“A Series of Questions for Experimental Film and Video Programmers.” OtherZine 27 (Fall 2014). Printed in Canyon Cinemazine 3 (2015): 22.

Are you taking enough chances?
If you had to choose, which would you rather be: rigorous, or risky?
Would you characterize your taste as specific or diverse?
Do you pride yourself on challenging your audience?
How do you challenge your own boundaries and limitations?
How much of an obligation do you have to the audience?
Do you have an obligation to foster an audience?
Have you provided your audience with proper program notes?
Are you guilty of ArtSpeak?
Do you view yourself as an authority figure? Why or why not?
Are you more worried about your own career than you are about opening the door for emerging artists who show potential?
Do you have “good” taste?  What does this mean?
What is your obligation to canonized experimental film and video artists?
What is your obligation to your local experimental film and video community?
Do you consider yourself a member of your local experimental film and video community?
Do they consider you a member?
Do you feel you have any obligation to fostering a local scene?
Do you consider yourself a conservative programmer?
Does this promote a conservative experimental film and video scene?
Is this an oxymoron?
Has the avant-garde become conservative?
Is fun only reserved for after the screening has finished?
Do you reject “outstanding” work when it doesn’t fit your curatorial vision?
Do you attempt to find a place for this work?
Are the artists being paid?
Are you being paid?

Responses

Nothing to See Here

Nothing To See Here was a collaborative art project by Christina Battle + Adán De La Garza in Denver. Dedicated to exhibiting contemporary media art, Nothing To See Here offered a home for under represented artistic mediums including: Sound, Performance, Media Installation, Film and Video. By highlighting strong media artworks being made in Denver; exposing the Denver community to artists working outside of the region; and remunerating artists for their work, Nothing To See Here filled a void in Colorado’s Contemporary Art scene.

our answers are below. this series of questions is so awesome and pertinent – especially today where it feels like there is a real separation across audiences of moving image. Thanks for making us think about all this!
love,
Nothing To See Here (in Denver)

Are you taking enough chances?
yes.

If you had to choose, which would you rather be: rigorous, or risky?
risky.

Would you characterize your taste as specific or diverse?
specifically diverse (we like a lot of shit).

Do you pride yourself on challenging your audience?
hell yes.

How do you challenge your own boundaries and limitations?
by constantly trying to one up ourselves. by trying to formulate something that we would want to see happen.

How much of an obligation do you have to the audience?
not much.

Do you have an obligation to foster an audience?
yes. we’re trying to foster an audience that is open to new things. you’re either into it or you’re not. we want to be as honest as much as we can about what it is we’re trying to do and not compromise ourselves.

Have you provided your audience with proper program notes?
 always. in multiple formats (online, print).

Are you guilty of ArtSpeak?
kind of but we don’t see a problem with that – we’re artists.

Do you view yourself as an authority figure? Why or why not?
absolutely not. we’re anti-authority and don’t assume that role.

Are you more worried about your own career than you are about opening the door for emerging artists who show potential?
no. in fact we show things made by people that may not self-identify as artists at all.

Do you have “good” taste?  What does this mean?
we think we have good taste but others might not. we show things we like and that reflect our interests. if that’s good then we have good taste. if its bad then we have bad taste. we just like what we like.

What is your obligation to canonized experimental film and video artists?
zero.

What is your obligation to your local experimental film and video community?
we’re trying – there sort of isn’t one here. that’s why we do what we do.

Do you consider yourself a member of your local experimental film and video community?
yes.

Do they consider you a member?
yes.

Do you feel you have any obligation to fostering a local scene?
obligation implies there being some sort of guilt attached. we want there to be local community.

Do you consider yourself a conservative programmer?
no.

Does this promote a conservative experimental film and video scene?
it would.

Is this an oxymoron?
totally.

Has the avant-garde become conservative?
 yes, probably, some of it. it depends on how you define it. the declaring of the “avant-garde” seems like an oxymoron.

Is fun only reserved for after the screening has finished?
fuck no.

Do you reject “outstanding” work when it doesn’t fit your curatorial vision?
we would hold it in mind until we could find the best fit to show it.

Do you attempt to find a place for this work?
yes.

Are the artists being paid?
yes, as much as we can. we wish it was more.

Are you being paid?
no. we wish.