Herb Shellenberger
htshell.org

DANCETORIUM: An Evening of Post-Punk and New Wave Celebrating the Death of Analog Video
February 6, 2014
International House Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA, US


Performance by Crash Course in Science
Screening and presentation of Nightclubbing by Emily Armstrong and Pat Ivers
VJ by Video Pirates
The Free Video Store

DANCETORIUM is a one-night-only event dedicated to the future aesthetics of the 1980s. Home video was a new and exciting invention, enabling viewers to disengage with the cinema experience and view their favorite films “on demand” for the first time. DIY music culture moved on from the first wave of punk bands to produce bands much more liberating and weird, combining primitive synthesizers with the raw energy of early punk rock. Video replaced film as the vanguard medium for moving image work. But now, thirty years on, analog video is all but extinct in the wake of digital technology. Help us unpack all these issues (while previewing our spring season programming!) as we tease them out through beats, synths and projections.

Crash Course in Science, New York/Philadelphia based synth-punk, electro-wave pioneers, have been making their distinctive noise-pop dance music since forming in 1979 when they met as students at Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts). Using primitive analog drum machines and homemade synthesizers, they released several 7” and 12” singles, creating underground club hits “Cardboard Lamb” and “Flying Turns”. The band performed with acts as varied as Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark and Phillip Glass. In 2009, the band re-emerged as a live act accompanied by original producer John Wicks and the Enchantress of Bioluminosity Andrea Beeman. Since reforming their music has been reissued by prestigious electronic music labels Vinyl on Demand and Minimal Wave. Crash Course in Science has also performed at Le Poisson Rouge (NYC) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) and at festivals throughout Europe. They are currently finishing an EP of new material.

Nightclubbing: "New Wave/Post-Punk", Emily Armstrong & Pat Ivers, 1975-80, US, video, 60'
Featuring performances by: Go-Go’s / Kid Creole and the Coconuts / Strange Party / Human Sexual Response / Suburbs / Our Daughters Wedding / Plastics / Pylon / Bush Tetras / Raybeats / Offs / DNA / Suicide / Student Teachers / Ballistic Kisses
Emily Armstrong & Pat Ivers will introduce Nightclubbing, the original punk rock music video series that the duo recorded live on video between 1975-80 at venues throughout NYC. Described by the New York Times as, “The Lewis and Clark of rock video,” Armstrong & Ivers spent their nights from 1975-80 documenting the burgeoning punk scene in clubs like CBGB’s, Mudd Club and Danceteria. The duo was acutely aware of the significance of that era and their material captures the spirit of the time. The edited results were shown on their weekly cable TV show Nightclubbing, as well as their regular screening series at Anthology Film Archives. These performances have been compiled and presented as the ultimate wish-I-was-there document of the groundbreaking punk, new wave, no wave and hardcore movement.

Video Pirates will present a unique VJ set, exploring the dark side of the 1980s new wave through his vast trove of digitized VHS material. Video Pirates is the found footage VHS mash-up project of Eric Bresler (Director/Curator of PhilaMOCA and founder of Cinedelphia.com), who trawls through hundreds of neglected straight-to-video titles of the 80s and 90s to come up with carefully selected and edited montages, often with hilarious results.

International House will have a one-night-only pop-up video store. But this is not your typical video rental store, it’s The Free Video Store! Browse the selection and take home a new favorite VHS or twenty.

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