Available online
Description
The programme is presented by the art critic and writer, Paul Overy. He explains the development of performance art in the U.S.A. and in Europe during the late 1950s and 60s. Artists ware no longer... content with just producing a canvas to put on the wall. They wanted to reach a wider public, to break down the gap between art and life. They claimed that they were mainly concerned with process and transience yet, ironically, they have been very keen to have their performances and events documented, recorded on film or video tape, and even sold to collectors. The material in the programme comes, therefore, from a wide variety of sources, both public and private. Sometimes, as in Stuart Brisley's film 'Arbeit Macht Frei' it is designed to shock or provoke. In other cases, Tinguelly's 'Homage to New York' or Metzger painting with acid, for instance, the film is a rare, if not unique, record of an essentially ephemeral event. The programme is an excellent example of how film and television, can provide students with material which would otherwise be quite inaccessible.
The programme is presented by the art critic and writer, Paul Overy. He explains the development of performance art in the U.S.A. and in Europe during the late 1950s and 60s. Artists ware no longer... content with just producing a canvas to put on the wall. They wanted to reach a wider public, to break down the gap between art and life. They claimed that they were mainly concerned with process and transience yet, ironically, they have been very keen to have their performances and events documented, recorded on film or video tape, and even sold to collectors. The material in the programme comes, therefore, from a wide variety of sources, both public and private. Sometimes, as in Stuart Brisley's film 'Arbeit Macht Frei' it is designed to shock or provoke. In other cases, Tinguelly's 'Homage to New York' or Metzger painting with acid, for instance, the film is a rare, if not unique, record of an essentially ephemeral event. The programme is an excellent example of how film and television, can provide students with material which would otherwise be quite inaccessible.
