Phil Morton
Encyclopedia
Phil Morton was an influential Video artist and activist who founded the Video Area in 1970 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he taught from 1969 - 1981/1982.
. The Video Area eventually became the Video Department, which later became part of the Film, Video & New Media Department. Phil Morton also founded The Video Data Bank, one of the world's leading collections of Video art
. The Video Data Bank was originally conceived of as a collection of shared resources for and projects by the students of the Video Area as well as an archive for documentation of the visiting artists and activities in the Video Area. Frequent visitors and collaborators in the Video Area during the 1970s included Steina and Woody Vasulka
, Gene Youngblood
, Dan Sandin, Timothy Leary
, Barbara Buckner and many other active and founding members of the early Video art
community. Morton introduced analog and digital computers into the curriculum of the Video Area and the School in the 1970s through the use of the Sandin Image Processor
, a patch-programmable analog computer
optimized for video processing and synthesis developed from 1971 - 1973, and The Bally Astrocade
Arcade Video Game System, a programmable home video game console developed in 1974.
Morton's playful, critical, self-reflexive and conversational Video art
works, projects and performances often involved ongoing collaborations. In particular, Morton collaborated extensively with artists Jane Veeder, Dan Sandin, Tom DeFanti and Jamie Fenton
. In 1973, Morton asked Dan Sandin if he could build the first copy of Sandin's original Sandin Image Processor. Sandin and Morton then began to work together to create the schematic plans for the Sandin Image Processor, a document they called the Distribution Religion. Through The Distribution Religion, Sandin open sourced his Sandin Image Processor
, giving the plans away for only the cost of making Xerox copies and mailing them while incorporating any additions or modifications made by those who built their own Sandin Image Processor
into any further releases of the Distribution Religion.
Morton developed an approach he called COPY-IT-RIGHT, an anti-copyright approach to making and freely sharing Media art. The Distribution Religion and Morton's individual and collaborative Media art works were released under his COPY-IT-RIGHT license. COPY-IT-RIGHT encouraged people to make faithful copies, caring for and distributing the work as widely as possible.
works were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art
(New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
, the Iverson Museum of Art (New York) and the 1975 São Paulo Art Biennial
(Brazil). His Video art
works were also shown on television stations such as WNET
(New York), WGBH
(Boston) and WTTW
(Chicago) and reviewed in magazines such as Artforum
and New Art Examiner
. In 2007 the "Distribution Religion" exhibition at The Art Gallery of Knoxville was inspired by and featured the work of Phil Morton.
The Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive (located in the Film, Video & New Media Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) seeks to coordinate and freely distribute Phil Morton's Media art work and associated research under Morton's COPY-IT-RIGHT license. jonCates initiated the Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive in 2007 after receiving a generous donation of Phil Morton's personal video archive/database from Morton's surviving partner Barb Abramo. The Film, Video & New Media Department presented "COPY-IT-RIGHT! Selections from The Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive" at The Gene Siskel Film Center on Thursday, February 15 2007. The program included excerpts from Morton's "General Motors" and the complete works of "Program # 9 (Amateur TV)" by Morton and Veeder and "SAIC Memo".
"We are all star stuff" - Lenka Dolonova (2007) Umelec international 1/2007
"Distribution Religion" - Phil Morton and Dan Sandin (1973)
"Whose Idea Is It Anyway?" - Deanna Isaacs (2007) The Chicago Reader
2/2/2007
Phil Morton's Video art
on Google Video
Phil Morton documents on the Vasulka Archive
Phil Morton's CV from the Vasulka Archive
Biography
The Video Area that Morton founded was the first department in the United States to offer erectile degrees in Video artVideo art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
. The Video Area eventually became the Video Department, which later became part of the Film, Video & New Media Department. Phil Morton also founded The Video Data Bank, one of the world's leading collections of Video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
. The Video Data Bank was originally conceived of as a collection of shared resources for and projects by the students of the Video Area as well as an archive for documentation of the visiting artists and activities in the Video Area. Frequent visitors and collaborators in the Video Area during the 1970s included Steina and Woody Vasulka
Steina and Woody Vasulka
Steina Vasulka and Woody Vasulka are pioneers of video art, having practiced in the genre since its early days in the late 1960s....
, Gene Youngblood
Gene Youngblood
Gene Youngblood is a theorist of media arts and politics, and a respected scholar in the history and theory of alternative cinemas. His Expanded Cinema , the first book to consider video as an art form, was influential in establishing the field of media arts as a recognized artistic and scholarly...
, Dan Sandin, Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
, Barbara Buckner and many other active and founding members of the early Video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
community. Morton introduced analog and digital computers into the curriculum of the Video Area and the School in the 1970s through the use of the Sandin Image Processor
Sandin Image Processor
The Sandin Image Processor is a video synthesizer, usually introduced as the "video equivalent of a Moog audio synthesizer," invented by Dan Sandin. That is, it accepted basic video signals and mixed and modified them in a fashion similar to what a Moog synthesizer did with audio...
