Video Documentation and Exhibition Proposal

Object Details

Sponsor: Funding for the preservation of the video and sound recordings and motion picture film digitization was provided by Bridget Moore.

Collection Citation: Robert Kushner papers, 1967-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Scope and Contents: Documentation of Kushner's video recordings includes correspondence, notes, lab records, and inventories of Kushner's performance videos. Notes, correspondence, and photocopies of original event programs are found among records related to work performed by Carlota Schoolman in 1988 to restore Kushner's original video recordings and create edited masters and highlight compilation reels. Her notes include detailed content lists and credits for some pieces, as well as documentation of their work at that time. Also found are records of the video conservation work performed in 1999 by Dara Meyers-Kingsley of Vidipax on six of the original video recordings in preparation for a proposed exhibition she planned with Catherine Morris. Videos duplicated by Schoolman and Meyers-Kingsley are found in series 1. A file documenting a proposed exhibition of Kushner's performance works includes a statement by Kushner about the evolution of his work, a brief biography of Kushner, an exhibition proposal by the curators, and notes and correspondence related to the proposed exhibition, which was entitled "Pret-a-porter: Robert Kushner, performance and fashion, 1970-1980."

Collection Restrictions: Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.