Living with the Living Theatre

1989, 28:30 min, color, sound

One of Paik's most compelling and poignant tapes, Living with the Living Theatre pays tribute to Judith Malina and the late Julien Beck, founder of the Living Theatre. Reversing the theme of the earlier Allan 'n' Allen's Complaint, which dealt with two artists and their relationships to their fathers, Paik explores Malina and Beck's relationship to their children. Interviews provide the memories of actual lives lived together, while Betsy Connors' animated sequences transcend the specific to suggest the universality of childhood. Garrin and Paik edit these elements into an electronic synthesis that is at times dizzyingly psychedelic and always affectionate towards its subjects. Infused with personal and cultural memories that evoke time and place — Janis Joplin concert footage, Living Theatre performances — Paik creates a haunting, deeply moving homage.

Includes Works by: Adolfas and Jonas Mekas, Janis Joplin, Joyce Weiland, Alan and Sue Raymond, Sheldon Rocklin. Special Thanks: Videoarte ( Locarno), Harald Szeeman, Broadway Video, Peter Rudoy, Media Alliance, Robin White, Standby Program, Raindance Foundation. Thanks to The Living Theatre: Serena Urbani, Hanon Reznikov, Steven Ben Israel, Mary Krapf, Luke Theodore, Jenny Hecht, Jenry Howard. Guest Appearances by: Jackson Maclaw, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Iris Lezak, Garrick Beck, Isha Manna Beck, Mordecai Maclaw, Clarinda Maclaw, Ann Tardos, Dr. Joyce Kobayashi. Camera: Lorenzo Bianda, Kit Fitzgerald, Peter Guyer, Bob Harrs, Rob Oudendijk, Anne E. Volkes. Editors: Tom Crawford, Rick Feist, Stephane Goel, Wayne Stevenson. Funded by: Massachusetts Arts Council, New York State Council on the Arts. Videoarte Program Consultant: Carol Brandenburg. Executive Producer: Lori Zippay. Co-Production of WGHB New Television Workshop, Electronic Arts Intermix.

 
 

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