Phil Morton (1945–2003) was an influential American

video artist 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. ...

and activist who founded the Video Area in 1970 at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

, where he taught for many years.

Biography

The Video Area that Morton founded was the first department in the United States to offer college degrees 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 ...

, through the

. The Video Area eventually became the Video Department, which later became part of the Film, Video & New Media Department. Frequent visitors and collaborators in the Video Area during the 1970s included

Steina and Woody Vasulka Steina Vasulka (born Steinunn Briem Bjarnadottir in 1940)
Soros Center for Contemporary Arts Budapest and Woody Vasul ...

Gene Youngblood Gene Youngblood (May 30, 1942 – April 6, 2021) was an American theorist of media arts and politics, and a respected scholar in the history and theory of alternative cinemas. His best-known book, ''Expanded Cinema'', was the first to consider vi ...

, Dan Sandin,

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

, Barbara Buckner and many other active and founding members of the early

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 The Sandin Image Processor is a video synthesizer, usually introduced as invented by Daniel J. Sandin, Dan Sandin and designed between 1971 and 1974.analog computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In c ...

optimized for video processing and synthesis developed from 1971 - 1973, and The

Bally Astrocade The ''Bally'' ''Astrocade'' (also known as ''Bally Arcade'' or initially as ''Bally ABA-1000'') is a second-generation home video game console and simple computer system designed by a team at Midway, at that time the videogame division of Bally. ...

Arcade Video Game System, a programmable home video game console developed in 1974. Morton's playful, critical, self-reflexive and conversational

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 Faye Fenton (born Jay Fenton) is a game programmer best known for the 1981 arcade game '' Gorf'' and for being one of the creators of MacroMind's VideoWorks software (since renamed Macromedia Director). Jamie has been active in the transgende ...

Copy-it-right

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 The Sandin Image Processor is a video synthesizer, usually introduced as invented by Daniel J. Sandin, Dan Sandin and designed between 1971 and 1974.Sandin Image Processor The Sandin Image Processor is a video synthesizer, usually introduced as invented by Daniel J. Sandin, Dan Sandin and designed between 1971 and 1974.Media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D prin ...

. The Distribution Religion and Morton's individual and collaborative

Media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D prin ...

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.

Exhibitions

During his life, Morton's

works were exhibited at the

Museum of Modern Art 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 ...

(New York), the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) 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 ...

, the Iverson Museum of Art (New York) and the 1975

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial (Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') 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 Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

(Brazil). His

works were also shown on television stations such as

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

(New York),

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

(Boston) and

WTTW WTTW (channel 11) is a PBS member television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by not-for-profit broadcaster Window to the World Communications, Inc., it is sister to commercial classical music radio station WFMT (98.7 FM). The ...

(Chicago) and reviewed in magazines such as

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

and

New Art Examiner The ''New Art Examiner'' was an international magazine of critical art thinking founded in Chicago, Illinois, in October 1973 by Derek Guthrie and Jane Addams Allen. Publication ceased in 2002. As of 2023 there are two publications using the na ...

. In 2007 the "Distribution Religion" exhibition at The Art Gallery of Knoxville was inspired by and featured the work of Phil Morton.

Legacy

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

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". Morton's work still maintains relevance and importance in the history of New Media. ''General Motors'' in 2018 was exhibited at the Chicago New Media 1973-1992 exhibition, curated by jonCates. A lot of the videos he collected in the Video Data Bank archive were also included in the exhibition.

References

The Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), 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 by ...

2/2/2007
Phil Morton's Video art on YouTube

Phil Morton documents on the Vasulka Archive

Phil Morton's CV from the Vasulka Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Phil American video artists American digital artists 1945 births 2003 deaths

Biography

Copy-it-right

Exhibitions

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links