Archives of American Art Acquires Extensive Audio and Video Recordings and Records of “Artists Talk On Art”

From the Archives of American Art/Smithsonian:

The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art announced today that it has acquired the records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA), including audio and video recordings of more than 500 panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. The most extensive audiovisual collection that the Archives has ever acquired, the gift features the voices of thousands of artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators, and writers, talking about issues in the American art world from 1975 to 2015.
Founded in New York in 1974, and still active today, ATOA is the art world’s longest-running panel discussion series, organized by artists for artists.  ATOA’s gift to the Archives consists of the original recordings in a variety of formats, including audio cassettes, U-Matic and VHS videotape, and mini-DVDs, as well as flyers, photographs, meeting minutes, reports, and other documentation.  Along with the original material, ATOA digitized its complete collection of audio and video recordings–more than 60 terabytes of digital data—and donated them, too.
ATOA’s recordings chronicle the American art world, covering critical discussions and significant art world issues over five decades. Thousands of artists such as Will Barnet, Louise Bourgeois, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Robert De Niro, Agnes Denes, Michael Goldberg, Robert Longo, Ana Mendieta, Robert Morris, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Philip Pavia, Larry Rivers, Sylvia Sleigh, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and others speak about their work. ATOA’s live speaking engagements, many of which were excerpted in Judy Seigel’s book Mutiny and the Mainstream: Talk That Changed Art, 1975-1990, provide a major primary source for the history of American art.

Read the Complete Announcement
 

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, News, Reports, Video Recordings