and how has the reception of that work changed over time?   

You mention Barbara’s program hosted at Hallwalls in 2004.  I am wondering if many of our subscribers may not be familiar with Hallwalls in Buffalo or for that matter the important history that upstate New York played in early media development and history.

The Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center’s mission was and continues to be that of serving a thriving arts community whose reach is much broader globally than upstate New York.  The center is dedicated to presenting visual and performing art by work which “challenges and extends the traditional boundaries of various forms.”  The mission is quite expansive but for me as a young artist it ended up being a seminal institution.  I saw Carrie Mae Weem’s first exhibition there where she produced and sold corresponding 45 rpm records.  On one memorable afternoon perhaps a bit later film curator Richard Herskowitz and art curator Jill Hartz invited Tim Murray and I for a day long screening of video art at the center.  It was my first introduction to video art produced mostly by women video makers.  Barbara’s work was probably one of them!

Today, Hallwalls continues to be a thriving center in Buffalo along with Squeeky Wheel.  Other upstate New York Institutions including the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, the Everson Museum in Syracuse, and the Electronic Television Center in Owego were all important vehicles for the production and dissemination of early video and film/video theory.    

Many of you may be interested to visit this site which archives many of Barbara Hammer’s early super 8’s and videos as early as 1968 a few produced at ETC, Electronic Television Center.  
https://kow-berlin.com/artists/barbara-hammer

Joanne wrote, 
 “This deep impression of intergenerational practice and expansive time is
where I’d like to begin our discussion this week. Ours is the future that Barbara also worked hard for, and it’s up to us to meet her challenge in our own various practices.”

I am so moved by Barbara Hammer’s generosity in sharing her ideas and her projects with others.  One of Barbara’s recent collaborators, Lynne Sachs, will be our guest on –empyre- during week 3.  I invite all who have stories, memories, collaborations, or inspirations with Barbara to post this month and join our discussion. 

Over the next few days and weeks we will also remember Grace Quintanilla, Carolee Schneemann, and Agnes Varda this month in solidarity with their work that we celebrate on –empyre- 

To see the archive thus far visit: 
http://lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2019-April/date.html

To join in subscribe here: 
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/join.php

More tomorrow. 
Renate