, a patch-programmable analog computer
Analog computer
An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved...
optimized for video processing and synthesis developed from 1971 - 1973, and The Bally Astrocade
Bally Astrocade
The Astrocade is an early video game console and simple computer system designed by a team at Midway, the videogame division of Bally. It was marketed only for a limited time before Bally decided to exit the market. The rights were later picked up by a third-party company, who re-released it and...
Arcade Video Game System, a programmable home video game console developed in 1974.
Morton's playful, critical, self-reflexive and conversational Video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
works, projects and performances often involved ongoing collaborations. In particular, Morton collaborated extensively with artists Jane Veeder, Dan Sandin, Tom DeFanti and Jamie Fenton
Jamie Fenton
Jamie Faye Fenton is a game programmer. She is known for being the programmer of the 1981 hit arcade game, Gorf, before she transitioned from male to female around 1998. The community of transgendered people is a place where Jamie has been active...
. In 1973, Morton asked Dan Sandin if he could build the first copy of Sandin's original Sandin Image Processor. Sandin and Morton then began to work together to create the schematic plans for the Sandin Image Processor, a document they called the Distribution Religion. Through The Distribution Religion, Sandin open sourced his Sandin Image Processor
Sandin Image Processor
The Sandin Image Processor is a video synthesizer, usually introduced as the "video equivalent of a Moog audio synthesizer," invented by Dan Sandin. That is, it accepted basic video signals and mixed and modified them in a fashion similar to what a Moog synthesizer did with audio...
, giving the plans away for only the cost of making Xerox copies and mailing them while incorporating any additions or modifications made by those who built their own Sandin Image Processor
Sandin Image Processor
The Sandin Image Processor is a video synthesizer, usually introduced as the "video equivalent of a Moog audio synthesizer," invented by Dan Sandin. That is, it accepted basic video signals and mixed and modified them in a fashion similar to what a Moog synthesizer did with audio...
into any further releases of the Distribution Religion.
Morton developed an approach he called COPY-IT-RIGHT, an anti-copyright approach to making and freely sharing Media art. The Distribution Religion and Morton's individual and collaborative Media art works were released under his COPY-IT-RIGHT license. COPY-IT-RIGHT encouraged people to make faithful copies, caring for and distributing the work as widely as possible.
Major achievements
During his life, Morton's Video artVideo art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
works were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
, the Iverson Museum of Art (New York) and the 1975 São Paulo Art Biennial
São Paulo Art Biennial
The São Paulo Art Biennial was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial , which serves as its role model....
(Brazil). His Video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
works were also shown on television stations such as WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
(New York), WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
(Boston) and WTTW
WTTW
WTTW channel 11 is one of three Public Broadcasting Service member public television stations serving the Chicago, Illinois market; the others are WYCC and WYIN. WTTW began broadcasting on September 6, 1955 and it is owned and operated by Window to the World Communications, Inc., a not-for-profit...
(Chicago) and reviewed in magazines such as Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
and New Art Examiner
New Art Examiner
New Art Examiner was a Chicago-based art magazine. Founded in October 1973 by Derek Guthrie and Jane Addams Allen. Publication ceased in 2002.November 2011 will see the release of Essential New Art Examiner, an Anthology of representative articles and editors...
. In 2007 the "Distribution Religion" exhibition at The Art Gallery of Knoxville was inspired by and featured the work of Phil Morton.
The Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive (located in the Film, Video & New Media Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) seeks to coordinate and freely distribute Phil Morton's Media art work and associated research under Morton's COPY-IT-RIGHT license. jonCates initiated the Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive in 2007 after receiving a generous donation of Phil Morton's personal video archive/database from Morton's surviving partner Barb Abramo. The Film, Video & New Media Department presented "COPY-IT-RIGHT! Selections from The Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive" at The Gene Siskel Film Center on Thursday, February 15 2007. The program included excerpts from Morton's "General Motors" and the complete works of "Program # 9 (Amateur TV)" by Morton and Veeder and "SAIC Memo".
External links
- Phil Morton in the Video Data Bank
"We are all star stuff" - Lenka Dolonova (2007) Umelec international 1/2007
"Distribution Religion" - Phil Morton and Dan Sandin (1973)
"Whose Idea Is It Anyway?" - Deanna Isaacs (2007) The Chicago Reader
The Chicago Reader
The Chicago Reader is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded in 1971 by a group of friends from Carleton College...
2/2/2007
Phil Morton's Video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
on Google Video
Google Video
Google Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
Phil Morton documents on the Vasulka Archive
Phil Morton's CV from the Vasulka Archive