Ken Jacobs

EAI supports the advancement of public access, engagement, and discussion — and the radical voices of artists and the power of art as agents of change.

This Friday, January 20th, we invite you to join us for a free, day-long screening of Ken Jacobs' seven-hour epic, Star Spangled to Death (1956-60/2003-04). Compiling found footage and archival material beginning in 1957, Jacobs spent decades filming, observing, and responding to American culture and history. We welcome everyone to join us on this day of action and reflection.

The Moving Image Contemporary Video Art Fair partnered with EAI to support the new Friends of EAI Membership Program with an information station at the fair and special programming, including a presentation by EAI Executive Director Lori Zippay on EAI's video preservation program on Friday, March 9th and a panel on collecting video, moderated by EAI Distribution Director Rebecca Cleman on Saturday March 10th. At Moving Image, EAI presented Ken Jacobs' A Loft (2010, 16:48 min, color, HD video), a new video from an ongoing series of innovative digital works exploring depth perception and 3-D animation.

EAI participated in The NY Art Book Fair 2009, organized by Printed Matter at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. EAI's project space, installed in P.S.1's basement vault, presented FREE TRADE, a program of videos exploring economies of exchange in a globalized world: the circulation of art, ideas, information and capital. On view were new and historical works, drawn from EAI's extensive collection, by artists including Chris Burden, Bernadette Corporation, Martha Rosler, Dan Graham, VALIE EXPORT, Dara Birnbaum, Kalup Linzy, Seth Price, Lawrence Weiner, Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, Ken Jacobs, Gordon Matta-Clark, Muntadas, Takeshi Murata, Leslie Thornton and Ryan Trecartin.

EAI presented the premiere screening of a new feature-length, 3-D video by legendary experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, titled ANAGLYPH TOM (Tom With Puffy Cheeks). In addition to ANAGLYPH TOM, three of Jacobs' newest digital shorts, His Favorite Wife Improved (2008), Nymph (2007), and Capitalism: Slavery (2006) were screened.

Jacobs, one of the pioneers of the American avant-garde cinema, has in recent years turned his attention to the possibilities that video and digital technology offer for investigating human perception and the act of viewing. Whether undertaking archaeological journeys to the birth of cinema, or scrutinizing the interstices of new digital technologies, Jacobs' work investigates, provokes, and draws power from the mysteries of human vision. Jacobs was present to introduce and discuss his work.

EAI presented a special event that celebrated new interactive media and video works: open source Web art, hacked video games, restaged and reworked films, girl-band music videos, and underground legends of the downtown music and art scenes. This event was also the official launch of Tux Dog, artist collective Paper Rad's new open source Web project, which is hosted by EAI. Cory Arcangel and members of Paper Rad were present to introduce and demonstrate this new project. In addition to the Web launch, EAI presented a program of new and newly released video projects by multimedia, multigenerational artists, including Cory Arcangel, Cheryl Donegan, Ken Jacobs, Kristin Lucas, Tony Oursler, Pipilotti Rist and Stan VanDerBeek