Fresh Short Shorts: The Banff Centre

Cross-Cultural Television Wednesday, August 5, 2015 at 9-10PM Broken City Patio - 613 11 Ave SW

INTRODUCTION Cross-Cultural Television is the result of a collaboration between artists Antoni Muntadas and Hank Bull. The work is composed of clips from global news broadcasts. While the title implies that the selection of clips reflects the differences in approach to the medium of television globally, the work reveals a striking resemblance in the format, visual cues, and reportage of TV news. The opening scene depicts close-cut clips of various colour bars that are used to calibrate the TV image. This is closely followed by clips of the opening credits of various newscasts. In contrasting multiple examples of a single visual trope, the artists generate a comparative structure that denaturalizes both the form and content of the clips. As Marcelo Expósito and Gerald Raunig write, “with Muntadas one learns that the form always intrinsically carries a content, and that the ‘content of the form’ is never neutral and in no way objective.”1 The seriousness of this undertaking is executed with deadpan humour, as the seconds-long entry sequence of the daily news becomes a dramatically elongated repetition of near-identical TV news tropes, with similarities in subject matter.

Without the kind of crowdsourcing or sampling made possible through the Internet, Muntadas and Bull were reliant on their personal connections to gather documentation. Upon invitation, the artists mobilized their colleagues worldwide, who collected clips that were subsequently mailed to Muntadas and Bull on VHS tapes. Employing strategies associated with Mail Art, thirty artists from fifteen countries participated.2 The initial dissemination of Cross-Cultural Television was also facilitated by an impressive peer network. The work was commissioned by the Vancouver artist-run centre, Western Front, where Bull was then director. It premiered at The Banff Centre in 1987 on the invitation of Walter Phillips Gallery curator Daina Augaitis, in conjunction with the inaugural screening of Infermental VI, “the first international magazine on videocassette.”3 The work was subsequently screened as a part Infermental IV at a number of institutions globally. 4 Cross-Cultural Television was produced for the sixth edition of Infermental, which was guestedited by Hank Bull and Veruschka Bódy. Between 1981 and 1991, Infermental released eleven issues, when there was a boom in sales of VHS recorders for domestic use,. Each issue was released in a different city, including Berlin, Hamburg, Budapest, Lyon, Rotterdam, Vancouver, Buffalo, Tokyo, Skopje, and Wien, and was guest-edited by a different artist who was paired with a previous editor.5 This editorial strategy reflects a dual intent; to actively build a global network of peers through the extension of personal contacts, and to disseminate the work of local artist networks to other artists around the world. Of this rationale, Bull wrote, “we rely for meaning on direct personal relationships and this at least is something that [Infermental] can provide.”6 __________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Marcelo Expósito and Gerald Raunig, “The Muntadas-method. Existential corporeality in a new aesthetic paradigm,” in Muntadas: Entre/Between, ed. Daina Augaitis (ACTAR and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2011),110.

2 Infermental IV, [publication] (1987), n.p., Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives, The Banff Centre.

3 Infermental IV, [publication] (1987), n.p., Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives, The Banff Centre.

4 Infermental IV, [publication] (1987), n.p., Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives, The Banff Centre.

5 Melissa Gronlund, “Infermental,” frieze 143 (2010), accessed July 28 2015, www.frieze.com/issue/review/ infermental/.

6 Hank Bull, “Infermental IV,” in LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) [newsletter], 2, no. 5 (Nov/Dec. 1987), Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives, The Banff Centre.

SCREENING PROGRAM

Cross-Cultural Television Antoni Muntadas and Hank Bull (1987, 35:00min.)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS: Hank Bull lives and works in Vancouver. He has been associated with the Western Front, an artist-run center, since 1973. Participation in artist telecommunication projects, using slowscan, electronic text and fax, began in the late 1970s. This work took him eventually around the world to research shadow theatre and artist networks. His current practice takes place at the intersection of painting, sculpture, music, performance, video and sound. Â Â Antoni Muntadas was born in Barcelona in 1942 and has lived in New York since 1971. Through his works he addresses social, political and communication issues such as the relationship between public and private space within social frameworks, and investigates channels of information and the ways they may be used to censor or promulgate ideas. His projects are presented in different media such as photography, video, publications, the Internet, installations and urban interventions. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums internationally.

ABOUT BANFF CENTRE The Walter Phillips Gallery, located at The Banff Centre, is exclusively committed to the production, presentation, collection and analysis of contemporary art and curatorial practice. The Gallery maintains an art collection of more than 1400 artworks that can be viewed throughout The Banff Centre. Comprised primarily of works by artists who have participated in its various programs, the Collection documents the history of The Banff Centre and acknowledges its significance in the development of visual art culture.

ABOUT FRESH SHORT SHORTS EMMEDIA is proud to present a summer series of free outdoor screenings at the relaxing Broken City Patio, showcasing works from different media art centres coast to coast. Starting with the east coast of Halifax and ending in the west coast of Vancouver, experience a unique collection of Canadian video art from across Canada. Join us on a warm summer night as we survey contemporary and historical media artworks that experiment with the medium of video, while enjoying a refreshing pint!

ABOUT EMMEDIA GALLERY & PRODUCTION SOCIETY EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society is a non-profit media arts organization that supports both the production and presentation of media arts. EMMEDIA offers affordable access to media art production tools, services, technical and educational support, and an array of year round public exhibition programs including screenings, installations and performances. Our programs strive to foster artistic dialogue and engagement through complementary activities such as artist talks, panel discussions, publications, workshops, artist residencies, production awards and scholarships.

For more information, go to www.emmedia.ca

SCHEDULE OF SCREENINGS