General Motors 1961 Motorama film presenting new cars, appliances and futuristic ideas at their most banal. (The Prelinger Archives are a source of educational material, mainly ordered by theme, giving a vision of the dark side, the underbelly, perhaps naive of the American dream and the America that is ten hidden behind the media curtain.) 3 Mostra de Vídeo Independent de Barcelona 1996.

The definitive Populuxe film on 1950s automotive, industrial, interior and architectural design. (The Prelinger Archives are a source of educational material, mainly ordered by theme, giving a vision of the dark side, the underbelly, perhaps naive of the American dream and the America that is ten hidden behind the media curtain.) 3 Mostra de Vídeo Independent de Barcelona 1996.

Anthem is a post-industrial lamentation, structured on the single piercing scream of a young girl as she stands in the vast chamber of Union Station in Los Angeles. Viola relates this structure to the form and function of religious chants, particularly Gregorian chants (using a harmonic scale in a resonant hall) and Tantric Buddhist chants (ritual exorcism and conversation with demons). The original scream is extended in time and shifted in frequency to produce a scale of harmonic notes that comprises the soundtrack, to which Viola juxtaposes images of materialism -- industry and the worship of the body, giant oil pumps and the beating human heart, cars streaming along a freeway and blood flowing through veins, modern surgical technology and tree branches in an ancient forest. The anguished scream cuts through the corporeality of the body and contemporary culture as a living organism. For Viola, the piece is a ritual evocation of "our deepest primal fears, darkness, and the separation of body and spirit."

Poetic-political inserts. Holzer uses the format and language of commercial advertising to interrupt the communication by kamikaze texts that are intended to stimulate thinking, raise your mood and a critical attitude among the passive audience. 3 Mostra de Vídeo Independent de Barcelona 1996.

An experimental documentary about the role corporations have played in shaping the American public's perceptions of the developing world. Weaving together clips of corporate-produced archival film with poetry, performance, and other metaphorically interpretive text, the tape raises questions about how public relations media operate in the constitution of power, how and by whom history is written, and how audience and consumer desire are constructed. 3 Mostra de Vídeo Independent de Barcelona 1996.    

On a business trip, George visits his friends in New York. Relics, memories, his mother in the Bronx. Available online until December 27th 2020. George Kuchar's videos are copyright of the Kuchar Trust and distributed in partnership with the Video Data Bank at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Ron Rochelou uses thematically linked fragments to reflect on the paradox of violence in the media manipulation and the lighthearted treatment of violence. 3 Mostra de Vídeo Independent de Barcelona 1996.