Ant Farm Redux

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Ant FarmRedux: Pyrotechnics nd EmergencePATRICIA MELLENCAMP

DURING1988, AS THE TERROR ftheColdwar began tothaw nd the threeUS televisionnetworks, BC, CBS, and NBC,were still ntop,notyetmergedwithmovie studios orcablechannels,butwithCNN,MTV, nd HBO looming n thehorizon,I rchestrated researchyearon television t theCenterfor 1stCenturyStudies at theUniversityfWisconsin-Milwaukee. It nvolved large astof noted scholarsand video artists inweeklyseminarsand a biginternationalonference. invitedhose I onsidered thentobe themost creative hinkersaboutmedia culture oparticipate.Most did,and one result as a book, Logics ofTelevision,which I dited.

Sixteen years ago, taking television seriously?as an academic objectworthy f theoreticaland historicalnalyses other thansociologicaloranthropological?was slightlycandalous, ifnot scorned. Video art, television's counterpart,was still rarityn rtmuseums outside NewYork, San Francisco, and Chicago. Today, television as a scholarly ursuit s given, just svideo art isubiquitous in ontemporaryrtexhibitions. I like o imagine hat1988, thatyearoftelevision, hich included visitbya crewfrom0Minutes and its lternative,Deep DishTV,"had something odo withthis hift f intellectual nd artistic ias.

Unfortunately,rom nothervantage point,

there snoevidence in 004 thatthebrilliantmedia critiqueundertaken yvideo artists ndscholarsfrom he late1970s throughhe1980shas affected heUS broadcast/cable/satelliteindustry.hiscouldexplainwhy,during he2004 presidentialcampaign, it as so easyfor oliticians nd othertalking eads to jumpback and forth etween thecurrent ar in Iraqand the earlierwar in ietnam, s if e hadlearnednothing n he interveningears?nothing bout othercultures thenAsian, primarilyBuddhist;nowMiddle Eastern,mainly Islamic);nothing boutwars of intervention;nd nothing about Western media effects.With the influxfdigitalmedia in hemidand late1990s, particularlyheWorldWideWeb and the Internet,believed thatmyworkon televisioncatastrophecoverage,publishedinmy1992 book,HighAnxiety, as outdated.Thus,after hehorrornd shockofseeing theattackon NewYork'sWorld Trade Center ntelevision, t as unnerving o noticethattheTVcoverageon every hannel, includingNBC,thepopular stock market and business-news channel,was repeating heprimalpattern ftheKennedy ssassination. We should have knownthen thathistory,oo,would soon be repeatingitself. ike arliercoldwar fear,hauntedbyanimage of an exploding nuclear bomb, our current erroras its wn founding mage:the collapseoftheTwinTowers.Shortlyfter hisnational and personal catastrophe, reality" rogrammingrabbedholdof US commercial V, istractingurattention,as if eality,hich had become toopainful,

were a playful genre. Fear of the known?of be

Patricia Mellen camp isDistinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History, UniversityofWisconsin-Milwaukee. She is currently livingat Sea Ranch, on the coast of northern California,and working on a book on death and dating.

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ingrejected s a suitor, featingspiders,ofjumping ff bridge, fswimming ndiscardedanimalorgans,each situationresemblingcoed fraternityazingand each one amereobstacleon theway tomedia makeoversand TVcelebrity?was displacingthe realfear fdeath,ofwar,ofcatastrophe?the fear f the unanticipated, the unknown hat isterrorr shock.All of this taged hyperreality,hilewewatched hundredsof hoursofwar stories insettings fdevastation?first nAfghanistan,then inIraq, ith Israel/Palestinenterspersedin he lulls.Actually heaction imagesofwarwere sparse, masquerading as complete, embedded coverage.Camerasoftenfocusedonurbanparking tructures ithsmartbombsbursting ike ireworksverhead,demolishingtheir reportedly "nonhuman" targets.It as, and it till is inSeptember2004, a TVwar oftalkrather han ction,withfewimagesotherthanof theTVreporter,ppropriatelycostumed in itherkhakisormilitary arb.Butjust lookbehind the reporter'smage nd thewasted cities all resemble ach other in heirdevastation. Increasingly, international newsimagesresembletheworld ofMad Max (1979),a bombed landscapeofdetritus nd exploded,upendedmachinery. hisbackdropof desertedruinations imprintingtselfn urmind'seye?no matter what words are laid over asexplanation.These afterimageshauntthepolitical laims todemocracy nd liberation. heiraftereffects,nd their ainful ruth,ill unfoldin time.

"Reality" as a creation of media culture wasthe concern of a clever if any group of committed rtistswho called themselvesAntFarm.ThisSan Francisco rtistic nd hippiecollectivelived, layed,and worked together rom 968until 978, joining pwithothergroups likeT.R.Uthcofor iggerprojects.For hisbandofmerry,nonymous rtmakers, reality aselusive,hardtograsp,buttheyunderstoodbythemid-1970sthat themedia"would definereality or s, based on ourbelief in hetruthfvision, television's founding principle.Yet,televisionworksbyamagician's sleightof hand. Ironically,hatwe knowbut fail o

registerracknowledge isthat elevisionnewsisrarelyisual; instead it epends on a fewrepeated images ccompanied bythousandsofauthoritativeords. The "news" consistsofimages ftalking aces?TV reportersnd anchors nd politicalpundits nd spinners.Thus,meanings can be polarized,multiplied, ndreversed, ancelinganynotion fconclusion,or truth,r reality.hese celebrityuthoritiestake their wnbiased, polarized opinionsveryseriously s truth?which swhy Johntewart'sironyn TheDailyShow is o refreshingndbeloved.Thathe has become theconscienceof themedia (maybe ven itsmost respectedanchor),theonlysourceoutside spin, isnotwithout interest.

