THE SOUNDSCORE TO heartBEAT: A NARRATIVE-FORM MUSIC ...

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SARA
This brings us back to TV. Does it have a distinctive voice? When we watch a
classic ftim on TV, we view it in terms of the art of film. When we view an opera or a
theatrical production on TV, we view them in terms of the art of opera and theatre. Why
not, then, view TV in terms of its own expressive potential? Instead of ftim on TV, opera
on TV, or tiieatre on TV, why not...TV on TV?
EDNA
In answer to that question, in the spring of 1984, seven nationally known video
artists were invited to spend three weeks on the Tech campus. Here they were assisted by
faculty, students and members of the surrounding community, in the creation of six short
"made for television" works. The guidelines given these artists were quiet simple: the
work had to exploit and reveal the "televisioness" of television, and it had to do so while
employing the images and mythologies characteristic of Texas.
SARA
The seven artists were: Lynn Hershman from San Francisco, who produced
Loma.
EDNA
Jaime Davidovich, from New York City, who produced Saludos Amigos: Dr.
Videovich Goes to Texas.
SARA
Marcella Bienvenue from Calgary, Canada, who taped but did not complete.
Frustrations of a Rock Fan.
EDNA
Judith Barry from New York City, who produced Mirage.
SARA
Michael Smith from New York City, who produced Go For It. Mike!
EDNA
And Bruce and Norman Yonemoto from Los Angeles, who produced
Vault. We will see these last two works this evening.
SARA
The first work we will show is Vault. This work exploits the format of the TV
soap-opera to tell the story of a love affair between a male artist and a female pole-vaulter.
We follow this pair from their initial mutual attraction to their eventual separation. In so
doing, the story mixes melodrama and cliche with flat, philosophical statements.
Symptomatically, then, the title, Vault, contains several contradictory notions.
Hollywood mythology, as embodied in the history of film, is preserved in the safety of