John Sanborn (born 1954) is a key member of the second wave of American video artists that includes
Bill Viola
Bill Viola ( , ; born 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, d ...
,
Gary Hill
Gary Hill (born April 4, 1951) is an American artist who lives and works in Seattle, Washington. Often viewed as one of the foundational artists in video art, based on the single-channel work and video- and sound-based installations of the 1970s ...
,
Dara Birnbaum
Dara Birnbaum (born 1946) is an American video and installation artist. Birnbaum entered the nascent field of video art in the mid-to-late 1970s challenging the gendered biases of the period and television’s ever-growing presence within the Amer ...
and
Tony Oursler
Tony may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer
* Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
. Sanborn's body of work spans the early days of
experimental video art in the 1970s through the heyday of
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
music/videos and interactive art to digital media art of today.
Overview
Sanborn's work has manifested itself on television ("
Alive from Off Center
''Alive from Off Center'', renamed ''Alive TV'' in 1992, was an American arts anthology television series aired by PBS between 1985 and 1996.
Each week, the series featured experimental short films by a mixture of up-and-coming and established d ...
",
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
, "
Great Performances
''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is p ...
", PBS), video installations ("V+M"), "The Temptation of St. Anthony"), video games (
"Psychic Detective"), Internet experiences ("Paul is Dead", "Dysson") and multi-media art. He is known for collaborations with virtuosic performers, contemporary composers and choreographers. His oeuvre primarily addresses the themes of music, mythology and memory.
Background
In the late 1970s Sanborn was one of the artists-in-residence at
TV Lab at Thirteen/WNET, an experimental environment started by the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
and
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super h ...
as a playpen for video artists to create works for broadcast television. He also created works for the VISA series (originated by Paik) and showed installations at the
Whitney Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, participating in two
Biennial Exhibitions.
In the 1980s Sanborn was an artist-in-residence at the 1980 Winter Olympics "Olympic Fragments" as well as one of the first directors with work appearing on MTV where he created over 30 music/videos including works with
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...
,
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...
,
Sammy Hagar
Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...
,
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...
, Peter Gordon,
Grace Jones
Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...
,
King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
and
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
. At the request of
Jim Fouratt at the nightclub
Danceteria
Danceteria was a nightclub that operated in New York City from 1979 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. The club operated in various locations over the years, a total of three in New York City and four in the Hamptons. The most famous locat ...
, he created the first "video lounge" and hired video artists to
VJ video clips and video art. The lounge became a cultural phenomenon in New York City.
In January 1984 he contributed to "Good Morning Mr. Orwell," a live satellite TV event created by
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super h ...
. With Dean Winkler he orchestrated segments of the show, and their music/video for
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
, "Act III", opened the broadcast.
Long associated with experimental composers, Sanborn developed and directed "Perfect Lives", the seminal opera for television, by composer
Robert Ashley
Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve i ...
. Working closely with Ashley's "band" over the course of 5 years, Sanborn developed a visual language for the opera that set it apart when it premiered in 1983 and has made it an iconic and influential work ever since. The full opera took 5 years to make its way to television, with a "pilot" called "The Lessons" setting the stage for the original work.
Sanborn went on to create his own media operas, including "2 Cubed" commissioned by the electronic arts festival
Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...
, in Linz Austria.
He created performance-based video works for the PBS series "
Alive from Off Center
''Alive from Off Center'', renamed ''Alive TV'' in 1992, was an American arts anthology television series aired by PBS between 1985 and 1996.
Each week, the series featured experimental short films by a mixture of up-and-coming and established d ...
" including "Untitled" with
Bill T. Jones,"Fractured Variations and Visual Shuffle" with
Charles Moulton, "Geography , Metabolism" with Molissa Fenley, "Luminare" with Dean Winkler and music by
Daniel Lentz
Daniel Lentz (born March 10, 1942, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American classical electronic music composer and artist who specializes in sculptured acrylic illuminated manuscripts.
Biography
Lentz achieved notability as a musici ...