During he1970s,AntFarm taged bizarre,magnificentmedia events, including ediaBurnandEternal rame(with .R.Uthco) in1975,well-fundedyetstill n thecheap, to reveal theway TV,ndmedia culture s awhole,worked.Theythenpresentedtheseevents ininstallationsnd at self-producedcreenings.What are leftfthese rambunctious,mbitious,live ubliceventsare single-channel ideotapes. In 002, theBayAreaVideo Coalitionrestored ternal rameon DVD,marking significant omentfor ideo arthistory.1roundthesame time,Chip Lordproduceda DVD collection fAnt Farm orks, includingideo riffsthathad been previously navailable.2Ibelieve that hree ftheseprojects/events?Media Burn, Eternal Frame, and theAmarilloNews Tapes ([1980]a post-AntFarmproject fChip LordfromntFarm nd DougHall and Jodyroctor rom . R.Uthco)?are stillthemost intellectuallyophisticatedcritiquesof commercial elevision nd media cultureeverproduced.These ambitious,collaborativeworksarealso clever,playful,nd short.ForAntFarm, heterm video"must be used cautiously ecause video isonly ne stage in heproduction f elaborate eventson shoestringbudgets, events that involve architecture, conceptualart,performancert, nd filmrt, longwith impersonation,mprovisation,tand-upcomedy, political activism, agit-prop theater,media analysis, auto mechanics, and engineer

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ing.Bycreating heir wnunsettlingmediaevents, which would be reported on commercial television, Ant Farm's merry men injectedthemselves into istory. t lways looked likethey ere havingmore fun hanthe rest f theworld.Along theway,Ant Farm ketcheda portrait,ra history,ftheautomobile,thePhantom Dream Car, one star ofMedia Burn.3In heAmarilloNews Tapes, the rtistsin-residence apprentice themselves to, andimpersonate, news personnel at a local commercialTV tation in marillo, exas. Doug Hallistheanchor,Chip Lord heweatherman,andJodyroctor hesportsannouncer.We laughbecause when television's mundane conventions re analyzed (herethroughmimicry),they re revealedas completely rbitraryndstrange.Like the surrealistsin he1920s, theseartistsfrequentlysedmimicry, nowing hat,like chameleon, themimiccan safelyhideout in heopen. Ihave heard thatJodyroctor'ssecret service character was so dead-on that hegained access tocloselyguarded presidentialappearances. In his sunglasses, stiff posture,steel jaw, unsmiling yes, and dark uitand tie,he blended in y,paradoxically, tandingout.Sitting ehind the anchordesk,Doug Hall,dressed up in tieand business suit,seriouslypractices, or mimics, the delivery of a "real"anchorman, learning the proper enunciation ofthenews. It sn't hecontent ut thedeliveryand intonationhatmatter.ChipLordthenpresents theweather,with theusual charts,handgestures, and upbeat manner. And Jody Proctor,cockier ndmore casual than theothertwo,presentsthesports.The artists'body typesfittheirroles?Hall istaller,more stentorian;Lordis tadquiet and geeky;Proctor ppears athletic and not so smart.In nothersegment,thenews anchor reportsa localfire. hen his voice begins tofadeandthe shotof him in heTVstudio isreplacedbydramatic images of the fire. His words are replaced bymusic, andwe realizesuddenlyhowrarelyelevisionistrulyisual, howdependentthenews ison speech, and howwords cancontain and transform any event. In a thirdsegment, montage ofcity ffices nd streets

is accompanied by the newsman's voice-overstating heobvious: thatpeople used buildingsand streetsthatday,thatthey alked, and thatthey at. The anchor's stylized nd caricaturedintonation,ogether ith thevisuals, trick sinto elievingthat he "news" issignificantwhen infact it s ust bsurd,mundane filler,taking p its llotted timewhether it eeds it rnot.In edia Burn,*theartists reatedan eventthatwas reported n theeveningnews byperplexed reportersnd anchors for an FranciscoTV tations. (With heir 970s fashions ndtheir "news" voices, these commercial guyslook nd sound stranger hantheartists.Justwho is impersonatinghom isthequestion.)Announcedwith fanfare nd hoopla as takingplace in heCowPalace, thecity'sbig stadium,theeventactually ccurred in heparking ot ftheCowPalace,whichAnt Farm ould afford orent or ne hundredfiftyollarsbecause thebuildingwasn't booked for heFourth fJuly.Dressed like astronaut-race car drivers, theartistsdrove the insulated hantomDreamCar5throughwall offlamingelevision ets.

Prior to this big event, this pyrotechnical moment, an instant that was elaborated, recorded,and hence preserved, there was an "official"appearance bytheartist-president,oug Hall,driven o thepodium in limousine nd protected by secret service agents; the appearancewas uncannily imilar othe realthingnd thusblatantly isible.The artist-president,mpersonating ndmimicking residentKennedy, elivered speech based on a GeorgeMcGovernarticle thathad appeared inRolling tone onthenature f thecorporatemedia and reality.Earlier,ouvenirprograms ere hawkedandaudience members interviewedythe rovingvideo recorders/reporters,ho, unlike fficialTV reporters, remain offscreen and unnamed,lettingeople speak for hemselves.Theaffair,et up like nationalholidaycelebration,was a bigundertaking or ntFarm,involving ore thantwenty-fivearticipants,includingpticNerve,nottomentiontheworkafterwardditing he final ideotape (in1975,no simple, inexpensive ask).One month later,



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Ant Farm, T. R. Uthco, and others collaboratedonEternal rame,which Ihave analyzed indepth in everalpublications.Eternal rame,withslippage from he "eternal flame" n Kennedy'sgrave in rlingtonNational Cemetery, is a simulation of a catastrophe?Kennedy's assassination in Dallas. It isalso a remake of the Zapruder/7/m of the assassination. The recreation moves from the grainyfilmmage imprintedn urmemoriesas Greektragedy, to the copy of the actors' preparations,rehearsal, and performance, to a model, thevideotape.Theonlyreal is theZapruderfilm,a black-and-white memory. The copy matchestheoriginal, hich isonly n image, n indelible ne. Thathistoric, ilent image, longwiththe spectatorial mechanism of disavowal orsuspensionofdisbelief, ismoreofa mysterythanwho killedKennedy nd how,the usualconcernsbrought obearon theZapruderfootage. Not "What isreality?"ut "How isrealitycreated?"As theposterannouncingtheshowing fthe videotape to a San Francisco art audiencestates, the piece is "an authentic Remake ofthe Original J.F.K.Assassination." Note theword "original," which refers to an image, theZapruder film. Early in the tape, the artist-president,Doug Hall, reprising isuncanny mpersonationofKennedy nMedia Burnamonthearlier, declares: "I am in reality nothing more

than another image on your television set... Iam inreality othingmore than notherfaceonyour screen ... I m, in reality, only another linkin hat hainofpictureswhich makes up thesum total f informationccessible tous all asAmericans... Like my predecessors, the content f the image isno different rom he imageitself." While Kennedy's death was, as the tapeasserts, both a real and an image of death, farfrom iquidating epresentation,t nthronedthefilm mage. ternalFramecritiquesthepowerful old of the image s historyn our

memories and emotions.Near theend of thetape,amiddle-agedman(who resemblesNoamChomsky) interviewedoutside the San Francisco theater after he sawthevideotape objects to itsrelianceon an image: "They idn'tuse anything riginal t all."Theyshould have, thisman continues,"eithertoldwhat happened ormade up their wnstory... they took a theme of a real man gettingkilled nd played little ameswith it." rueenough, but his comments reveal our relianceon illusion n onstituting reality" nd the real.But thiscomes at theend of thetape,which,like edia Burn, includes udiences as critics,spectators, and performers. Live events needaudiences, and Ant Farm had to create its ownand then involve it.Eternal ramebeginswiththeZapruderfilm,a copyofwhichAnt Farmhad illegallybtained.



