Authorized to Surrender: A Video Retrospective 1977-1990

On view in the Bartos Theater
Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5PM

Tony Conrad organized a single compilation of his videos for public installation and screening: Authorized to Surrender, which featured videos created between 1977 and 1990 and was presented daily during the artist’s 1991 exhibition at The Kitchen in New York. However, beginning in the 1980s, Conrad was regularly invited to present and speak about his videos at museums, galleries, and art centers around the world, and his work was featured in important video festivals and touring group video compilations. At the same time, he began sharing his work on different public access platforms. Such formats and platforms were how the majority of new video art was seen during this period, however, these were usually one-off screenings, and none of Conrad’s later videos were shared for distribution. Reckoning with Conrad’s vast and incredibly rich video production will hopefully be the subject of a future, more focused exhibition survey, but in order to better represent the scope of Conrad’s practice within this retrospective, the exhibition’s curators have chosen to include an additional selection of videos in the Bartos Theater.

Part 1. Snapshot History

Studio of the Streets #27, 1991, 20 minutes

The Far Away Look, 1988, 23 minutes

Teddy Tells Jokes, 1980, 4 minutes

Long-shot/Run/Dead, 1986, 11 minutes

 
Part 2. The Subject is Sex(un)less: Spotting Gender

Combat Status Go, 1981, 10 minutes

In Line, 1985, 7 minutes

Run Dick, Run Jane, 1985, 3 minutes

Concord Ultimatum, 1977, 10 minutes

Eye Contact, 1985, 8 minutes

An Immense Majority, 1987, 7 minutes

Vidi Vici: Narrative and the Death of Desire, 1988, 11 minutes

 
Part 3. Praxis Spaces

Weak Bodies and Strong Wills, 1986, 5 minutes

Height 100, 1983, 8 minutes

Your Friend, 1982–85, 10 minutes

Movie Show, 1977, 4 minutes

Redressing Down, 1988, 18 minutes

No Europe, 1990, 14 minutes

 
Part 4. The Science of (Ob)serving

Ipso Facto, 1985, 7 minutes

Research: Knowing With Television, 1983–85, 7 minutes

Cycles of 3’s and 7’s, 1977, 12 minutes

Suckerman, 1986, 8 minutes

Sip Twice, Sandry, 1983, 1 minute

Lookers, 1984, 3 minutes