Wednesday, October 22, 2014, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (at East 70th Street), New York, NY
Preview screening:
Nam June Paik & TV Lab: License to Create
Dir. Howard Weinberg | 2014 | USA | 95min
Before YouTube, reality TV, and the Internet, artists and filmmakers pushed the boundaries of television at the TV LAB — an experimental division of Channel 13/WNET public television from 1972-1984. Supported initially by the Rockefeller Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts at the urging of Nam June Paik, who wanted a place for artists to create new imagery on television, the TV LAB boasted a blue-screen ChromaKey studio, video synthesizers, and a digital time base corrector. It allowed artists to put their hands on the latest equipment to create what became the new global phenomenon of video art, which influenced the beginnings of MTV. TV LAB also supported documentary makers and journalists who used new PortaPak video cameras and recorders to revolutionize storytelling by going behind the scenes to capture spontaneous action that network television had ignored, which affected the look of TV drama, and foreshadowed reality television. Writers, directors, choreographers, and animators were all encouraged to experiment and innovate on this platform.
This feature-length documentary shows how the TV LAB at Thirteen/WNET, New York changed the way we see television and the world and explores the key role of Nam June Paik in its founding.
Q&A with filmmaker.
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