Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image (4.0)

Media - 2014.50.1.4 - SAAM-2014.50.1.4_5 - 116527

David Haxton, Black on White Tape, from Sixteen Films, 1974-1975

Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image is a series of rotating exhibitions drawn from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection. The series recognizes the importance of technology in the history of twentieth- and twenty-first century art, and features examples that have transformed the moving image into a contemporary art practice. Pioneering video art as well as key works in American avant-garde cinema is represented here alongside multimedia installations. Together, these works of art identify the multitude of technologies that artists have engaged since the 1960s and trace the complex relationships between art and electronic media.

Description

This installation of Watch This! is the fourth in the series. The seven featured artworks are: three works by David Haxton, Black on White Tape, from Sixteen Films (1974–1975), Black and White Drawing, from Sixteen Films (1975–1976) and White Red and Green Lights, from Sixteen Films (1978); Gordon Matta-Clark, Program One: Chinatown Voyeur (1971); Nam June Paik, Zen for TV (1963, 1976 version); Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970); and Woody Vasulka, C-Trend from Selected Works (1974). Michael Mansfield, curator of film and media arts, selected the works. 

A dedicated permanent collection gallery for time-based art is an important aspect of the media arts initiative at the museum, which includes acquisitions, exhibitions, educational programs, and archival research resources related to film, video, and the media arts.

Visiting Information

December 4, 2015 August 27, 2016
Open Daily, 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m
Free Admission

Credit

The James F. Dicke Family Endowment generously supported Watch This!

Online Gallery

Media - 2014.50.1.4 - SAAM-2014.50.1.4_1 - 116523
Black on White Tape, from Sixteen Films
Date1974-1975
16mm film on digital video, black and white, silent; 09:00 minutes
Not on view
Media - 2014.50.1.7 - SAAM-2014.50.1.7_1 - 116541
Black and White Drawing, from Sixteen Films
Date1975-1976
16mm film on digital video, black and white, silent; 12:00 minutes
Not on view
Media - 2014.50.1.12 - SAAM-2014.50.1.12_1 - 116576
White Red and Green Lights, from Sixteen Films
Date1978
16mm film on digital video, color, silent; 7:00 minutes
Not on view
Media - 2007.33.20 - SAAM-2007.33.20_1-000001 - 139808
Program One: Chinatown Voyeur
Date1971
60 minutes, black & white, sound
Not on view
Media - 2006.20 - SAAM-2006.20_1 - 66616
Zen for TV
Date1963, 1976 version
manipulated television set; black and white, silent
On view
Media - 2008.21.10 - SAAM-2008.21.10_1 - 138102
Spiral Jetty
Date1970
35 minutes, color, sound
Not on view
Media - 2008.21.14.3 - SAAM-2008.21.14.3_1 - 139657
C‑Trend from Selected Works
Date1974
9:03 minutes, color, sound
Not on view

Artists

David Haxton
born Indianapolis, IN 1943
Gordon Matta-Clark
born New York City 1943-died Nyack, NY 1978
Media - portrait_image_114969.jpg - 134917
Nam June Paik
born Seoul, Korea 1932-died Miami Beach, FL 2006

Nam June Paik (1932–2006), internationally recognized as the "Father of Video Art," created a large body of work including video sculptures, installations, performances, videotapes and television productions.

Robert Smithson
born Passaic, NJ 1938-died Amarillo, TX 1973
Woody Vasulka
born Brno, Czechoslovakia 1937-died Santa Fe, NM 2019