New Television Workshop Collection

New Television Workshop Collection Program MaterialsSpecials, Pilots, and Fills

Living with the Living Theater

Extent:
1 videocassette of 1 (28 1/2 min.) : sd., col. ; 3/4 in.
1 videocassette of 1 (Betacam SP) (28 1/2 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
1 videocassette of 1 (D3) (28 1/2 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
1 videocassette of 1 (VHS) (28 1/2 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
1 folder

Copyright Date:
1989

Copyright Holder:
Nam June Paik

Artists:
Paik, Nam June
Connors, Betsy
Garrin, Paul

Background:
Susan Dowling and Nam June Paik went to WGBH president Henry Becton, who gave support towards the completion of the work. This work was never broadcast because Paik did not have rights to some of the material used.

Scope:
Betacam SP and D3 preservation masters and a VHS screening copy of this work were created from the 3/4" copy of this work.
One folder contains correspondence from Paik to WGBH concerning the production of the program.

"Living with the Living Theater," 1989, was created by video artist Nam June Paik with Betsy Connors and Paul Garrin, and is a documentary-style look at Judith Malina and Julian Beck of the experimental Living Theater drama group. In Paik's style, the footage is played backwards, forwards, and at odd speeds. Segments are juxtaposed with little explanation as to their relationship. Scenes witnessed include interviews with Malina, Beck, the poet Jackson Mac Low and the painter Iris Lezak about communal living and parenting; their children responding to this interview footage; Malina, Beck, and others smoking marijuana at the grave of Mikhail Bakhunin; footage of the Living Theater performing in Berlin in 1967; a news clip of Paik's robot being hit by a car; and Beck's funeral. Rock music by the likes of Janis Joplin and Madonna permeates the work.



Funder:
WGBH Educational Foundation

Subjects:
Experimental theater
Family
Parenting

Beck, Julian
Malina, Judith


Genres:
Documentaries and factual works


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