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||?j?|fl Photo :The rtist^^^^^^^^^9||^^^^^^|^^^^^H|^^^^^^^^^^H| presidentDougall)A?fflflH ddressesheW^^^^^I^SS^^mSl^^^S^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ PnotovhipordBSBEmlBmKfm^ourtesyf hipord.The film smuch shorter han Iremembered,clip lengthened yhistory, yreruns,low-motion nd stop-framenalysis,and trillions fwords. As the tape progresses, the reenactmentof the assassination becomes, as the bystanders acknowledge, "more real"?with fewer errors or deviations from audience expectations.For hese spectators inDallas, akin to jurorstthescene ofthecrime n allas, thestandardofthereal is till hefilm; heyremember herethey erewhen theyheardabout the ssassination nd thenwatched television.Finallyherecreation sencapsulated as art nd replayedfor s as image, hich it lwayswas. The firstrehearsal fthe ssassination (ortheZapruderfilm) occurs in a car in front of rear-screen projection,flatteningepthas in 1940sHitchcockautomobile ride. Then the group goes on locationtoDallas, thescene ofthereal nd theartistic theoriginal nd thecopyorforgery)crime. Rehearsals for the remake are intercutwithbackstageshotsofcostumingndwithinterviewsithJackplayedbyDoug Hall fromT.R.Uthco)and JackieplayedbyDougMichelsof Ant Farm), who comment on dress rehearsals, acting, and masquerade. Sexual differenceis inscribeds a simulation;Jackie splayedperfectly ya man in pink uitand pillboxhat.The hesitant ctors, leeryfand fearingreprisal nDallas, believingtheir rt to be

scandalous or sacrilegious, emerge from thehotel for he final erformancend restagetheevent, as itturns out, for passersby, who appear todeeplyenjoy it s a touristttraction ras liveTV. his audience recreates hathistorical audience that linedthestreet nd peopledZapruder's film for Kennedy's motorcade. Thus,the realplayers imulatean image, urningfilm nto liveperformancehat ismeasured byaudiences against the "reality" of the famousfootage,which is memory, r later n hetapeagainst thestandards ofart.The ironys thatthe standardofthe real is bad "original"film,famousbecause of its ingularitynd hence itsaura. Its existence is both the ultimate amateurfilmmaker's fantasy and nightmare. It ould bethemost famous film nhistory. vertime, ithas become "reality."The spectatorsof thepiece inDallas compare it othe "real" thing, hich isbeing recreated, they magine,s a tourist ttraction atherthan as art: "I saw it n television after ithappened ... It looks so real now... the characters look so real." Shots of these tourists photographinghe re-creation emind s thattheyare impersonatingapruder, ust person inthe crowdfilmingennedy: He's re-enactingt... I'm glad we're here_It was so beautiful."Later, an incredulous Doug Hall comments: "Ithought hemost interestinghing as watch



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ing hepeople enjoy it omuch ... How couldthey njoy it omuch?" This is tillthe criticalquestion of catastrophe overage.Emboldenedbythispositive, ven enthusiastic response, the performers confidently enter heKennedyMuseum, a place ofcommerceand souvenirs.To their hagrin, hey re kickedout. However unexpected, these responses ofspectator enjoyment and commercial censorshipare incorporatednto hetape.Audiencesexist in dialoguewith the re-creation.hislive ventwas edited into videotape for SanFrancisco rt udience,which respondedwiththefollowing emarks,ncorporatednto laterversionofthefinal iece: "bad tastebut impressive,"causing"bad dreams,disturbing utentertaining." Thus, audiences are also historical, as are critical responses, which changewith the time and circumstance.It as during he1988 TV onference hatIfirst et the cofounder ndmainstayofAntFarm'sgang offour, hipLord. I lso invitedDoug Hall, the artistic erformernd founder fanother San Francisco group, T. R. Uthco. Ihadbeen showingnotonlythecollaborativework ofthese artists inmyvideo artclasses, but theirsubsequent individuallyuthoredvideotapes,whichwere oftenthe result f installationpieces inmuseums and galleries.Bothmenwere art heroes tome. Their work remains trulyrevolutionary.6

IpublishedmyworkonAntFarm nd guerrilla ideo?in 1988 inGlobal Television; in iscourse as "Video Politics," which later becamethe thirdhapter fmy 1990 book, Indiscretions; nd a shorter ersion in ighAnxiety. ylargernterestas in elevision atastrophecoverage, and I uncovered a snug fit betweentheways TVworked and theories f obsessionand anxiety;hence the title ighAnxiety.didn'tknowthen,however, hatthepremisesofguerrilla ideo, adhered tobyAnt Farm ndothervideo communities, rewon thethoughtsofcomputer heorists ikeNorbert iener orthat hey nticipated bytwenty ears the intellectualpremisesof theWorldWide Web andthe Internet?i.e., free, open, two-way networksthat, he inventorselieved,would createan"open-source" democracy of the people.

In the mid-1980s, there were few critical essays on video art that could serve as models.And while there were reviews in small, countercultural rtmagazines, and some big shows atmajor artmuseums likeMOMA and theWhitney inNewYork,theArt InstitutenChicago,and the PacificFilmArchives inBerkeley, hehistoryfvideomainlyexisted in hememoriesand personal files f itsmakers. In hiserabefore Internet information retrieval, itwasdifficulto locateeven thevideo bible, the stillfascinating uerrillaTelevision whichAntFarmhad designed for uthorMichael Shamberg). In

Photo 3: Eternal Frame, byAnt Farm and T. R. Uthco,was filmed inDealey PlazainDallas, Texas, August1975. Photo byAgentCattlewater. Courtesy ofChip Lord.

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addition, few had seen the videotapes, available onlyfor xpensive rental t two independent distributors, one in San Francisco and oneinChicago.

Ihad an insighthatwould prove invaluable:the uncanny connection between contemporarytheoryndwhat I till like o call avant-gardework.So Ibegan from hepremisethat hebest video artdidn't justembody,or illustrate,contemporaryheory,t as theory tself. necould use essays byGillesDeleuze or jeanBaudrillard oargue the difference etween representationand simulation, he relation etweenimage nd audience, thetiesamong repetition,knowledge, ndmemory, utone could alsouse thevideotapeEternalFrame. IputEternalFrame,Deleuze, and Baudrillard ogether omake thispoint.Over time, rtoutlastsandoutrunstheory. ternal ramestillhas lessonstoteach,whereas Baudrillardfeels obvious.

