FRANCE

France. . Paris. 4/29/83. One of the many small print workshops in Paris (actually St. Maur, a bedroom suburb of Paris) where artists go to do their publishing of hand-made graphics. The St. Maur Museum Workshop is shown with a number of people printing and learning to print. Of special interest in European lithography workshops is the wooden lithography press - a novelty to most Americans - and one is shown in operation in this videotape recording.
The solution to the problem of access for the artist who is seeking to make prints is solved by the community system. In different places, different agencies take up the organizational task; in some it is the museum of art which does this. 10:00 Min. SA830429

France. . Paris. 4/30/83. Just a glimpse of Jean-Claude Reynal, artist teacher, and writer as he offers advice to Bill Ritchie about the INA (a major television and film center) and Atelier 17. He is met in his classroom-studio at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs.
When traveling, one must call upon old acquaintances to find out what is now happening, not only for the obvious reasons, but also to compare now with then--even if then was fourteen years ago! 3:00 Min. SA830430

France. . Paris. 5/3/83. Stanley William Hayter is the octo-generic artist and teacher who did more than anyone else to institutionalize the original print in the West. He is recorded in his school, or studio: the Atelier 17. He's shown moving from one student to another, introducing newcomers to "old hands", (he prefers to call them his colleagues) speaking French and English by turns. He accommodates Bill Ritchie and his former student, Eric Katter. Ignoring the videotaping recorder, he even takes time to theorize about process in art and then looks at prints Ritchie has brought. (Audio transcript available)
Printmaking, in some of its techniques, requires technical skill and an array of equipment. Both of these practical needs can easily be fulfilled by either the school or the studio approach. Around the world, the traveler is going to encounter examples of both operations. The school is characterized by an open forum for the free exchange of ideas as well as technical information. the studio is characterized by ideas and techniques of a master. 1:13:00 Min. SA830503

France. . Paris. 5/6/83. Mrs. Dany Bloch is in the directors' offices, in charge of exhibitions of contemporary arts and media installations at the Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and she provides a brief but exact run-down on the state of video in France in terms of its beginnings, original incentives, and the current situation of video in the art schools.
As one person said, every important museum has a video library and a program of video-related events. It is common now even to see video in several places in museums at one time during one visit. Video is used either as documentary/educational methods or as components of modernist installation artworks. 10:00 Min. SA830505

France. . Paris. 5/6/83. An opening glimpse of the large installation on opening night of the multi-media exhibition at the Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, A. R. C.. Wonder Products is a collaborating group of artists who undertake the hard work of using technology to make artworks relevant to the modern age and the hard work collaborating in such a way so as to maintain individual expression in a technological milieu.
Video is an important part of almost every museum of large size in Europe and, in one night in Paris, there were two openings of new video installations in big museums in Paris. 3:00 Min. SA830506

France. . Paris. 5/6/83. Wonder Products is a media artists collective; artists, numbering about five, with different persuasions work together to enable ambitious undertakings which usually only would be attempted by expensive department stores for their window displays. This videotape might indicate why the comparison with window displays is made. It is a glimpse of Wonder Products' installation at the Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, A. R. C..
There is a new generation of video artists who are somewhat different from their immediate predecessors in that there is more influence on their work by music and popular culture. It may be distinguished too by its more overt use of commodity style and political idioms. 10:00 Min. SA830508
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