, and "Endance" with Tim Buckley. "Sister Suzie Cinema" created for "Alive TV" with
Lee Breuer
Esser Leopold Breuer (February 6, 1937 – January 3, 2021) was an American playwright, theater director, academic, educator, filmmaker, poet, and lyricist. Breuer taught and directed on six continents.
Career
Breuer was a founding co-artistic ...
and
Bob Telson won several awards, including the 1986 Mayor's Medal for the Arts in New York City.
Sanborn's practice has always included collaboration with other artists, including
John Zorn,
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super h ...
,
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music.
Fr ...
,
Peter Lynch (director) Peter Lynch is a Canadian filmmaker, most noted as the director and writer of the documentary films '' Project Grizzly'', '' The Herd'' and ''Cyberman''.
Career
Lynch's 1994 short film ''Arrowhead'', starring Don McKellar, won the Genie Award for ...
,
Peter Vronsky
Peter Vronsky is a Canadian author, filmmaker and investigative historian. He holds a PhD in criminal justice history and espionage in international relations from the University of Toronto. He is the author of the bestseller true crime histori ...
,
David Van Tieghem
David Van Tieghem (born April 21, 1955) is an American composer, percussionist and sound designer, best known for his philosophy of utilizing any available object as a percussion instrument and for his collaborations with the experimental artists ...
,
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; lv, Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 28, 1948) is a Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Latvian-born R ...
,
David Gordon, and
The Residents
The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...
which continues to this day.
Sanborn worked in the early days of High-Definition Television, creating works for
SONY
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
("Infinite Escher"), and
NHK-TV.
Electronic Arts Intermix
Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a nonprofit arts organization that is a resource for video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first develope ...
has distributed his video art since his first project, "The Last Videotapes of Marcel Duchamp." In 2016 Heure Exquise began distributing his work in Europe.
In the 1990s Sanborn worked in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, developing technology based entertainment start-ups ( imoviestudio, The Wireless Fan Club), interactive movies (
"Psychic Detective") and some of the first web-based interactive content ("Paul is Dead") as well as a sit-com for Comedy Central ("Frank Leaves for the Orient") and pilots and scripts for
Columbia Tri-Star Columbia TriStar or Columbia Tristar may refer to:
*Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, now Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
*Columbia TriStar Home Video, later called Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and now Sony Pictures Home Entertainm ...
,
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
, MTV, MGM ("Stargate SG1"), and the National Lampoon.
A project launched by LaFong (Sanborn's partnership with writer Michael Kaplan) was "Dysson," an interactive story where the audience was injected into a murder mystery via e-mail and chat bots. Enrolled without their knowledge into the experience, the response was vivid and reactionary, including a harsh pushback from
Eric Idle of "
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
" fame.
Current work
In the 21st century, while continuing to make art, Sanborn became a corporate creative director for public companies. In 2000 he built a digital division for the basic cable network
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
, and developed in house creative agencies for
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
(2003–2006) and
Shutterfly
Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided im ...
(2006–2014), where he retired with the title of Vice President, Creative Services.
While Sanborn was working in Silicon Valley, he continued making media art, including a collaboration with pianist
Sarah Cahill "A Sweeter Music."
After returning to making media art full-time Sanborn created "PICO" (Performance Indeterminate Cage Opera) a 90-minute live performance "happening" in celebration of the centenary of American Composer
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
. The work featured 8 musicians, six video channels, 32 dancers and over 90 audience participants. It premiered before a sold-out house at the
Berkeley Art Museum
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...
in 2012. Sanborn then turned the live event into a video memoir that played at film and video festivals worldwide.
His feature length works "MMI", "The Planets", "PICO (remix)" and "ALLoT (A Long List of Things)" have played at over 150 international film festivals including the
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977.
History
In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...
(Audience Award), the Houston Worldfest (2 Gold Remi Awards), the Seattle, London, Victoria (Best Experimental Film), Tribeca, and
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
s.
