The Gap

Davidovich files a field report from Long Beach, California, another important hub for artists’ video in the 1970s and 80s, asking passersby what they think about video art.

Casting a wide net, he interviews people on the street, in a shopping mall, and in the local museum, capturing shifting views of what constitutes art, depending on the location. In the mall, where the Custom Art Gallery is offering a big discount on framed pictures, interviewees seem baffled when Davidovich asks them what they think about artist-produced television. In spite of their obliviousness, Davidovich identifies many examples of technology-art spread through the mall: light sculptures in the food court, and impressive video art displays in the equipment store VideoConcepts. Meanwhile, in the Long Beach Museum of Art, where an installation dedicated to Soho TV interrupts an exhibition of abstract painting, Davidovich encounters friendlier views towards the concept of artists’ television, but less interest in television itself, articulating the “gap” Davidovich identifies separating art and life.