Mycontext n hese fifteen-year-oldssayswas thecounterculture?still istoricallyalidas bothmotivation nd style fworking ndliving.oday I an see thisworkthrough wo dditional lenses: first,he Internet,igital xplosion of themid- to late1990s, popularizing heearlier work of computer theorists like NorbertWiener and linkinghefounding remisesofGuerrillaTelevision alongwithNam June aikand othervideo artists influencedy cybernetics)to thedigital informationalra; and, second, the current war in Iraq, the current cultureoffear,notdeterminedbythe threat fa nuclearwar perse butbythe threat fa terroristcton US soil. Significantly,he USmilitary,hichthe counterculture orkedso hard todiscreditand displace, has regaineditsplace at thecenter fthecountry'smythic nd economic life.What has lasted,what remainsrelevantndilluminating,sthe independent ork,orart,onwhich Iused tohang contemporaryheories.The theory ranted n intellectual edigree.Jumprom 988 to2004. Thework ofAntFarm as finallyelebrated inJanuary004,honoredbya retrospectivet theBerkeley rt

Museum, a terrific show that is currently traveling oothermuseums around the US. Videoswere presentedat the renowned acificFilm

Archives inBerkeley to standing-room-onlycrowds. Constance Lewallen and Steve Seid,the curators, produced a wonderful show andcoediteda glossy, beautifully ocumentedcatalog. It ooktime,butfinallynt Farm asaccorded awell-deservedplace in rthistory.Chipaskedme to introduce heopeningvideotape retrospectivenJanuarynd toparticipatein panel at themuseum inFebruary.washonoredtoaccept. I include hetext f remarksfromhese two eparate occasions, and this iswhere emergence and pyrotechnics come in.Here are my introductory remarks:Have you evernoticedthat istory ecordscomedy nd laughter ater han orrow ndtears?ThinkfBusterKeaton's pirns.And thathistoryccordsa place toindividualsmorereadily hanto nonymousgroupswith anynames? Tomake entrance ntohistoryventougher,rthistory referstangible, aleableobjects that an increase invalue,notconceptual, erformative,ideo art.AntFarm isbeingincluded nArtHistory onight,t last.Ifirstaw thevideoworkofAntFarm lmostthirtyears ago, inthemid- to late1970s,ona small, dull TV under a dark, musty stairwell,with few catteredbentfolding hairs, nthebasementof fairlyarge nd famousmuseum.Video didn'tused to etmuch respect rommuseum culture. Now one wonders if ontemporaryshows could existwithoutvideo installations.

During Eternal Frame, Ant Farm and T. R.Uthco's wild and crazy re-creation of the Zapruderplmthat as become ourmemoryoftheKennedy ssassination, Ihad an intense rtexperience. You know what Imean? Itwas oneofthoseheightenedmomentswhenyouknowyou have witnessed and experienced something rulyxceptional.Herewas aworkthat ntwenty-fourinutes exploredthevery atureofrepresentation. he intermediatedlaybetween till ndmoving images,betweenfilmand video,betweenperformednd live ction,between performer and spectator, betweentourismnd history, etweensound and image?the Zapruderpirnisveryhort nd silent,a singleshot,whichwe often orget ecauseithas borne trillionsfwords and alternative



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narratives?between the real and its simulation,between creation and recreation, between spectacleand tribute,salmosta Socraticdialogue.And it saudacious, fearless,moving,perhapsa bitreckless, nd evendangerous.Thistape triggered realm fresponse thatwas deeplyunsettlingnd highly ntellectual.Itwas very ifferentrommost videoartthen,whetherWest orEast Coast?video as a plaything f imultaneitynd a personal recordingmechanism for rtists rommanyfields.Muchof itwas unedited,rough, ften nvolvingcertain edium. s thevideoartist ill Violaonce said, "Life ithout diting snot that nteresting." Theartcritic osalindKrausssaw aninherentnd deeplyboringnarcissisminthewayartistsused themedium, if ot inthemedium itself.nd tobe honest,AntFarminitiallyused video thisway, recordingveryday ippiedomesticity, istoricallynterestingowbutnarcissistic ndgooflly ndulgent hen.

But Ant Farm's events, recreated as video art,were another story. The tapes are a condensation ndpreservation fambitiouscollectiveprojects thatmake up a sophisticatedcritiqueoftelevision,longwithanticipatingomanyofthe oncernsof Internet-digitalulture. ntFarmdissected theway television oth createdand fedupon events nd theway theseeventsthen made history. Like an ant colony, and thecurrent notions of emergent, or swarm, logic,AntFarmwas awayofworkingwithout centralleader, without hierarchy, able to zigzag easilymongmedia, toexpandand contracts agroupby oiningwithother rtistic roups likeTVTVremember he till owerful nd poignantdocumentoftheGOP convention, ourMoreYears?) and T.R.Uthco, learning rom ach other,from eedback,from xperience, n rojectsthatwere interactive, nomadic, rhizomatic, exemplary fa bottom-up ogicthat elieved thatanything as possible and that hangewas theoptimum state.

They lso staged theultimate latonicquestion?the relation etweenrealitynd representation, etween therealand its imulation?orin the rtworld, the uestionsofthe riginaland its opy, rforgery,hichare close tomim

icry. heanswers tothesedilemmasare leftptous, the udience. InMedia Burn nd EternalFrame, ntFarmnotonlycreatedwhat Iconsidera sophisticatedcritique ftelevision, utit ddressed in usta fewminutes the prawlingtheoreticalebate duringthe1980s and early1990s onpostmodernism,imulation,history,andmemory; it nacted thecomplextheories fGillesDeleuze; and it ave us a wayof analyzingInternetulture nd digital thoughtnthepresent; it scontemporaryheoryhat sfocusing nways of thinkingnd acting.Iwant to et the ersonal, anecdotalstage. Itis 1968, thetime f the ounterculture,periodofthin ingcollaborativelynd formingommunities, time fwar and civilrights rotesting,ofpoliticaland social activism, f intermediartand agitproptheaternd an initiallydealisticdrugculture.Twocollegestudents tudying rchitecture,ougMichels and ChipLord,meet atTulane.DougMichels hadgraduated a yearearlier, n1967, romYale.On thebrashstrengthofan essay he had published and an award,hehad undertaken lecture ourofcolleges. Thestudentslovedhisvisionsand energy. hipandDougwouldmeet again the ollowingummer,inAugustof1968, in an Francisco t an influentialworkshopwith the rchitect arry alprinthat roughttogether ancers and architects,the performative and the architectural. The twofriends, ofounders, nvisionedthemselves sundergroundrchitects ndwereaptlynamedAntFarmbya friend ho heard theiroals andvisions. (They ould bothworkin rchitecturalfirmst varioustimes.)Initially,hey anted tochange education,and so they rotemanifestos.But this idn'tget them ery ar, nd they ad nomoney. Thenewgroupwas about todisband, in earchofwork.Thenthe ean oftheUniversityfHouston alled,offeringougMichels a job. Thestudentshad protestedtheirurriculum; ichels,who had lectured here, as the olutiontothe rotesting tudents.He, inturn, iredhisAntFarmcofounder, hipLord.Therethey ere,visiting rofessorsinHouston,at the gesof twenty-three and twenty-four, neither withgraduatedegrees then. mazing!