"MMI" is a feature film about Sanborn's adventures in New York in 2001, focused on death and the redemptive power of family. The work premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2002 and was reviewed by ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', "Avant-garde in form yet poignant, funny and accessible, normally acerbic experimental filmmaker John Sanborn's short feature "MMI" unites the political, the personal and the philosophical in one deft package. Reflection on his tumultuous first post-millennial year—one that encompassed a cross-continental move, stressful new job, deaths and 9/11—is an inventive audio/visual collage that carries real emotional heft." MMI has been selected to screen at over 20 festivals worldwide, including the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
(founded by
Robert De Niro) in 2003.
"A Sweeter Music", in collaboration with pianist
Sarah Cahill, is a live performance work with Sarah playing new compositions on the subject of peace inside a 3 channel video projection for each composition. The work premiered in January 2009 at Cal Performances,
and has played in New York at
Merkin Hall
Merkin Hall is a 449-seat concert hall in Manhattan, New York City. The hall, named in honor of Hermann and Ursula Merkin, is part of the Kaufman Music Center, a complex that includes the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school, and the Speci ...
,
Rothko Chapel
The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art: on its walls are fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko in v ...
,
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due ...
,
Dickinson College
, mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts college
, endowment = $645.5 million (2022)
, president = J ...
and the
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977.
History
In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...
.
Sanborn's newest works are media installations addressing questions of identity, cultural truth, memory and the lies we live with every day. "Alterszorn" is a five-channel meditation on aging and the nature of the emotional rewind.
"V+M" is a retelling of the story of Venus and Mars, but with cross-gender couples. The work investigates the balance of power in relationships, the nature of myth making and the origins of desire. The work premiered at Videoformes in March 2015, and showed in San Francisco at SF
Camerawork
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to focus ...
in November 2015 and most recently at the
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC; th, หอศิลปวัฒนธรรมแห่งกรุงเทพมหานคร) is a contemporary arts centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Art, music, theatre, film, design and cultural/educatio ...
as part of the major exhibition "Shifting Horizons: The Media Art of John Sanborn".
Sanborn is collaborating with New York-based composer
Dorian Wallace on a series of media operas, intended to be installed as multi-channel works, as well as performed live. The first is "The Temptation of St. Anthony (or Tony's Troubles)" a version of the classic story that asks the question "what is faith without god?" Anchored by vocal performances by Paul Pinto (Tony) and
Pamela Z
Pamela Z (born 1956) is an American composer, performer, and media artist who is best known for her solo works for voice with electronic processing. In performance, she combines various vocal sounds including operatic bel canto, experimental ex ...
(the Devil) the work is sung in a mash-up of 18th-century chamber vocal music and pop song. Choreographer Robert Dekkers uses metaphoric movement in a parallel framework, integrated by Sanborn into a three-screen projection system to describe the emotional toll of Tony's journey. The work premiered at the
Palais Jacques Coeur
The Palais Jacques Cœur is a large ''hôtel particulier'' built by Jacques Cœur for himself and his family in Bourges, France. Built and decorated in the flamboyant style, it is widely viewed as one of the most prominent examples of French ...
in
Bourges, France as part of the exhibition "A Tale of Two Cities" in 2016.
Sanborn is currently working with gallery scale works, most recently with producer Elisabeth Kepler. His show "Ligne Droit et Cercle" ran in March 2017, featuring intimate studies of consciousness and what we hide from ourselves in order to survive.
A monograph about Sanborn called "Méandres et Média, L’œuvre de John Sanborn" was published in 2016, edited by Stephen Sarrazin and published by Bandits Mages, with contributions from Jean-Paul Fargier, Florian Gaite, Pascal Lièvre,
Dara Birnbaum
Dara Birnbaum (born 1946) is an American video and installation artist. Birnbaum entered the nascent field of video art in the mid-to-late 1970s challenging the gendered biases of the period and television’s ever-growing presence within the Amer ...
,
Bill T. Jones and many others.
Honors
John Sanborn has been granted an honorary Masters of Cinema degree from the
ESEC in Paris and has been named a
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of France.
