Herbert Kosower

The Face (1967)



Herb Kosower taught animation and film graphics in the USC film program in 1960-1907s; George Lucas and John Milius were among his students.

Paul Dougherty

White Collar Funk (c. 1970s)

"It was a time when the novelty of having a video camera would stir interest and create interaction. Here on 23rd St. bet Park & Lex, uptown side. Back then I screened a work in progress to a video artist I worked with named Juan Downey. He suggested taking the edit I had and playing it back on the street I made it about to interact with people, which I did. That's the part you see here. I'm not nuts about my manner as an on-the-street reporter but hey, I was fresh out of college. It's called "White Collar Funk" because even though the area was filled with office workers from Met Life etc, it remained gritty and had none of the (then) glamor of midtown office district. Of all the dozens of NYC neighborhoods going upscale now, E. 23rd is still keepin' it real, relatively speaking."

Paul Dougherty

Pauline Oliveros

Performance at Cal State (2007)

Houston-born composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros performs an improvisational piece at Cal State.

Part 1

Part 2

Maria Lassnig

Kantate (1992)



"The Austrian artist Maria Lassnig tells us the story of her life in 14 verses, beginning with her birth and ending with her life as it is today. Simultaneusly - in the background - we see the story as animated drawings, full of irony, humor and wisdom." (Hubert Sielecki)

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Tino Sehgal

"This is so contemporary" (2000)

The uniformed museum guards of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi perform Sehgal's piece, also shown in the German pavillion of the 2005 Venice Biennale.

Olivier Messiaen

Messiaen on birdsong (late 1960s?)




Composer Olivier Messiaen, whose compositions in the late 1950s and early 1960s often incorporated elements of birdsong, describes and mimes the nightingale’s song, as his second wife, pianist Yvonne Loriod, plays his own transcription on the piano.

Hotel Morphila Orchester

What's in the brain (1979)



Founded in Vienna in 1978 by artists Peter Weibel and Loys Egg, Hotel Morphila Orchester plays "What's in the brain", based on William Shakespeare's Sonnet 108, in this Austrian television broadcast from 1979.

Pat O'Neill

Saugus Series (1974)





Seven short 16mm vignettes, made up of meticulously assembled still lives, and displaying O'Neill's masterful use of optical printing.