Carlota Schoolman
This Video Viewing Room features a selection of videos produced by Carlota Schoolman and her production company Fifi Corday Productions, and projects she produced while working for The Kitchen: Richard Serra, Television Delivers People (1973); Trisha Brown, Primary Accumulation (1974); Jean Dupuy, Soup and Tart (1974); The Kitchen Promo Tape, 1974–1975; a recording of Talking Heads performing at The Kitchen (1976); Nancy Holt, Revolve (1977); DeeDee Halleck, Bronx Baptism (1979); Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives (1977–1983); and Tom Bowes, Two Moon July (1986). The videos were available to view for one month, from March 9–April 6, 2021. Now, still images related to these videos are presented alongside an introductory text contextualizing Schoolman’s tenure at The Kitchen as Video Director from 1974–1977 and Associate Director for Television Production from 1978–1986, transcribed excerpts from an oral history Schoolman conducted with The Kitchen in 2011, and images and ephemera from The Kitchen’s archive.
This presentation is co-organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement, and Stephen Vitiello, artist and former Archivist at The Kitchen. In conjunction with this Video Viewing Room, a 50th Anniversary Conversation between Schoolman and Vitiello took place on March 11, 2021.
As part of The Kitchen’s commitment to reanimating its history on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, this Video Viewing Room showcases the work of Carlota Schoolman—one of the organization’s key staff members in the initial years after transitioning from an artist-run collective to a non-profit in 1973. Schoolman joined the staff as Video Director in 1974 at the invitation of the Executive Director at the time, Robert Stearns. She served in this role until 1977, when she left New York to pursue other interests abroad. When she returned to the city in 1978, The Kitchen’s next Executive Director, Mary MacArthur, née Griffin, invited her to begin producing video for television for a new initiative called The Kitchen Presents. Schoolman worked on this program as an Associate Director for Television Production through 1986.
Before joining The Kitchen, Schoolman spent several years engaging with early video art in various capacities. She began her career by researching and contributing to efforts to broadcast artists’ works on public access television, working first with the Sloan Commission on Cable Communications from 1970–1971 and then with Experiments in Art and Technology in 1971. Building on these experiences, she began to work as an independent producer and established her own production company Fifi Corday Productions in 1972 to support artists in the creation of video pieces. One of the first artists Schoolman collaborated with as a producer is Richard Serra: their work together is represented here by the video Television Delivers People (1973).
Schoolman brought to The Kitchen her expertise in video production, her interests in television distribution, and her network of relationships with artists. The videos included in this viewing room showcase just some of the wide array of artists that Schoolman invited to work at The Kitchen and demonstrate the diverse range of productions she was involved in during her tenure as both Video Director and then Associate Director for Television Production. Two of the pieces highlight the overlaps between her work in these roles and her activities through Fifi Corday Productions: Trisha Brown’s seminal solo dance performed for video Primary Accumulation (1974), and Nancy Holt’s Revolve (1977) were produced by Fifi Corday Productions and later screened at The Kitchen. Other inclusions spotlight Schoolman’s investment in capturing live performances staged at The Kitchen, creating and editing records of notable events such as Jean Dupuy’s ambitious evening dinner salon Soup and Tart (1974) and the first concert by the Talking Heads at an art center (1976). The projects that Schoolman produced in her later role as Associate Director—Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives (1977–1983) and Two Moon July (1986), directed by Tom Bowes—showcase her pioneering work on The Kitchen Presents, an innovative initiative that supported performance made specifically for the context of television broadcast. As further indication of her work, the 1974–1975 promotional video narrated and edited by Schoolman sheds light on the ambitious scope of programs that she and the other curators and directors organized in a single year, which included presentations of video installations by artists such as Shigeko Kubota and Beryl Korot in The Kitchen’s gallery space, in addition to video screenings and performances. Produced to assist in the organization’s fundraising efforts, the promotional video also indicates the substantial role Schoolman played in the ongoing administration of The Kitchen as it established its operations as a non-profit organization.
