Alive from Off Center

In John Sanborn and Kit Fitzgerald’s Ear to the Ground, percussionist David Van Thieghem “plays” the city of New York as he uses everyday objects as instruments. Zbigniew Rybczynski’s The Discreet Charm of the Diplomacy depicts a cocktail party at the White House, where animals are also invited. Ringside by Michael Schwartz showcases a dance by Elizabeth Streb, followed by a futuristic music video for Laurie Anderson’s song “Sharkey’s Day.” William Wegman’s Singing Stomach features a man contorting his torso to look like a face alongside another segment of Wegman teaching a dog how to spell. Lastly, At Battersea Power Station features a performance by Sankai Juku.

This program opens with a piece performed by the dance group "Maasai," which explores an African tribal dance and its variations performed in 1980s London. The second and final segment, "Parafango," is a collaboration between choreographer and dancer Karole Armitage, video artist George Atlas, and musician David Linton that depicts a woman's surrealistic dream about a man she encounters at a party.

Smothering Dreams features an interview with video artist/sculptor Dan Reeves as well as clips from his video piece of the same title. The work juxtaposes footage from combat against shots of everyday children’s play in order to critique America’s fascination with war and violence. In the interview portion of this 1985 episode, Reeves shares his personal experiences of serving as a US marine in Vietnam during the 1960s. Smothering Dreams is dedicated to the soldiers of 3rd Platoon Company A 1st Amtrac Battalion and the North Vietnamese soldiers who died on January 20, 1969, along the Cua Viet River.

Artists who poke fun at the medium of television are the focus of this 1985 episode. As noted by host Susan Stamberg, Comedy on Video is highly self-reflexive since these artists not only mock commercial television but also educational television, a subgenre in which Alive from Off Center can be included. Segments include Zbigniew Rybczynski’s The Day Before, William Wegman’s Man Ray – Man Ray, “Joan Logue’s TV Commercials for Artists, and Tom Rubnitz and actress Ann Magnuson’s Made for TV.

Directed by video artist Shirley Clarke, Tongues (1985) is a collaboration between playwright Sam Shepard and actor Joseph Chaikin. According to Chaikin, Tongues is about “somebody being reborn and reborn again.” In the video, Chaikin performs a monologue that addresses existential concepts such as birth, death, and rebirth in many different voices. At one point, he carries on a dialogue between two people. His performance is punctuated by the sound of percussion instruments and various visual effects. This episode also includes an interview with Clarke about her work and the medium of video by host Susan Stamberg.

"Summer" is the theme of the dances, which are performed outdoors. Inspired by the teenage life in a working-class neighborhood, the first dance, "You Little Wild Heart" by Marta Renzi, is performed to music by Bruce Springsteen in an actual suburban neighborhood. In the second dance, "District 1" by Rudy Perez, Boston's City Hall Plaza is transformed into a kind of summer playground. In "George's House" by Dan Wagoner, a group of young women play "hide-and-seek" by popping their heads in and out of the doors and windows of a cabin to the rhythm of the country music accompaniment. In "Secret of the Waterfall" by Charles Atlas and Douglas Dunn, performers move to the phrases and words of a poem, which appear on screen as part of the visual composition. The final piece, "From An Island Summer" by Atlas and Karole Armitage, follows a group of dancers through Coney Island from the boardwalk to the amusement park, as passersby react with surprise.

Spalding Gray discusses his experiences working as a professional theater actor while sitting at a desk or table in the same manner as many of his filmed and theatrically released monologues.

This program, hosted by Susan Stamberg, showcases alt rock music videos, beginning with "The Dancing Man," in which a recurring song torments a man. The video "The Women's Group" by the British New Wave group "The Flying Lizards" offers a satirical view of a "woman's world" and the "traps" that she faces. "Lake Placid 80" by artist Nam June Paik uses images of Olympic ice skaters as they whirl to the beat of a rock song. In "Record Players" by Christian Marclay, unidentified hands "play" acetate LPs by scratching them. "Once in a Lifetime," a music video by "Talking Heads" band leader David Byrne, is followed by Joan Logue's "TV Commercials for Artists" in which she presents unconventional video portraits of Steve Reich (clapping hands), Nam June Paik (playing a piano in an unorthodox way), and Laurie Anderson (using her head as percussion). The final segment, "Act III", is a piece by John Sanborn and Dean Winkler with music by Philip Glass.