Program Three: Fractured Variations / Visual Shuffle

Part of Dances for Camera: Merce Cunningham, Nam June Paik, John Sanborn Film Series

Past event: streamed from August 1–31, 2021

John Sanborn in collaboration with Charles Moulton, Fractured Variations / Visual Shuffle, 1986 (still); courtesy: John Sanborn

Fractured Variations / Visual Shuffle
John Sanborn in collaboration with Charles Moulton, 1986, 15 min 15 sec, color, sound
 
Using intricate editing and enhanced post-production processing techniques, pioneering video artist John Sanborn fused technology and choreography to transform the space and movement of dancers and create the feeling of an otherworldly dimension. Inspired by his friend and collaborator Nam June Paik, whose seminal video art manifesto Global Groove (1973) channeled the possibilities of international communication and offered “a glimpse of the video landscape of tomorrow,” Sanborn’s film captures the futuristic aesthetics of 1980s video art. The two “videodance” segments, created with collaborator Mary Perillo and choreographer Charles Moulton, originally aired on PBS as part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul public television station KTCA’s arts anthology series Alive from Off Center (1985–96), which featured pieces by avant-garde artists working in video, dance, film, theater, and performance.

Courtesy of John Sanborn.