31 March 2006

REWIND | Artists’ Video in the 70’s & 80’s

THE FORMATIVE YEARS Installation, Tapes, Performance, Searchable Database, Micro Cinema, Interviews

Visual Research Centre, DCA
Public launch: Friday 7th April 2006, 6 - 9pm
Exhibition: Saturday 8th April - Sunday 7th May 2006

A major international research project to protect and preserve some of the most important video art of the 1970s and 1980s will be marked with a major exhibition in Dundee this month.

The 70s and 80s saw an explosion of creativity in video art as artists for the first time had affordable access to video equipment. During this time the UK was a pioneering centre of vibrant, though disparate, independent film and video activity.

The first wave of video art in the 1970s derived from two important drivers: the independent film scene in New York and London, and a move into alternative media and contexts by British artists. A second wave in the 80s brought new interests while the focus moved away from the gallery and workshops into more mainstream areas influenced by popular culture and the emergence of Channel 4.

This work was among the most exciting art of its time, but sadly much of it has not been properly preserved or archived, as a result of which little of it has been exhibited or seen in any context over the intervening decades.

The REWIND project - based at the Visual Research Centre at the University of Dundee - addresses this gap in historical knowledge of the evolution of electronic media arts in the UK, by investigating specifically the first two decades of artists’ works in video.

Funded by a grant of £450,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the REWIND project has already been running for two years, tracing and interviewing many of the artists involved, gathering pieces of their work, and digitising and archiving much of it.

April 7th sees the public launch of REWIND, with an exhibition at the Visual Research Centre and a series of events, performances and restaged installations. Internationally renowned writer and theorist Sean Cubitt will give a public lecture, and there will also be performances and installations not seen for 30 years.

Artists who will have work shown in the exhibition include Kevin Atherton, Tina Keane and Tony Sinden.

The REWIND project is led by Professor Stephen Partridge, Associate Dean of Research and Enterprise at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, a Faculty of the University of Dundee.

"There is a distinct lack of writing and scholarly activity about artists’ video," said Professor Partridge.

"Artists’ experimental video work was often installation-oriented or included performance and the audience as part of the event. Without consistent archiving and further historical reviews, there is a danger that much of this innovative work will be lost."

"The REWIND project runs for another two years and many more artists, their works and interviews will be added, so this launch event is both a preview and a milestone."

One of the features of the exhibition will be a the "Micro Cinema", a new permanent fixture at the Visual Research Centre which will allow intimate viewing of the works involved in the exhibition.

The VRC is open to the public Wednesday to Friday 10.30am - 5.30pm plus Saturday and Sunday 12.30pm - 5.30pm during exhibitions.

To arrange interviews, previews and for any other information please contact Vicky Hale, Project Co-ordinator at the VRC for more information: 01382 388064 / v.hale@dundee.ac.uk or visit: www.vrc.dundee.ac.uk/Visual_Research_Centre/whats_on/2006/REWIND.html or www.rewind.ac.uk

For more information contact:

Roddy Isles
Head of Press
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk