David Blair is a motion picture artist, known for his work in
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...
.
Career
His first feature, the 1991 cult hit
''
Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees
''Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees'' is the first independent feature film by American filmmaker and artist David Blair. It was also the first film on the Internet.
Synopsis
Blair performs in the film, which additionally features ...
'', was funded with public arts grants, and a co-production with
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
, German Television. After European broadcast, a 16mm print opened theatrically to excellent reviews at the
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...
in New York, and then copies of that print played cinemas in 26 U.S. cities, further copying themselves for later theatrical play in Japan and Australia. Blair performs in the film. On May 23, 1993, a VHS copy of ''Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees'' was the first film streamed across the Internet, with the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' declaring it a “historic event."
References
External links
Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees feature film
Waxweb web version of Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees
The First Movie On The Internet, Volumes A-G feature film series
Documentation of The Telepathic Place: Installations of the Telepathic Motion Picture of THE LOST TRIBES
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, David
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American video artists
Collage filmmakers