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They ecame involved ith inflatabletructures?nomadic, impermanent, inexpensive,ephemeral architecture. They incorporatedother rtists nd stagedperformances, otablyone at theAlleyTheater nHouston that sedlive-action ideo,slide collages,music, andperformers,longwiththeir eloved inflatables. Youcanhear echoes ofthehappeningsofAllanKaprowandAndyWarhol,mixed inwiththe gitprop ctionsofthehistoric vant-garde,taking he howon theroad.One piece, stagedat a corporate rchitecturalirmnHouston,whereChiphad a second job,was called PlasticBusiness Man. The artist-performers wore business suits,withtheir onghair, nd stood nexttothevendingmachines inthe afeteria, ithlots fchange, handingoutfree tems. twasjust tooweirdforthe erplexedcustomers,theaudience, and so the irm alled the olice,whoarrested the performers.AntFarmofficiallyxpandedbeyond its twocofoundersto ncludeCurtis chreier, rom heRhode Island chool ofDesign,whoworkedonMedia Burn, uilding, mong otherthings, heremote-control Phantom Dream Car; and HudsonMarquez, a "rear artist nvolved ithCadillacRanch,which,by theway,had a budgetofonlythree housanddollars.After 978, s anindividualrtist, hipcontinuedhis critique,orportrait, fmiddle-class consumer ulture ninstallationsnd videotapes.NowChip is thechairofthenewFilm nd DigitalMedia Department atUniversityfCalifornia,anta Cruz.WhenChipbegan his career, ctuallyhis adultlife, ewanted to influencend change educationviaAntFarm.Today,withfourhundred ndfifty ajors in superb department, e isdoingjust that: reating communityfartists ndlearners.And herearemy remarks romhe laterpanel:

After atchingthevideotapes recently,havesome new thoughts nAntFarm, xpressed inthetitle fthis ssay?emergence andpyrotechnics. Youwillnotice that return otheory.Deleuze providesa generalmodel ofemergence inhis comparisonbetweenwhathe callsthe rhizomatic versus the arborescent?rhizom

atic thought, ikekudzu,moves unpredictablyand unexpectedly long the urface,withouttop-down hierarchy, making allegiances, reconnoitering, henmovingon.7This is incontrast oarborescent logic, a rooted-tree structure, witha branchinghierarchy,hat emains n lace,unmovable,witha chainofcommand.Deleuze's conceptoftherhizomatic as beenamplifiedrecentlynlogics ofemergencethatareparticularlymportantn thefield ofartificialintelligence. ringing ogethertrandsofresearchfromeveraldisciplines inhiswonderfulbook Emergence, tevenJohnson efinesemergence as the "movement from low-level rules tohigher-level ophistication... [formingystemsinwhich]agents residing n one scale startproducingbehavior that iesone scale abovethem" 18). Examples include nts creatingcolonies and urbanitescreatingneighborhoodsincities.AccordingtoJohnson, lobal orderisbuiltoutof local interactions, ixing tabilityand change,decentralized, ndwithout acemakers (17-19,74-80).Thesimplestexample isslimemold. Undertheright onditions,withno leader, rpace

maker, individual slime-mold cells unite, or"aggregate," toform single large ntityorgroup action.After he ction, they eturn otheir ndividual tatus. Thekey s that ll thecells are the same. There are no special leadercellswithunique abilities that ive commands.The collective ction isdecentralized,bottomup rather than top-down.Themost familiar xample is that fa colonyoften thousand nts, "each limited o meagervocabulary fpheromones and minimal cognitive kills?collectively ngage innuanced andimprovisationalroblem-solving"uch as findingthe hortestroutestofoodsources, changing nresponse toexternal onditions,withnoone incharge (Johnson4). In ntcolonies,individual gents "payattention otheirmmediate neighborsrather hanwaitfor rdersfrom bove. They hinkocally nd act locally,but their ollective ctionproducesglobalbehavior" (Johnson 4). The lattersan aptdescription fAntFarm?although,at the ametime, he ewcoremembers limit he nalogy.



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Ant coloniessolveproblems throughtatisticalprobabilities:Decision-making is spread out over thousandsof individuals, aking hemargin ferror rather small... forevery ant that overestimates, there's one that underestimates... with a large enough colony, the twowilleventually cancel each other out, and an accuratereading illemerge. Johnson7)Forfiftyearsnow,research n artificialntel

ligencehas been based on the actthat omputers can actively earn n theirwn,andpredicatedon a "bottom-up ntelligence" ather hana "unified op-downmodel."As WillWright, hecreator fthe omputer ame SimCity,aid,We arestartingothink singthe onceptualtools of bottom-up systems_As our everydayife ecomes increasinglyopulatedby artificial emergence, we will find ourselves relyingoreandmoreon the logic fthese systems?both incorporate America,

where "bottom-up intelligence" has startedto replace "quality management" as themantra of the day, and in the radical, antiglobalization protest movements, (qtd. inJohnson6-67)?

Theantiglobalization rotestmovementsandHoward Dean's 2003 Democratic primary campaign aredistributed rganizationsnamed afterantcolonies and slimemolds."All mergent ystems rebuiltoutoffeedback,thetwo-wayonnectionsthat osterhigher-level earning_You influence ourneighbors ndyourneighborsinfluence ou"(Johnson 20). The interviewsfaudiencemembersduringAntFarm'sperformancesnd theinclusion f thesemoments,alongwith ubsequent TV overage, inthe later ideotapes,illustratentFarm's relianceonfeedback.Theintelligence f ntcolonies "derives rom hedensely interconnectedeedbackbetweenantsthat ncounter ach other nd change their ehavior ccordingto reordainedrules.Withoutthat eedback,they'd e a random ssemblage"(Johnson 120-21).