Collections
*
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
*
Pompidou Center, Paris
*
ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Selected exhibitions
2017
* Ligne Droite et Cercle
** Solo exhibition of six media installations including "The White Album" 2015, "Tue Mon Amour" 2016, "Entre Nous" 2016, and "RED Books" series 2014–2016
** Galerie de l'Angle 45 rue des Tournelles, 75003 Paris
* Video et Apres
** Retrospective screening and discussion with critic Stephen Sarrazin.
**
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
* Ellipsis
** Mixed media installation for video projection and stained glass, music by Dorian Wallace.
**
Videoformes Festival
2016
* A Tale of Two Cities
** Eight installations in two locations in Bourges, France, curated by Stephen Sarrazin and sponsored by Bandits Mages. Works included "The Temptation of St. Anthony" 2016, "Mythic Status" 2014–2016, "Rhyme or Reason" 2015
* Folle de Toi
** Video installation in tribute to Nam June Paik.
** The Trace(s) Festival in Pont Saint Esprit, France.
* Shifting Horizons
** Solo exhibition of 8 media art works. The show included "resound (remake)" 1982, V+M 2015, Mythic Status 2015 and the premiere of Alterszorn, a 5 channel work about aging.
**
The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
2015
* Dowsing for Divinity
** Gallery show of media artworks at Cartel Collective, Berlin
** Curated by Stephen Sarrazin.
* Rhyme or Reason
** 3 Channel video and sound installation, music by
Theresa Wong, 15-minute loop.
** Premiered a
Trace(s) Festivalat the Chartreuse de la Valbonne, France
* V+M
** 9 Channel video and sound installation, music by Theresa Wong, 35-minute loop
** Co-produced by and premiered at
Videoformes in Clermont-Ferrand, France; shown at
SF Camerawork, November 2015
BACC, March 2016
2012
* PICO (Performance Indeterminate Cage Opera)
** 90 minute live interactive performance event celebrating the centennial of composer
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
), September 14, 2012
**
Berkeley Art Museum
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...
.
2011
* The Planets
** Directed by John Sanborn, music by
Kyle Gann
Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) an ...
, 77 min.
** The film premiered at the
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977.
History
In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...
in October 2011, before being shown at over a dozen film festivals, worldwide.
** The work is also the media element in a live performance of "The Planets" by
Relache.
** The first live performance was in September 2012, at the
Barnes Foundation
The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Penn ...
.
2009
* A Sweeter Music , (Live Performance)
** Created with pianist
Sarah Cahill, live evening-length performance with 3 channel video projection, premiered at Cal Performances, January 2009, Berkeley, CA
** Composers included
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
,
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for ...
,
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...
,
The Residents
The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...
,
Kyle Gann
Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) an ...
,
Phil Kline
Phil Kline (born 1953) is an American composer, sound artist, and performer most recognized for his '' Unsilent Night'' (1992) and ''Zippo Songs'' (2004). Beginning as a guitarist and singer in the New York City art punk scene, Kline has since ...
, and
Jerome Kitzke
Jerome Kitzke (born 1955) is a composer who grew up along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
History
He received his B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and moved to ...
.
2004
* 365 degrees, the angle of incidents
** Video Installation, 7 channel projection (each 1-hour loops) with stereo sound, and prop tree festooned with memory ribbons.
**
Festival Videoformes, Clermont Ferrand, France
1997
* Tunnel of Love
** Video Installation, 12 channels (5 minute loops each), stereo sound, built into a plaster tunnel.
** Created for the
Festival Videoformes in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
1995
* The 39 Steps , Interactive Story Web
** As an artist in residence at
The Exploratorium in San Francisco, Sanborn created an interactive Story Web in a custom built living room inside the museum.
1990
* Woman Window Square
** Video projections by John Sanborn for a live performance for the
Margaret Jenkins
Margaret Jenkins (born 1942) is a postmodern choreographer based in San Francisco, California. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1980 and in 2003, San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, declared April 24 to be Margaret Jenkins Day.
Biography
Jenkins ...
Dance Company.
1989
* The Arts for Television
** MOMA, April 20-May 30, 1989
1986
* 2 cubed
** 90 minute live media opera
**
Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...
