closeup

Close-Ups

Reviews of New Films, Videos, and CD-ROMs
A World of Art: Works in Progress
10-part series, 30 min. each color video 1997 U.S. English
Executive Producers: Henry M. Sayre, John Lindsay
Distributor: The Annenberg/CPB Multimedia Collection, P.O. Box 2345, S. Burlington, VT 05407-2345. Tel 1-800-LEARNER; Fax 1-802-864-9846. E-mail: info@learner.org

This ten-part series offers a straightforward, accessible look at a range of contemporary artists from high-tech video artist Bill Viola to Mierle Ukeles, artist-in-residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation. Focusing on a single artist, each half-hour segment gives an overview of the artist's work, and traces a work in progress--in Viola's case, for instance, a video installation piece for the 1995 Venice Biennale.

In each program the artist speaks for her- or himself--there are no narrators, and few on-camera experts to place the artist in the larger context of contemporary art. This can be a weakness and a strength. It offers a refreshingly direct encounter with the artist, but can also leave viewers without a sense of the larger contemporary art scene, and what role a particular artist might play in it. A World of Art was originally conceived as a tele-course; perhaps that larger context is expected to come from the course instructor.

Covering artists of different cultural backgrounds, ages and gender, the series includes programs on photographer Lorna Simpson; performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña; painter Hung Liu; photographer/painter/sculptor Beverly Buchanan; printmaker June Wayne; painter Milton Resnick; muralist Judy Baca; and the performance troupe Goat Island, along with Viola and Ukeles. The videos are available as a series or individually, and a study guide, full textbook and CD-ROM are also available.

Focus On...	Reports and Opinion Pieces
Program Notes	News from the Program for Art on Film
Field Notes	News from colleagues around the country and abroad
Now Playing	Art & Architecture on a screen near you
Festival Round-up	Entry deadlines/Award winners
Close-Ups	Reviews of new films, videos, and CD-ROMs
The Bookshelf	New and recent books of interest
Archives	The October issue of E-News