EZTV: A Case Study in Misunderstanding
Michael Masucci, hosted by Sean Clark

Summary

Michael Masucci, a founding member of the Los Angeles digital-media space EZTV, recounts how a small video gallery became a crucible for computer art, live performance and networked culture. He begins with founder John Door's half-inch Betamax experiments and his own move from large-format photography to hybrid analogue-digital club visuals. Masucci describes collaborations with LA SIGGRAPH, Joan Collins, Rebecca Allen, Patrick Prince and many others, including the 1985 'On the Threshold' event, the West Hollywood sign prank, the SIG Kids education project, an early transatlantic video chat with Arthur C. Clarke, and the Cyberspace Gallery. He insists that the alliance between EZTV, SIGGRAPH, independent arts spaces and queer communities formed a legitimate art movement comparable to Light and Space or punk rock, and argues that this history has been repeatedly misunderstood or omitted. He concludes by calling on scholars, curators and institutions to help 'hack the timeline' and canonise the Los Angeles pioneers of digital art.

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