1985
* Music Video: The Industry and Its Fringes
** MOMA, September 6-October 15, 1985
1983
* Video Art: A History
** MOMA, October 3, 1983 January 3, 1984
* Performance Video
** MOMA June 30–August 9, 1983
1981
* resound
** 8 channel video and sound installation
**
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
1979
* Spectator
** Video installation presented at The Kitchen Center.
** The work used a live camera to mix the image of the audience with pre-recorded video bringing them into intimate contact with a couple having an argument.
1978
* Projects Video XVI
*
MOMA February 6-April 2, 1978
Selected works
* ''Spray-On Video''
** 00.34
** 1977
* ''Interpolation''
** 30.33
** 1978
** Created by John Sanborn and Kit Fitzgerald, produced by the TV Lab at WNET
* ''Static''
** Episode
** 5.36
** 1981
** With ''
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian ( hy, Էրիկ Բոգոսյան; ; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and a ...
, Jo Bonnie''
* ''A Tribute to Nam June Paik''
** 25.49
** 1982
* ''Ear to the Ground''
** 4.27
** 1982
** With
David Van Tieghem
David Van Tieghem (born April 21, 1955) is an American composer, percussionist and sound designer, best known for his philosophy of utilizing any available object as a percussion instrument and for his collaborations with the experimental artists ...
* ''Act III''
** 6.30
** 1983
** Created by John Sanborn and Dean Winkler, music by
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
* ''The Lessons'' (Music, Word, Fire & I Would Do It Again)
** 1984
** 28.34
** created with support from the
TV Lab at Thirteen/WNET
* ''Perfect Lives''
** 184.08
** 1986
** Composed by
Robert Ashley
Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve i ...
, Directed by John Sanborn, produced by Carlotta Schoolman and the Kitchen, commissioned by Great Britain's Channel 4, 7 episodes each 26.30
* ''Galaxy''
** 5.20
** 1987
** Created by John Sanborn, with
David Van Tieghem
David Van Tieghem (born April 21, 1955) is an American composer, percussionist and sound designer, best known for his philosophy of utilizing any available object as a percussion instrument and for his collaborations with the experimental artists ...
* ''Untitled''
** 10.44
** 1989
** Directed by John Sanborn for "Alive From Off Center" PBS, choreography by
Bill T. Jones
* ''Sitting on Top of the World''
** 5.12
** 1992
** Created by John Sanborn, music and performance by Rinde Eckert
* ''Quirky''
** 29.35
** 1992
* ''MMI''
** 61.00
** 2002
* ''A Sweeter Music''
** various
** 2009–2012
* A series of music inspired videos created with pianist
Sarah Cahill, and based on the live performance series of the same name
** "Peace Dances"
***
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...
*** 14.27
** "War is Just a Racket"
***
Kyle Gann
Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) an ...
*** 9.27
** "Be Kind to One Another"
***
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for ...
*** 12.58
** "The Long Winter"
***
Phil Kline
Phil Kline (born 1953) is an American composer, sound artist, and performer most recognized for his '' Unsilent Night'' (1992) and ''Zippo Songs'' (2004). Beginning as a guitarist and singer in the New York City art punk scene, Kline has since ...
*** 13.12
** "Toning"
***
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
*** 6.52
** "drum no fife"
***
The Residents
The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...
*** 9.15
** "There is a Field"
***
Jerome Kitzke
Jerome Kitzke (born 1955) is a composer who grew up along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
History
He received his B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and moved to ...
*** 17.35
** "Steppe Music (excerpts)"
***
Meredith Monk
Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording ...
*** 8.09
* 'PICO'' (remix)''
** ''75.46''
** ''2013''
** Created by John Sanborn, 76 min. Music by
Theresa Wong,
Luciano Chessa
Luciano Chessa (, born January 12, 1971, in Sassari, Italy) is a musician, performance/visual/installation artist, and musicologist.
As a composer, conductor, pianist, and musical saw / Đàn bầu, Vietnamese dan bau soloist, Luciano Chessa ha ...
,
Negativland
Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The co ...
,
Sarah Cahill and
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
.
