Stan VanDerBeek (1927-1984) was a prolific multimedia artist known for his pioneering work in experimental film and computer art. He studied at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York (1948-1952), and at Black Mountain College, Asheville, North Carolina (1949-1950). VanDerBeek’s “Movie-Drome” was recently featured in “Signals: How Video Transformed the World” at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

For OFFSCREEN 2023, in collaboration with The Film Gallery, the Stan VanDerBeek Archive will present two works: “Panels for the Walls of the World: Phase 1.” (1970) and “Site” (1965).

The Stan VanDerBeek Archive is displaying 153 original mixed-media collages made for his fax machine performance “Panels for the Walls of the World: Phase 1.”. This was series of murals realized by Stan VanDerBeek in March 1970. Conceived in 1968 as “telephone murals” VanDerBeek used newly available Xerox Telecopier machines to transmit hundreds of mixed media collages to a variety of public locations simultaneously. A select portion of the original 1970 Phase 1 transmissions will also be presented in addition to select fax experiments and related archival material. The hundreds of collages used daily newspaper headlines regarding persistent, interrelated worldwide issues of racism, war, poverty and divisive politicians alongside advertisements featuring images of perfected bodies, commodities and abundant food. “Panels for the Walls of the World” is a stunning example of VanDerBeek’s intense desire to integrate technology and art for the purpose of accessible, international communication amongst the larger public.

“Site” is a three-screen, silent, black and white, 16mm film installation showing simultaneous views of a 1964 Robert Morris dance with Carolee Schneemann in the role of Olympia. Approximately ten minutes long, the film was described by VanDerBeek as a “metaphor of architectural and metaphysical space.“Site” was preserved from original negatives by the Stan VanDerBeek Archive with Bill Brand. The presentation for OFFSCREEN will be the first 16mm screening of the installation.

Founded in 2005 in the wake of the film publishing house Re: Voir vidéo, TFG is a non-profit gallery specializing in the exhibition and diffusion of experimental cinema, the installation and performativity of filmic works. TFG represents on the one hand founding artists who participated in movements such as Dada, Lettrism or Fluxus. On the other hand, TFG supports an emerging scene that expresses itself through video art, silver film or film installation, following the traces of these historical avant-gardes, in the light of a contemporary critical apparatus. TFG’s commitment is to resist the obsolescence of projection machines, to renew their language and to share and perpetuate a fragile and invisibilized cinematographic form.