Change, so central othiswayof thinkingnd

working, needs pattern, structure?what Johnson calls the"rules"ofemergence 78-79):"More isdifferent""Ignoranceisuseful" it'sbetternot tohaveone cell inyour rainthat an takeover)"Encourage random ncounters" gainfromhevirtues f"haphazard encounters")"Lookfor atterns n hesigns""Payattention oneighbors"

Thefundamental awofemergence,or"swarm ogic," s that hebehaviorof individualagents is less importanthan the verall ystem.These "distributed etworks"move awayfrom raditionalop-down ierarchies. owever,emergent systems are also "rule-governed,"and, accordingto tevenJohnson,

theirapacity or earningndgrowthndexperimentation derives from their adherence to low-level rules_If any of thesesystems?or, to put itmore precisely, theagents thatmake up these systems?suddenly started following their own rules...the ystem ould stopworking: here'd enoglobal intelligence,ust teeming narchyof isolated agents, a swarm without logic.(181)

WhenDougMichels decided topursue his individualprojects,the roupdisbanded in1978.1suspect that uringmuch of thetenyears,ChipLordhad been holding"the narchy f isolatedagents" at bay.Theultimate uestionofemergent ystemsisapplicable tothe earchforOsama Bin Laden:"Howdoes thewholedevelop a life yclewhenthe artsare so shortlived," s inthelife fantsorsuicidebombers (82)? "Thepersistenceofthewhole overtime?theglobal behaviorthatoutlastsanyof its omponent arts?is one ofthedefining haracteristicsfcomplex ystems.Generations fants comeandgo, andyetthecolony matures, grows more stable, more organized" (Johnson 2). Unfortunately,his idnothappen toAntFarm,which endedwhen thecorepartnership etweenChipLord ndDoug



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Michels ended. Yet the 004 show at theBerkeleyMuseum, anothergroup effort,esembledreunion f largecolony fartists, tillworkingtochange theworld.

Inthemid-1980s, Ibegan thinkingndwritingboutAntFarm ndpopular culture,believingthat ideoarthad much torevealaboutmedia culture, articularly yworkontelevision nd catastrophecoverage. Iwill end,in 004, withart.AntFarmdidmake art,important rt, s well as critiquingopular culture.This iswherepyrotechnicsomes inagain.9Inhis review ntheSan FranciscoChronicleoftheBerkeleyretrospective,teve Winnwrote,including reference othecatalogfortheshow:

Seeing thatrefashioned adillacburrowntoa towerf flame-lickedV onsoles isbothhilarious and sad, now as much as ever. Ifa futilepocalypse, grimlyuixotic esturethat sets one American fantasy (the proudluxurycar on the open road) on a collisioncoursewith thedespoileddreammachineryof TV.... Critic Michael Sorkin comparesthegroup'sdefiningpirit oBaudelaire'sand praises Ant Farm for its "lusty nonconformity.'' ... What began as a rejection ofModernism's formalist architectural rigorsevolved into free-floatingayofthinkingthatmay have made itsmost lasting imprintinvideo./ as taken ythe hrases "grimlyuixoticgesture"and "lasting mprint."here sa

lasting mprintntheseworks, nd Iwillconcludebybrieflyttempting ofigure ut itshold on us. In therwords, Iwant togo a bitdeeper than thesecritical nsights, iguringoutwhythishappens.Near the nd ofhis life,Freudobserved that everyffectsa reminiscence"^)10; tothis willadd that t sconfigured throughesture,orwhatBaudelaire called"the mphatictruthfgesture inthe mportantmoments oflife"(qtd. nBarthes, "Third"56).11I lovethesetwophrases?"every affect sareminiscence" nd "theemphatictruthfgesture nthe mportant omentsof life"?and Iwill combinethem, nflectedypyrotechnics,

a fleetingmomentof ireworks,he"product"combusted nd thusunable toenterthe ircuitsof exchangeof tangible bjects.I m thinkingf the verarchingesturesofthetwotapesand thereasonsfor ummoningsomuch energy ortwo argeprojects. InMediaBurn,themomentofcollisionrepeated inthevideotape?one American dream, the PhantomDreamCar, the pacemission, high technologycrashing nto nother?thewall ofburningTVs?wars, disasters, violent information?thecollisioncourseofadvanced technology. hemoment isa pyrotechnicalne,which lastsonlya few econds, anticipated nd elaboratedbythevideotape.The entire ventexistedforthesefew econds. In EternalFrame, hekey esturesofKennedy'shead flungback, then lumpingforward,nd Jackie imultaneouslyumping toleave thecar aremovements inoppositedirections: one death, the other survival. These gesturescomprisememory nd trigger ffect. t'sas if ll the nergy nd laborwere embedded inthesefew econds; theyre implosive, imprintingthemselves n ourmemoriesas affects,semotions.This iswhythese videos stillresonate

with meaning, the very imprint of history on ourminds.This rtofgesture,ofperfect nstants, s akintothat fthefetishist?not ftheperversekind,thedirty ldman of ilmtheory.12hisfetishist uts out the ure segmentofthetableau,in n act that hannels emotion. The igure,a gesture, a memory, "becomes the sublimesubstitute fmeaning?it is thismeaning thatisfetishized!" t s thismeaning, one's very wnmeaning, that secstatic.Barthesrecognizedthis nSergei Eisenstein,that this nstant illbe. ..a hieroglyphnwhichcanbe readat asingle glance ...the present,the ast, and thefuture ..the gesturebears theweight ofa history""Diderot" 3).Deleuze's aestheticofthe inematic,whichcritically draws on Eisenstein's essays, can betransposed into these electronic works. Move

ment, or whatDeleuze calls the movementimage, isnot limited ocause-effect ogicofthenarrative,r tofigures"moving"throughspace, or to cameras dollying, tracking. Action



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isonly ne kindofmovement; the thers reperception nd affectionDeleuze Cinema \).We arestrangely,nd deeply,moved by thesegestures that ear theweightofhistory."Time images," for Deleuze, "have nothingtodowithbefore nd after, ith uccession... Time magesarenotthings appening intime, utnewforms fcoexistence, rdering,

transformation" ("Mediators" 282-83). Idon'tthinkntFarmbelieved they ould,or that heyeven wanted to, transform theworld, or evenUS culture. owever, hey anted totransformtheirpersonal, local worlds?their own lives,therebyriggeringchainof local interactionsthat ouldspread globally.Ata certain oint, sEngels argued, quantity ransformstselfntoquality?molecules ofwaterbecome a lake.AndIthinkhis s the ualitative ocial and culturalshift hey onged or.Not bad for groupofthenscruffyrchitects.The January004 showat thePacificRimArchivespaid tribute othesublimemediaeventscreatedbyAnt Farm nd tothevisionaries behind these still xtravagant, erhapsout

rageous, endeavors?Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier,and HudsonMarquez. They ttended the showand answered questions later in the evening.Forme, theopeningwas about replaying istory. hen you live nd teach long nough,your ntire ife epeats itself?with,fcourse,significantifferences.The exuberant nd significanthowopened,ironically,t theBerkeley rtMuseum, a bigmodernist dificethattypifieshe "brutaliststyle"Ant Farmrebelled gainst.The crowdwas enthusiastic,filled ith reunionmemoriesand stories,buta bitaged around theedges,like he rtifacts n exuberantdisplay:oneinflatable,utmainlyhand drawings, ypewrittenproposals and letters,nd photographs fprojects. These extensive and curiously beautiful apermaterialswere salvaged fromhe1978 fire nAnt Farm's tudioatPier40 in anFrancisco.Curtis chreierandChip Lordhadsaved them formore than twenty-five years,anticipating uchan event.The showwas likea treasuredhighschool scrapbookburst intolife, little rayedt theedges but ambitious in

Photo 4: Curtis Schreierand Chip Lord at a BerkeleyArtMuseum studentevent, an inflatable design and building contest.Courtesy of Chip Lord.

