Standby: No Technical Difficulties
October 9–18, 2003

For twenty years, the Standby program in New York has provided post-production services to more than 1,000 media artists, producing over 1,500 titles constituting a remarkable history of video. Initially, Standby facilitated artists’ access to broadcast-quality video editing, pioneering the use of small-format video when broadcasters eschewed consumer formats. Today, when broadcast quality is more accessible and many artists have home-editing equipment, Standby offers low-cost services in video and audio production and restoration. Standby’s recent co-restoration with MoMA of Tony Oursler’s Life of Phillis (1977) opens this tribute.

Organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media, in collaboration with Maria Venuto, Executive Director, and Marshall Reese, artist/editor, Standby, and Steve Seid, Curator, Pacific Film Archive.

Flying Morning Glory (On Fire). 1985. USA. Directed by Skip Blumberg. A documentary chronicler of street performers captures the high-flying sautéing technique of a sidewalk chef in Thailand. 4 min.
Life of Phillis. 1979. USA. Directed by Tony Oursler. This restored version of Oursler’s first video narrative was originally made in episodic form at Cal Arts. 58 min.
Thursday, October 9, 8:00

Damnation of Faust: Evocation. 1983. USA. Directed by Dara Birnbaum. The Faust myth is transformed into a reverie on the external world. 10 min.
Arcade. 1984. USA. Directed by Lyn Blumenthal, Carole Ann Klonarides, Ed Paschke. The televised and the real are examined through street scenes and television images reworked with image processing. 11 min.
Information Withheld. 1983. USA. Directed by Juan Downey. Modern signs and symbols find parallels in icons, hieroglyphs, and living forms. 28 min.
Why Do Things Get in a Muddle? (Come on Petunia). 1984. USA. Directed by Gary Hill. Gregory Bateson’s concept of metalogue is evoked in a conversation about muddles between Alice in Wonderland and her father. 33 min.
Program 82 min.
Friday, October 10, 4:00

I Want Some Insecticide. 1986. USA. Directed by Branda Miller. This sci-fi video renders a dystopic future where robotic insects rule. 4 min.
Hell. 1985. USA. Directed by Ardele Lister. Technology, the information society, and everyday life appear hellish in this haunting work. 17 min.
A Mosaic for the Kali Yuga. 1986. USA. Directed by Daniel Reeves. A mosaic of digital images illustrates the Hindu prophecy that we live in a dark time. 5 min.
The Meaning of the Interval. 1987. USA. Directed by Edin Velez. The concept of ”ma”—the space between things—is explored through contradictions in contemporary Japan. 19 min.
Flaubert Dreams of Travel but the Illness of His Mother Prevents It. 1986. USA. Directed by Ken Kobland in collaboration with the Wooster Group. Made for the Wooster Group’s The Temptation of St. Anthony, this visionary work evokes Flaubert’s notions of death/transcendence. 20 min.
Program 65 min.
Friday, October 10, 6:00

Neo Geo: An American Purchase. 1989. USA. Directed by Peter Callas. Colorful images inscribe an American landscape of contradictions. 9 min.
Color Schemes. 1989. USA. Directed by Shu Lea Cheang. Individuals in America’s “melting pot” humorously demonstrate the complexities of racism and assimilation. 28 min.
Living with the Living Theater. 1989. USA. Directed by Nam June Paik, Betsy Connors, Paul Garrin. A tribute to Living Theater founders Judith Malina and Julien Beck. 30 min.
Program 67 min.
Saturday, October 11, 4:00

Lost Book Found. 1995. USA. Directed by Jem Cohen. An evocative exploration of stories and artifacts from New York City streets. 33 min.
The Tourist. 1997. USA. Directed by Maria Venuto. A portrait of emotional isolation and cultural displacement, based on the true story of a German woman’s mysterious death. 28 min.
Strange Weather. 1993. USA. Directed by Peggy Ahwesh, Margaret Strosser. Grainy Pixelvision images evoke a Miami couple’s drug addiction. 50 min.
Program 111 min.
Saturday, October 11, 6:00

The Bus Stops Here. 1990. USA. Directed by Julie Zando and Josephine Anstey. Two sisters reveal how male authority and privilege circumscribe female representation. 27 min.
The Bible Belt. 1992. USA. Directed by Marshall Reese, Nora Ligorano. Pseudo channel grazing, including a televangelist hawking a “bible belt.” 5 min.
Son of Sam and Delilah. 1991. USA. Directed by Charles Atlas. Scenes of New York performance luminaries—John Kelly, DANCENOISE, Hapi Phace—and a look at homophobia and racism. 27 min.
Program 59 min.
Sunday, October 12, 5:30

37 Stories about Leaving Home. 1986. USA. Directed by Shelly Silver. Three generations of Japanese women recount their life stories. 52 min.
Nobody’s Business. 1996. USA. Directed by Alan Berliner. Berliner’s father is the reluctant subject of this biography capturing the tenuous bond between father and son. 60 min.
Monday, October 13, 6:00

Still Life with Cows. 2000. USA. Directed by Karen Yasinsky. Two women and a cow contemplate rural life and domesticity in this animation. 6 min.
Icky & Kathy. 1999. USA. Directed by Kathy High. In this performance video, two sisters explore their sexuality through touchy-feely games. 9 min.
The World of Photography. 1986. USA. Directed by Michael Smith, William Wegman. A satire on the process of image-making, “high” art, and “low” culture. 25 min.
Program 40 min.
Thursday, October 16, 2:00

Amazonia. 2001. USA. Directed by Nandini Sikand. Potent images and poetry reveal the deep scars of breast cancer. 9 min.
Closer to Heaven. 2003. USA. Directed by Diane Bonder. An elderly father’s fragile state is evoked through phone messages interlaced with memories. 15 min.
Beyond Voluntary Control. 2000. USA. Directed by Cathy Cook. David Fergueroa’s dance performances convey feelings of psychological and physical confinement stemming from phobias and disease. 30 min.
Program 54 min.
Thursday, October 16, 3:30

At Home and Asea. 2002. USA. Directed by Mark Street. A meditation on displacement and isolation, told through the documentary-like stories of five Baltimore characters. 70 min.
Saturday, October 18, 8:00

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