* ''V+M''
** 32.38
** 2015
* ALLoT (A Long List of Things)
** A video memoir created by John Sanborn, music by David Meyer, 90 min. 2014
* ''Tassel''
** 9.12
** 2016
** Directed by John Sanborn, performed by The Living Earth Show and Post:Ballet* choreography by Robert Dekkers, music composed by
Anna Meredith
Anna Howard Meredith (born 12 January 1978) is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Si ...
* ''I Don't Care''
** 4.21
** 2015
** Song written by David Meyer and John Sanborn
* ''The Temptation of St. Anthony''
** 35.00
** 2016
** Media opera written by Dorian Wallace (music) and John Sanborn (words) with performers
Pamela Z
Pamela Z (born 1956) is an American composer, performer, and media artist who is best known for her solo works for voice with electronic processing. In performance, she combines various vocal sounds including operatic bel canto, experimental ex ...
, Paul Pinto and Charlotte Mundy, with choreography by Robert Dekkers
References
Further reading
* Heide Hagebölling, ''Interactive Dramaturgies: New Approaches in Multimedia Content and Design'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2004
* Christine Van Assche, ''Video et Apres: La Collection video du Musee National d'Art Moderne'', Centre Georges Pompidou, 1992
* Timothy Druckrey, ''Ars Electronica : Facing the Future : A Survey of Two Decades'', The MIT Press (July 30, 1999),
* Elizabeth Chitty, John Hanhardt, Peter Lynch, Robin White, Bruce Ferguson, ''Prime Time Video'', Saskatoon : Mendel Art Gallery, 1984,
* The Whitney Museum of American Art, ''1979 Biennial Exhibition'', New York : Whitney Museum, 1979,
* The Whitney Museum of American Art, ''1981 Biennial Exhibition'', New York : Whitney Museum, 1981,
* Bernard Blistène, Christine Van Assche, ''L'époque, la mode, la morale, la passion : Aspects de l'art d'aujourd'hui, 1977–1987'', Paris : Ed. du Centre Pompidou, 1987,
* Eugeni Bonet, Desmontaje : ''Film, Video/Apropiacion, Reciclaje'', Valencia : IVAM. Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, D.L. 1993,
* Rob Perree, ''Into Video Art : The Characteristics of a Medium = Into Video Art : De Karakteristieken von een Medium'', Rotterdam : CON Rumore, ©1988,
* Cynthia Goodman, ''Digital Visions : Computers and Art, Syracuse : Everson Museum of Art'', 1987, Syracuse : Everson Museum of Art, 1987,
* Rosetta Brooks, Anne-Marie Duguet, and Kathy Rae Huffman, ''The Arts for Television, The Museum of Contemporary Art'' * Amsterdam : Stedelijk Museum, cop. 1987, ,
* Alex Adriaansens, Valerie Lamontagne, ''Deuxième Manifestation Internationale Vidéo et Art Électronique, Montréal, 1995'', Montréal : Champ libre, 1995,
* Ursula Block, Michael Glasmeier, ''Broken Music Artist's Recordworks'', Berlin : Den Haag : Grenoble : Daadgalerie : Gemeentemuseum : Magasin, 1989 ,
* Judy Mitoma, ''Envisioning Dance on Film and Video'', London, New York : Routledge, ©2001, ,
* Horace Newcomb, ''Encyclopedia of Television'', New York : Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004,
* Malin Hedlin Hayden, ''Video Art Historicized: Traditions and Negotiations'', Farnham Taylor and Francis 2016 ©2015,
* Michael Rush, ''Video Art'', London: Thames & Hudson 2007,
* Doug Hall, ''Illuminating Video: An Essential Guide To Video Art'', New York, NY: Aperture in association with Bay Area Video Coalition, 1991,
VIVO Media Arts Video Guide 11/90Wired Wonders, WIRED Magazine, June 1993* Stephen Holden,
The New York Times, October 2, 1987
* Vivien Raynor
, The New York Times, October 21, 1981
ARS ELECTRONIC CATALOG 1986
External links
John Sanborn’s website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanborn, John
1954 births
Living people
People from Huntington, New York
American video artists
American installation artists