A SEASON OF AUSTRALIAN FILM AND VIDEO AUSTRALIAN FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL,
LONDON, 1975 APRIL 25-27 COLLEGIATE THEATRE, GORDON ST, W.C.1
Mostly a collection of Australian independent film it also included several early video productions and a selection of the Bush Video Nimbin tapes. Produced by Clem Gorman, assisted by Martin Fabinyi and Bill Childs, with funds from the Film and Television Board of the Australian Council for the Arts. It was sent to the UK for an Australian Film and Video Festival, London, 1975.
Below are the video entries from the catalogue.
---------------------------
... AND TAPE
The first major video event to be staged in Australia happened in May 1973 during the Nimbin Arts Festival, when Video artists Mick Glasheen, John Kirk, Jon Lewis, Anne Kelly and others attempted the cabling of an entire town in Northern New South Wales. With a grant from the Australian Arts Council they built a studio, laid cables and set up monitors throughout the town and into the bush, the heart of the operation centred in a large dome. People were invited to borrow portable video units and shot tape which could then be replayed through the system and shown on the monitors. Video events were held in the dome and in the studio channel infinity broadcasted community announcements and live performances. Video had been used extensively before Nimbin for radical prospects, notably at the Yellow House, the artists commune organised by Martin Sharp, and by Mick Glasheen and other individuals, but Bush Video, as the Nimbin group were called,expanded the possibilities of both community and experimental use. After Nimbin Bush Video set up an experimental studio at an inner city arts factory and began using colour for the first time. With additional funds from the Australian Council and independent contribution they set about to shoot as much tape as possible on projects ranging from Urban development to computer graphics. In March 1974, the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) set up a similar network to the Nimbin concept during the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Festival Video had a much larger budget and the added advantage of expert technology but the idea of setting up monitors around the city and screening tapes made by anyone interested was basically the same. It was during this festival that Martin Fabinyi staged his live video event which promoted wide discussion on the necessity of freedom for independent tape making. The Film and Television Board of the Australian Council soon after this festival formulated a scheme to open a national network of video access centres, and in 1974 these centres began operating in all major cities, with the emphasis on working class areas. City Video in Sydney; the head-quarters for this national video activity, began to work in colour and plans for this to expand into a large studio with full special effects facilities capable of professional tape-making are at the moment becoming a reality. Tapes to be shown during this festival include community projects from the Access centres, Brian Williams and Sean Foley's tape of Baba Muktananda's Visit, colour work from Bush Video and individual colour productions by Martin Fabinyi and Mick Glasheen
Friday 25, 11am, video lounge,
COMMUNITY ACCESS CENTRE TAPES
One of the most interesting ways in which the British and Australian approaches to funding and access of media can be compared is in the field of community video. In Britain the situation has been largely one of limited finance and encouragement from Government but plenty of grass roots activity. In Australia the situation has been somewhat different. In the community field grass roots activity has been rather more modest, but Government assistance has been very generous. The Labour government has set up a series of "community access centres" in "culturally deprived" neighbourhoods throughout the country. These have been well equipped and staffed, and local people have been invited to make the best use of them that they can with a view to stimulating community awareness and community development and highlighting social problems. This is the first opportunity British community arts workers, film makers and filmgoers have had to see the results
Saturday 26, 11am, video lounge
BUSH VIDEO TAPES
These are tapes made over a period of time by Bush Video, which grew out of a collaboration by video makers at the unique extended festival in northern New South Wales, in a small town called Nimbin, in 1973.
Bush Video established itself in a house in Glebe, an inner Sydney suburb, and many video makers have worked there over the past eighteen months. The tapes to be shown here represent some of the best work to come out of Bush Video during this time. Artists whose work is represented include Jon Lewis, Mick Glasheen, John Kirk, Ann Kelley and Joseph EI Khouri.
6pm, cinema
THE MIRRORMAZE
Mick Glasheen TELEOLOGICAL TELECAST FROM SPACESHIP EARTH, ON BOARD WITH BUCKMINSTER FULLER
Mick Glasheen, who has become something of a legend in Australian alternative film and video circles, is one of a small band of dedicated Sydney artists who work extensively in film and video and undertake original research in a wide variety of experiments involving the fusion of art and technology. Their work and approach is perhaps most analogous to C.A.T.S. in London. This group has provided the drive not only for the Bush Video work, but for a great deal of earlier experimental work in technological art in Sydney. Apart from his involvement with media, for example, Mick has built several domes, geodesic and otherwise, and maintains a close friendship with Buckminster Fuller. His interest in alternative technology has also extended to studying aboriginal culture in the centre of Australia.
Saturday 27, 11am, video lounge
Martin Fabinyi THE VACUUM (Col, Video, 45 mins)
A colour video album. A journey to enlightenment in the city, past the street experience to pure TV, the talk show, and beyond to Rock and Roll fame: the ultimate liberation.
Martin Fabinyi has staged live video events at the Watters Gallery, the Adelaide Arts Festival and the Filmmakers Cinema. He uses colour video because it is quicker and more disposable, and wants to produce an afternoon TV talk show.
