The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
ATOA's recordings chronicle the American art world, covering critical discussions and significant art world issues over five decades. Thousands of artists such as Will Barnet, Louise Bourgeois, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Robert De Niro, Agnes Denes, Michael Goldberg, Robert Longo, Ana Mendieta, Robert Morris, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Philip Pavia, Howardena Pindell, Larry Rivers, Sylvia Sleigh, Kahinde Wiley, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and others speak about their work. The original recordings exist in a variety of formats, including U-Matic and VHS videotape, MiniDVs, sound cassettes and sound tape reels. ATOA digitized most of the video and sound recordings prior to donating the collection.
The collection also includes printed histories, board and program committee meeting minutes, financial statements, general correspondence files of the president and chair, attendance statistics, grant files, panel participant release forms, sixteen panel transcripts, a complete set of panel flyers (many are annotated) and other printed materials, three dismantled scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panels and panel participants.
Arrangement:
The records are arranged into nine series.
Series 1: Adminstrative Files, 1974-2013 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 2: Director's and Chairman's Correspondence, 1977-2006 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 3: Grant Files, 1977-2009 (1 linear foot, Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Panel Release Forms, 1978-2012 (1 linear foot, Boxes 2-3)
Series 6: Printed Materials, 1975-2015 (0.8 linear feet, Boxes 3-4; 0.434 GB, ER02)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1975-1989 (0.2 linear feet, Box 4)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, circa 1975-circa 2000 (1 linear foot, Boxes 4-5)
Series 9: Video and Sound Recordings of Events, 1977-2016 (59 linear feet, Boxes 6-65; 317.43 GB, ER03-ER04)
Biographical / Historical:
Established in 1974 and still active in New York, Artists Talk on Art is the art world's longest running and most prolific aesthetic panel discussion series organized by artists for artists. Founded by Lori Antonacci, Douglas I. Sheer, and Robert Wiegand, the forum has presented 6,000 artists in nearly 1,000 documented panels or dialogues. ATOA held its first panel, "Whatever Happened to Public Art," on January 10, 1975 and it drew a "crowd" of 77 people. In the decades that followed, ATOA presented dozens of panels or dialogues a year, tackling such diverse topics as "What is Happening with Conceptual Art," with Louise Lawler and Lawrence Weiner; "Painting and Photography: Defining the Difference," with Sarah Charlesworth, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, and Robert Mapplethorpe; "Organizing Arts Activism," with Lucy Lippard; "The Artist and the Epidemic—an information panel about AIDS"; "Cross-generational Views of Feminism"; and hundreds more.
Provenance:
The Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) records, including digital files of the video and sound recordings, were donated to the Archives in 2016 by Douglas Sheer, Chairman of ATOA.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Six scrapbooks compiled by Hank Leininger documenting the construction of Valley Curtain and Running Fence by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Included are engineering calculations, color and b&w photos, and clippings.
Biographical / Historical:
Leininger was the project engineer for two well-known site-specific works by environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Valley Curtain in Rifle, Colorado, and Running Fence in California.
Provenance:
Donated 1999 by Hazel Leininger.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude : three works in progess : Wrapped Reichstag, project for Berlin; The Gates, project for Central Park, New York; Over the river, project for western U.S.A : [exhibition] 8 March-29 April, 1995
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, prints and objects, 1963-95 : a catalogue raisonné / edited by Jörg Schellmann and Joséphine Benecke = Christo und Jeanne Claude, Druckgraphik und Objecte 1963-95 : Werkverzeichnis / herausgegben von Jörg Schellmann und Joséphine Benecke
Title:
Christo und Jeanne-Claude, Druckgraphik und Objecte
The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005 / Christo and Jeanne-Claude ; photographs by Wolfgang Volz ; introducution by Anne L. Strauss ; picture commentary by Jonathan Henery
Title:
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: the Gates, Central Park New York City 1979-2005
Christo and Jeanne-Claude : Over the river : project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado : a work in progress / photographs by Wolfgand Volz ; picture commentary by Jonathan Henery
Title:
Over the river : project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado
Christo and Jeanne-Claude : Palazzo Bricherasio : wrapped floors and stairways and covered windows, Torino, Italy / photographs by Wolfgang and Sylvia Volz ; an exhibition curated by Josy Kraft
Title:
Palazzo Bricherasio : wrapped floors and stairways and covered windows, Torino, Italy
Wrapped floors and stairways and covered windows, Torino, Italy
Over the river : project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado : un projecte en desenvolupament / Christo and Jeanne-Claude ; imatges de Wolfgang Volz ; comentari de les imatges de Jonathan Henery. The mastaba : project for United Arab Emirates : un projecte en desenvolupament / Christo and Jeanne-Claude ; imatges de Wolfgang Volz ; comentari de les imatges de Jonathan Henery
Christo : Big air package / herausgegeben von Wolfgang Volz und Peter Pachnicke ; mit Texten von Matthias Koddenberg, Manfred Schneckenburger, Werner Spies, Wieland Schmied, Paul Goldberger, Wolfgang Volz und Peter Pachnicke ; Übersetzung: David Moss, Peter Doherty
Christo and Jeanne-Claude : over the river : project for Arkansas River, State of Colorado : a work in progress / photographs by Wolfgang Volz ; picture commentary by Jonathan Henery ; an exhibition curated by Josy Kraft