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spirit. t elt aradoxically outhfulnd dated, apaper-based critique of media in the computerdigital ra.The surprise bjectwas thePhantomDream Car itself,ong tored in garage inKansas City. t ookedwornbut stillproudandamazing.

Because Ant Farm focused on process morethanproduct,its rtifacts onsistedofplans,drawings, and correspondence?a show oftraces nd fanciful deas.Also, thiswas thework ofa loose collective f housemates during hedruggy, opeyyearsof theearly1970s,

when artwas more about play and community,about dropping ut and turningn, than itwas aboutwork.The show, like heir outh,was colorful,nthusiastic,witha look nd feelthat resembledcomicbooks in n era beforecomputers.Artwas in he living,ust s politicswere in hemaking.The hopeful, oyousenergythatwanted tomake theworlda better,morepeaceful, participatorylace could stillbe feltin hetracings fyouthful dealism n thegallerywalls.At theopening,an olderguyburst into nItalian ove ong as hewalked throughheshow. Iwas surprised because Ididn't knowthathewas an oldAnt Farmer nd thathewasre-creating an Ant Farm performance, "JohnnyRomeo at Yale." His age now was very incongruous; what had been youthful igh inksnowresembleddementia. It urned ut thiswasa stunt hatLord ndMarquez had dreamedup, completely urprisinghe curators nd thecrowd.Curtis chreierandHudsonMarquez,theothertwo fficial ntFarmers, irculatedand toldstoriesabout thegroup's studio inSan Francisco.Marquez is greatteller f longtales, taking s back to thesheer fun fthepast.TheAntFarmers, ikemany in heaudience, are almost in their sixties, as am I.Theirappearancewas evidence oftheir ge, as thedeaths ofDougMichels and Jodyrocter ereremindersfourmortality. ut theenergy nddemeanor seemed so much younger. How didwe get tobe sixty?Chip Lordwas elegant in n Italian uitandT-shirt.hatnightmust have seemed a longtimecomingfor hisdedicated, hard-working

artist. he showwas a tribute oDougMichels,his friend, artistic partner, and cocreatorof thegroup, who died in June 2003 from an accidental fall, s theshowwas beingcreated.Thecatalog isdedicated tohim swell.Ant Farmended in1978,when Dougwent topursuehisDolphinEmbassy project inAustralia.ButChipdidn'ttellme verymuch about thistime,which,I uspect,was a difficultne for im.Doug'sfather, a conservative, retired air force lawyer,still addened bythe recent oss ofhis sonand stillbewilderedbythat on's lifestylendart, was in attendance, as were other familymembers and former Ant Farm associates whohadworkedonvariousprojectsthroughout heyears.Theopening felt bit like huge familygathering.Thus, in dditiontobeingan artevent,theshow was a celebration, a memorial, and a reunion?and theAntFarmers, ike heir upportersand fans,were nowmuch older. Some stillhad longhair inponytails, lthoughmost hadupdated their utfits. nother ironyas that,like hip Lord, hecounterculturesnotoutsidethemuseum, outside powerand influence, utrather inside, teaching and writing. But whereare theactivist tudents and artists?Where istheir rotest gainst thiswar, thewar inIraq?It's s if hepowerhas notbeen clearly assedto a new generation, as Kennedy so famouslyclaimed.I ontinuetobe surprisedbyChipLord'sgentle, reclusive demeanor. He is quiet, almost shy, slight-to-small an,withyouthfulfeatures.Hisvoice isnotassertive,but almosthesitant.He has a sweet smileand a readylaugh.Yet there is steadysuretybout thishumbleartist hat uggests leadership ndorganizationaltalent.AlongwithcofoundingAntFarm,he heldprojectsand, I uspect, crazyparticipants nd their arious talentstogether,orchestratinghe logistics nd directing heprocess of theevents,supervisingfinal ditsonthe tapes, and arranging the subsequent performances,ll inhis unobtrusive etdecisivemanner.

Likehis name,Chip,a diminutive, e doesnothave theoutsize ego ofsomanyartists;he



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^^^^^^^^^ g^^^KiS torn Dreamow^^^^^^^^^^N^^^^^^^^HHllH^H^^B^^^^^^^I Photosy^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^BHB^^^^^^H Courtesyjust continues towork, make tapes, and sharehiswisdom through eaching nd administrative work. He is an involved, careful administrator,ethe does notbrandish nytactics fpower. Recently, as a visiting professor for aquarter in 2004,1 was surprised to learn thatmost of the student-filmmakers were unawareof the internationaleputationftheir rogramchair.Onlythiswell-publicizedretrospective,with its reatreviews n heNew York imes andSan FranciscoChronicle,had brought hip'searlier accomplishments to their attention.

Ironie ndeed. Forhewas theirgewhen hefoundedAnt Farm n1968; hewas their gewhen he trekked oDallas in 974 to film herecreation of the Kennedy assassination. Alongtheway he taughthimself n entirely ewmedium, video,which he perfected ymakingtapeswithWTV in 972?particularly he stillbrilliantourMore Years,about theGOP conventionthatnominatedRichardNixon.The VietnamWar radicalizedChip (andmeand so many intellectuals of my generation,who proceeded toteaching areerswithViet

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nam as a founding vent,oppositiontowaras a premise), s it id somanyothermen ofdraft ge, thedraft eingone critical ifferencebetween thewar in ietnam nd thecurrentwar in Iraq. he threat osed bythe draft oUSmales ofa certain ge playedno smallpartin reating protestmovementof increasingintensity,articularlyroundcollege campuseswhere students had notonlytheenergy ut thetime ndmoney toorganize,tostudy nd learnabout thewar, and thentoprotest.Vietnamwas a middle-classwar, including anywhitemen; Iraq is working-classwarwithmen andwomen ofmanycolors.The lack fa draftmightexplainthemissing youthprotest.Chip's embrace ofthe countercultureasunexpected,yet it as also typical ftheera.Named afterhis father,harles L.Lord,hewas an average,happy (ifreclusive), uburbanmiddle-class childwho came ofdraftge during heVietnamWar. Chipwas raised in smallConnecticut own,Colebrook,where his father

