on 11.2.2018

Gallery 400. Univ of Illinois. Installation view c. 2007 Nancy Bechtol. “Native Vibes”. trt 2:43. Large projection of digital art video included in the Chicago New Media 1973-1993. curated by jon cates. in the exhibition:: ARTISTS Craig Ahmer Dick Ainswoth Josephine Anstey Anna Anthropy National Center for Supercomputing Applications Tamas Kemenczy and Ben Babbitt)Bally Annette Barbier Geoffrey Allen Baum  Nancy Bechtol Natalie Bookchin Nick Britz Rachel Bronson Barry Brosch Drew Browning Lief Brush Charlie Chaplin Glen Charvat Carolina Cruz-Neira Jan Heyn Cubacub Jeffery Daniels Sumit  DasGreg Dawl Tom DeFanti Chip Dodsworth Margaret Dolinsky Cardboard Computer (Jake Elliott Jamie Fenton George Francis Janine Fron Jackbox Games Petra Gemeinboeck Azadeh Gholizadeh Copper Giloth Marientina Gotsis Rylin Harris John Hart Chris Hartman Alex Hill Louis Kauffman Chris Kemp Electronic Visualization Laboratory Ya Lu Lin Josephine Lipuma Doug Lofstrom Sara Ludy Richard Mandeberg Todd Margolis Stephan Meyers Midway Keith Miller Phil Morton Dan Neveu Rick Panzer Dave Pape Beth Cerny  Patiño Stu Pettigrew Dana Plepys Tim Portlock Sabrina Raaf Sticks Raboin William  Robertson  Jason Salavon Dan Sandin  Ellen Sandor Richard Sayre Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists  Mimi Shevitz Brenda Lopez  Silva  Bob Snyder Laurie Speigel  Essanay  Studio Barbara Sykes Jim Teister Gunether  TetzDiana  TorresJoseph Tremonti John Tsui  Jane Veeder Siebren  Versteeg Williams

For the REAL Scholarly and Documented history, refer to the catalogue, “Chicago New Media 1973-1992” by jonCates.

I will ramble with my thoughts, for history..

………..stream of consciousness on the show. opening. yes visionary…………………………….

thank you jon cates for making the history known, and including my work. wordless now..but visions persist. you make an excellent difference for many.

event of swirl of video/computer art history. I am overwhelmed by the power and creative vibe in the room..art historians speak.

.and solo intense.. with hours and overnight with the magic..and my dear understanding and partner, David Bechtol, who is always there, understanding the mania.. and my opened my eyes to the IP Dan Sandin who brought a personal IP for exhibit, and the EVL ..CAVE views..and I do acknowledge ISM curator Jane Stevens, who showed so many, many over decades, of the artists in media, even before anyone would.. she would lift and carry TVs and do installations like no one I ever saw before, I so appreciate all, especially the “Electronic Immersions, featured at ISEA 1997 of which I was co-curator-catalogue available.. and I have unedited hours of interviews and on location including the legends..ah, some day, think it is on well a now obscure format…maybe I will dig that up. great stuff..I dream of finishing it after 11 years in the can…but the future always beckons..forward, the new horizon, been into it…and hearing..Oliver Grau, art historian with oversight, overview, context. grand. symposium… with all his reviews of creations. ..Drew Browning there, ever present on the scene, Ellen Sandor, who encouraged me to try the new VR. awe struck!! yes. Dana Plepys and so many more which took a while, or I missed, since it has been more than 30 years seeing most, and recognizing people over time…well. the pixels are everywhere. Jamie Fenton of famed glitches. and equal legend on the scene, and very animated .. manipulation of tv, the pixels, creating phosphorous light images projected from my mind directly to the the TV canvas. Intensely wonderful, Bob Snyder, Emu Sound synthesizer, of which I found myself in the advanced class, when I had no background in, but hey, artists create…and I created so much that it overflowed from sound to video and back in “1984, Under Surveillance” hands on including processing my “art sounds/music to my ears” banging of the depths of lockers to art performance.

and there is always MORE on the horizon…

spoke to Tom DeFanti, who I told him I was so very overwhelmed to be included in the show, and all I could think of to thank him..and of course, the statement that so often I voiced, paying tribute to the Pioneers in the Media who were my teachers and influencers.. ” I stand on shoulders of giants” to that he said, “yeah, my shoulders are getting pretty tired right now…”

legendary Chicago scene. I reflect on my mentor from SAIC.

I give tribute to the late, great, Phil Morton. founder of the Video Department at SAIC, and of Video Research Consultants, his shop. gave me first wack/job at the inner workings of Siggraph…San Francisco, Dallas, Minneapolis, the wise and wacky, keen eyes, insights.who taught me the Bally Basic, when seeing the circle cross the screen which took me 2 hours to do, with sound..who was a most amazing human I am forever grateful …and then code we were offered from Jane Veeder, and then it was more interesting, images, timing..who visited and shared often for us..in MFA in the basement, and carrying the big heavy portapaks, which used the UMatic 3/4″ tape. and made lifelong friends which we called each other our “pack animals”: Michael Markowski, Stevo Wolfson, and Ken Monroe, with the conversations/comrades… Jessee Affelder, Mark Resch with Ron Grenko (RIP) and Mark Blottner,

Still. image L to R. K.Mack, Lee Groban and Peter Kostakis. at ARC Gallery, Groban and Bechtol Collaboration. from upcoming 2019 film:: “The Last Hippie: by the beard of Lee Groban” with narration by Vitto Carli, and film excepts from Frank Garvey. Produced by Shadow Bechtol Studio. David Bechtol, supreme Tech Guru and co-producer.

also….and enjoy knowing the mindset of https://vimeo.com/michaelanthonybohacz

and there is always MORE on the horizon…

spoke to Tom DeFanti, who I told him I was so very overwhelmed to be included in the show, and all I could think of to thank him..and of course, the statement that so often I voiced, paying tribute to the Pioneers in the Media who were my teachers and influencers.. ” I stand on shoulders of giants” to that he said, “yeah, my shoulders are getting pretty tired right now…”