Scratch video

Scratch videowas a Britishvideo artmovement that emerged in the early to mid-1980s. It was characterised by the use offound footage,fast cutting,and multi-layered rhythms.^[1]As a form ofoutsider art,it challenged many of the establishment assumptions of broadcast television, as well of those of gallery-bound video art.^[2]

Background

Scratch video arose in opposition to broadcast television, as (anti-)artists attempted to deal critically and directly with the impact of mass communications. The context these videos emerged in is important, as it tended to critique of the institutions making broadcast videos and the commercialism found on youth TV, especiallyMTV.This it did in form, content, and in its mode of distribution.

Much of the work was politically radical, often containing images of a sexual or violent nature, and using imagesappropriatedfrom mainstream media, including corporate advertising; using strategies inspired by theSituationistconcept ofdetournementandWilliam S. Burroughs' theories ofElectronic Revolution.

Context

The primary audience for scratch video in the early to mid-1980s, was in nightclub performances by industrial music bands such asThe Anti-Group,Cabaret Voltaire,Nocturnal Emissions,Psychic TV,SPK,Test Dept,andAutopsia.^[3]Some of those involved described their work as a form ofcultural terrorismor as a form ofanti-art.

In the mid-1980s typical London venues would be screenings at artist-run spaces such as theAmbulance Station,in independent cinemas such as the BrixtonRitzy Cinema,orthe Fridgenightclub, which boasted an array of dozens of recycled colour televisions. There was also significant distribution onVHStape, following similar networks tocassette culture.

After Andy Lipman'sCity Limits^[4]feature contextualised the art values of this practice, material began to be featured in small screenings in official art galleries such as theICAandTate.Television stations, likeChannel 4began late night screenings of art videos, including scratch video. However, because much of the material was constructed using domestic VHS equipment, it was deemed both technically and legally unsuitable for broadcast (for fear of breaching copyright law). Being highly politicised, some of the material also broke with the broadcaster's criteria of balance.

Artists

History

Scratch videois a rather catch-all category of work which derive from popular dance and music fashions and the cutting of found trash images with it. Its long history begins with thecubistcollages of Picasso and Braque, the 'ready-mades' ofDuchamp,and passes throughJoseph Cornell,Bruce Conner,Andy Warholand William S. Burroughs andAnthony Balch cut-ups.The movement was influenced by the American video artistDara Birnbaum.^[7]

Speaking of the movements emergence and how it got its name,Rik Lander(one half of theDuvet Brothers) has stated:

I can't remember when we found out what we were doing was scratch or that we were part of a movement. Certainly when we saw the work ofKim Flitcroftand Sandra Goldbacher,George Barberand Gorilla Tapes it was uncanny that so many people had been experimenting in the same area without knowing that the others existed. In my mind a journalist calledPat Sweeneycame up with the name Scratch, but Scratch Video may have already existed as a named form in the US.Andy Lipmanran aCity Limitscover story on Scratch Video in October 1984 where he tried to create the myth that Scratch was made by disaffected youth taping theTVand reediting it onVCRsat home. If anyone knew this was not the case it was Andy. He was one of the few people who had actually met all the people involved.Dessa Foxin theNMEtried a similar hype when she suggested that Scratch Video was a televisual punk rock ".^[8]

Original scratch video works continue to be shown in major exhibitions around the world. Notable events, amongst others, being Gorilla Tapes' participation in theICA's 2007 exhibitionThe Secret Public: The Last Days of the British Underground 1978-1988andSCRATCH!a 2008 retrospective exhibition curated byPaul Pieroniat the Seventeen gallery in London.

Scratch video

Background

Context

Artists

History

See also

References

Further reading