was an accountant for a clock company andhismotherwas a substitute eacher.His homewas surroundedbycountrystates ownedbywealthy gentlemen farmers. He went to ColebrookConsolidatedSchool, just125students ineightgrades. Chipwas awell-behaved studentand later ttendedhigh chool inFlorida, n t.Petersburg, living inan upscale suburb.Throughout is life, hipwas fascinated,perhapsobsessed, withcars; he drew themand their rivers,nd decoratedhisbicycletoresemble hot rod?developingwhat he callsa "hot rod aesthetic." His book, Automerica,was theculmination fthispassion for arsprevalent n nt Farm ut also inhis individualpieces, includingot TopGun,Motorist,EasyLiving, nd others. His critique fcars is imultaneously portraitfmiddle-class suburbanculture and an autobiography.ChipattendedTulaneUniversity,nrolling ntheir five-year architecture program. He lovedits ombination ftheorynd practice, fmaking nd thinking.heyearsbetween 1964 and1966were transformativeor hip?triggeredbythe Beatles' visittotheUS, longhair, nd SanFrancisco t thedawn ofthecounterculture.n

thesummer, hipgota jobat an architecturefirmnd lived nNorthBeach,walkingtowork.He grewhishair raising he ire f his father)and tooktowearingbell-bottoms. he drugculture had begun. The dopers, or bohemians,became a separate social group in ollege.Chipexcelled inhis thirdnd fourth earsatTulane;conceptualization nd presentationwere hisstrong oints, lessonshe had learnedfromAndyWarhol's artpractice.Chip supportedthepresidentialcandidacyofEugeneMcCarthy n1967 and 68, thesame periodwhen he andDougMichels first et. San Franciscobecamehome.He still lives there.

When AntFarm nded, he had a degreein rchitecturehavingpassed the licensingexam in1972),was approaching forty,ndneeded topay the rent.Chipbegan teaching intheUniversityfCalifornia, an Diego's VisualArtsDepartment,where he stayed from 982until1987,makingsingle-channel tapes andvideo-installationpieces. He didn't sellmuchwork. Themarketfor ideo is limited ormanyreasons, including the medium's reproducibilitynd ephemerality. ormost video artiststhen, sales were few and far between. Theystill re,with theexceptionofa few rtists likeGaryHill and BillViola. In1988, Chipwas offered a tenure-track assistant professorship attheUniversityfCalifornia, anta Cruz; it asa chance toexchange hisadjunct,part-timejob for professionalcareer.He left raduatestudentsand an artdepartmentfor looselyaffiliated ndergraduatefilm rogram n theaterdepartment.Duringthistime,he lived inSanta Cruz.in1993,ChipmarriedLisbethHaas, a professoratSanta Cruz,gaining stepdaughterin heprocess. His arttookhim to Japanfor everalbig projects.At Santa Cruz,heworkedwith hiscolleagues to create a separate media department.Thatdepartmentnowhas a thrivingundergraduate major, and an interdisciplinarygraduatedegree isprojected.Now,onemightask howan aginghippiecould livehappily verafter n university ureaucracy f infightingand territorialattles. I uspect thatthishassomethingtodo with hismiddle-class subur



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ban background, hich taught omanyofusabout contradiction, compromise, and appearance, amongotherthings.Chip is successfuluniversitydministrator?he isbeloved byhisstaff,hedeans, and, from hat I angather,therest f his faculty.nd this iswhere hiscommitmentocommunity,hich he testedin heAntFarm ollective livingxperience,comes in.

Chiphas released three ideo-installationprojectssince 2000?El Livahpla,MovieMap,andElZocalo.13Hismain projectfor hepasttwoyearshas been orchestratingheAnt Farmretrospectivend speakingabout theaspirations nd achievementsofthegroup.As theshowhas traveled oothercitiesandvenues,includingheSanta MonicaMuseum ofArt ndtheUniversityfPennsylvania, hereviewshave been enthusiastic, lmost reverential.t'sas if t ook the culture wenty-fiveears tounderstandwhatAnt Farm as doing. In heLos

Angeles Times,David Pagel spoke for generationthat isdiscovering ntFarmfor hefirsttime nd findingts orkbrilliantlyelevant:"Whenever nyoneasksmewhat I lookfor sa critic ay, 'Something 'venever een before... or even imagined.' These experiences areavailable in bundance at theSanta MonicaMuseum of Art_I've never seen anythinglike 'Ant Farm, 1968-1978'." The show is on itsway toHouston (which ill be a homecomingof sortsfor ntFarmers), hentoGermany,ndthen n toNew Haven and Yale later n 005.Chipwill continuetobe thespokesman,amanwho has devoted his life oart,tovisionaryplay, nd toteaching, elievingthat rt,notmoney; collaboration, not competition; and enthusiasm, not cynicism, could create new waysofthinkingnd actingand being in heworld.We can see his commitmentomake a moreharmonious, nergized,playful ommunityfequals.NOTES

1. The Bay Area Video Coalition can be reached bymail at 2727 Mariposa Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94110, or at


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Deleuze, Gilles. Cinema I: TheMovement-Image.Trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam.Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1986.-. "Mediators." Incorporations. Ed. JonathanGaryand Sanford Kwinter. New York: Zone, 1992.

Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. On the Line. Trans.JohnJohnston. New York: Semiotext(e), 1983.Freud, Sigmund. The Complete Psychological Works of

Sigmund Freud. Ed. and Trans. J. trachey. Vol. 20.London: Hogarth, 1959. 24V0IS.Johnson, Steven. Emergence: The Connected Lives ofAnts, Brains, Cities, and Software. New York: Scribner, 2001.Lewallen, Constance M., and Steve Seid, eds.Ant

Farm, 1968-78. Berkeley: U of California P, 2004.Lord, Chip./lufome/7Cfl;/l Tripdown U.S. Highways

fromWorld War II to the Future: A Book. New York:Dutton, 1976.Lyotard, Jean-Francois. "Acinema." Trans. Paisley N.Livingston.Wide Angle 2.3 (1978): 52-59.

Mellencamp, Patricia. High Anxiety: Catastrophe,Scandal, Age, and Comedy. Bloomington: IndianaUP, 1992.-. Indiscretions: Avant-Garde Film, Video, andFeminism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1990.

-, ed. Logics of Television: Essays in Cultural Criticism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1990.-. "Video Politics: Guerrilla 7V,Ant Farm,EternalFrame." Discourse 10.2 (1988): 78-99.Pagel, David. "Madcap Was theTenor of the Times."Rev. ofAnt Farm, 1968-1980. LosAngeles Times 12June2004: E8.Schneider, Cynthia, and BrianWallis. Global Television. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 1988.Shamberg, Michael. Guerrilla Television. New York:

Holt, 1971.Winn, Steve. "Ant FarmWorks Leave Appreciation for

Nonconformity." Rev. ofAnt Farm, 1968-1980. SanFrancisco Chronicle 23 Feb. 2004: Di.

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Documents

Ant Farm Redux