Jaime Davidovich, Outreach: The Changing Role of the Art Museum, 1978. Installation view.
An Artforum review by Jacob Proctor of Threewalls’ show Outreach: Jaime Davidovich 1974-1984, which features Direct Object/Direct Action streaming in the gallery, described ACRE TV’s contribution:
“Additionally on view were a re-creation of the 1970 tape installation Yellow Wall, a selection of early works on paper and television-related ephemera, and, in a nod to Davidovich’s historical role as a presenter of others’ work alongside his own, a live stream of videos from the Chicago-based artists’ television network ACRE TV.”
The review goes on to describe a particular episode of The Live! Show, which Jaime Davidovich produced from 1979-84 for Manhattan Cable Television, which we aired as a part of Direct Object/Direct Action and was a touchstone for our show:
“Broadcasting from the Qube [an early interactive cable-television system] studio in Columbus, Ohio, where the service debuted on December 1, 1877, the host asks viewers to call in and “direct” one of the show’s dual live feeds, instructing the camera operators to tilt, pan, zoom, and adjust focus. Although strikingly primitive by today’s standards and phased out after only a few years, Qube presaged many subsequent developments in the cable industry. Beyond the participatory scenario of this episode of The Live! Show—itself a distant precursor to today’s TV competitions in which viewers are invited to vote—Qube’s programming packages introduced such now-standard features as pay-per-view, on-demand viewing, and specialized channels for music, sports, children’s shows, and so on, making Davidovich’s employ of the then-relatively unknown technology all the more serendipitous, or prophetic.”
Read the full review here.
See more of Jaime Davidovich’s work streaming on ACRE TV until March 31!