19 Universes/my brother

Phyllis Baldino 

2004, 9:02 min, color, sound

19 Universes/my brother is the latest in a series of videos in which Baldino explores advanced scientific concepts, including nanotechnology and quantum particles. The screen is divided into nineteen shifting strips of video, each portraying Baldino's brother, a musician, as he plays rock and roll guitar; the soundtrack is layered correspondingly. The result is a disorienting composite portrait that explores the phenomenon of parallel universes.

Baldessari Sings LeWitt

John Baldessari 

1972, 12:38 min, b&w, sound

In an ironic intersection of two systems — arcane theoretical discourse and popular music — Baldessari sings a tract by Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt. Introducing this performance by noting that "these sentences have been hidden too long in exhibition catalogues," Baldessari sings Lewitt's...

Full Circle (formerly Ring Modulation)

Gary Hill

1978, 3:38 min, color, sound

Here the screen is divided into three sections: a close-up of hands bending a metal rod into a circle; a full-image view of this figure; and an electronically generated circular image, which is created by Hill's vocalization of an "Ah" sound. Hill creates tension between sculpting physical material and "sculpting" with electronic material.

Go For It, Mike

Michael Smith

1984, 4:40 min, color, sound

Go For It, Mike is a parodic music video that re-envisions the Horatio Alger myth of the American Dream via 1950s-style cultural cliches, advertising and Reagan-era media propaganda. Smith's "regular guy" Mike embodies a series of all-American male stereotypes, from the classroom to political...

Insectiside

Cory Arcangel in collaboration with Jamie Arcangel 

1992-2003, 7:29 min, color, sound

With Insectiside, Arcangel brings his strategically amateur aesthetic, which celebrates the excesses of the accidental and contingent, to a new level, re-presenting a home video that he made as a teenager in 1992. The video, which features the artist and his sister parodically yet lovingly performing as a heavy metal band, takes on new meaning beside Arcangel's recent work with music videos and the codes of pop culture.

Live 2000

Forcefield

2000, 2:53 min, color, sound

Live 2000 documents an energetic and intriguing performance at the Safari Lounge in Providence, RI

Nam June Paik with The Bad Brains

1991, 1:19 min, color, sound

Performance and Stage-Set Utilizing Two-Way Mirror and Video Time Delay

Dan Graham and Glenn Branca 

1983, 45:45 min, b&w, sound

A restructuring of the gaze informs this installation/performance work, produced and performed by Graham and musician Glenn Branca for Graham's 1983 retrospective exhibition Pavilions at the Kunsthalle in Berne, Switzerland. The audience was seated on the right and the musicians on the left, both...

SweetBerry Sonnet (Remixed)

Kalup Linzy

2008, 22:06 min, color, sound

SweetBerry Sonnet (Remixed) is a remixed version of Linzy's recent video anthology, which was created to accompany the songs on Linzy's 2008 album, SweetBerry Sonnet. Performing as his recurring characters (including Taiwan, Labisha, Katonya, Nucuavia and Jada), Linzy created a music video for each R&B-inspired song on the album. With titles such as "Dirty Trade" and "Edge of My Couch," the songs—all written and performed with sublime theatricality by Linzy—trace a melodramatic arc of desire and loss.

Tunic (Song for Karen)

Tony Oursler. In collaboration with Sonic Youth. 

1990, 6:17 min, color, sound

Oursler produced this unconventional music video for the Sonic Youth song of the same name, which is based on the rock-and-roll drama of Karen Carpenter and her struggles with anorexia.

Voice Windows

Steina in collaboration with Joan La Barbara 

1986, 8:10 min, color, sound

Sound, as visually manifested through electronic imaging, becomes a spatial component in this exquisitely rendered confluence of landscape, music and digital manipulation. Singer/composer Joan La Barbara performs a series of voice chants and intonations, creating energized patterns on a grid of...

Waiting for Commercial (Performance)

1972, 8:20 min, b&w, sound