September 7- January 13, 2002
The exhibition, curated by Haggerty Museum director, Dr. Curtis L. Carter, celebrated Fred Barzyk's contributions to the development of broadcast television and video art over the past forty years. As the founder and first director of the WGBH New Television Workshop (1967-1979), Barzyk created an environment where the first generation of video artists, in conjunction with dancers, photographers and actors, expanded the creative boundaries of both video art and broadcast television. Three galleries of the Museum were filled with video monitors showing art projects for television produced under Barzyk's direction, including award-winning dramas, collaborations with video artists, such as Peter Campus, William Wegman, and Tony Oursler, a video wall of dance performances and the double channel broadcast experiments he first produced in the mid-1960s. Each explored Barzyk's legacy as well as future directions for television and video art. Among the excerpts highlighted included "What's Happening, Mr. Silver," "Lathe of Heaven," and "Countdown to Looking Glass." Also featured were Nam June Paik's first video synthesizer and the Haggerty Museum's Paik piece "Cage in a Cage".