Steina + Woody Vasulka—On the Archive
Free Screening + Discussion

Doors open at 6:30PM. Free onsite parking. Seating is limited and a reservation is recommended.

FREE, BUT RESERVE HERE.

This free screening focuses on Steina & Woody Vasulka’s lifelong commitment to archiving, experimentation with the electronic signal, and performance of memory. Selections include PARTICIPATION (1969–71), VIOLIN POWER (1970–present), ART OF MEMORY (1986), and more!

“We were interested in the transmission of knowledge from one place to another: that was the mission of the time.” ~ Woody Vasulka,1992 interview

Shot mainly by Steina, PARTICIPATION features short clips of the “cultural playgrounds” of NYC in the late 1960s (underground queer theater, jazz and rock at the Fillmore East, Warhol superstars on David Suskind’s TV show, and more) that the Vasulkas took back to their loft and screened for friends, celebrating the radical immediacy of the new video medium.

Steina began live processing moving images with a violin in VIOLIN POWER when the Vasulkas lived and worked in Buffalo (1973–1980). Early performances use a violin with analog sound fed into the live video image. Starting in the early 1990s, Steina used a Midi violin that allowed her to access digitized archival clips that she could re-perform, applying various effects.

ART OF MEMORY is Woody’s midlife articulation of memory and personal history where film clips from 20th century conflicts are “projected” onto the mesas of a Southwestern landscape (their home from 1980 onward). The mesas are created both through camera documentation and Woody's use of a Rutt/Etra, a critical instrument for him, enabling a restructuring of the conventional rectilinear video frame.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with curators Chris Hill (Hallwalls Video Curator 1983–1994) and Anna Scime (BIFF Execitive Director), joined by AKG curators.

For more info and to reserve a spot, please visit: https://buffalo-film-2025.eventive.org/schedule/67b513514933dfbc19a330c9

This screening coincides with Buffalo AKG Art Museum's Steina: Playback exhibition, on view Friday, March 14–Monday, June 30, 2025.