In conjunction with this Video Viewing Room, The Kitchen was pleased to present a 50th Anniversary Conversation on Thursday, March 11, 2021 between Schoolman and Stephen Vitiello, another artist who has played an integral role in The Kitchen’s history both on staff as Archivist from 2001–2004 and as a presenting artist.
Richard Serra, Television Delivers People (1973), made in collaboration with Carlota Schoolman
I became a video producer using equipment that Ralph Hocking had loaned to me and James Dearing. Most of the artists I worked with at first made things in our loft. I was the kind of producer who did not direct in any way, shape, or form. I wanted to know what the artist’s interest was, what they wanted to do, and then, if it was appropriate, I helped them. Either by standing behind the camera or leaving the room, whichever was appropriate.
Richard Serra was someone who I knew was making films. I was fascinated that he was a sculptor who was also making films, and I was really interested in his films. I thought they were fabulous. And so I called him, introduced myself, and asked if he would be interested in doing something in video. He came to our loft and made some videotapes, but for Television Delivers People, he wanted to use scrolling text, and I knew a professional studio was required. My equipment wasn’t up to that. I called a very small, funky mobile studio run by WNET for local programming and said, “I’m working on a project with an artist. Can we hire you to do what we need to do?” They said yes, and they did a very good job on Television Delivers People.
— Carlota Schoolman, oral history with The Kitchen on the occasion of its 40th Anniversary, 2011
Trisha Brown, Primary Accumulation (1974), produced by Fifi Corday Productions
Schoolman and James Dearing shot this video document of Brown’s solo dance performance at their loft on Wooster Street, following Dearing’s video design. Schoolman programmed a screening of Primary Accumulation at The Kitchen in 1974, and the video was later shown in a 1982 event titled “Works on Video.”
Jean Dupuy, Soup and Tart (1974), performance produced and documented by Carlota Schoolman
Bob [Robert] Stearns invited Jean Dupuy to do a performance at The Kitchen, and my job was to produce it. Jean invited a ton of artists to each present a two-minute performance of any kind. While the performances were going on, Jean was in the back room where there was a real kitchen with a very fancy stove. He was making a particular kind of French tart that is supposed to be taken out of the oven exactly eight minutes before they are consumed by the lucky people who get to eat them.
There was a whole bunch of stuff going on backstage around the production of those tarts, and Jean was back and forth into the main space with tarts in hand. I was out on the floor with three videographers who were shooting the event.
Jean chose an extraordinary group of artists. It was brilliant.
— Schoolman, oral history, 2011
To learn more about Soup and Tart, visit The Kitchen’s Archive Site.
The Kitchen Promo Tape, 1974–1975, narrated and edited by Carlota Schoolman
Schoolman was asked to make a videotape to show to the National Endowment for the Arts, documenting some of the events that had taken place at The Kitchen between fall 1974 and summer 1975. In order of appearance, works shown are Shigeko Kubota’s twelve-monitor video installation Video Poem (1975); a “word event" by Jackson Mac Low (1975); Robert Kushner’s performance piece The Persian Line (1975, postcard for this performance featured below right); Trisha Brown’s solo dance performed for video Primary Accumulation (1974); Beryl Korot’s four-monitor video installation Dachau, 1974 (1974, installation image shown below left); Steve Paxton’s Contact Improvisation concert featuring five dancers and video (1975); Ron Clark’s video Give or Take a Few Words (1974); and Richard Landry performing in Jean Dupuy’s multi-artist performance event, Soup and Tart (1974).
Talking Heads performance at The Kitchen (1976), documented by Carlota Schoolman
To learn more about the Talking Heads concert at The Kitchen on March 13, 1976, visit The Kitchen’s Archive Site.
Nancy Holt, Revolve (1977), produced by Fifi Corday Productions
Schoolman organized screenings of Revolve at The Kitchen on December 2 and 3, 1977, and the video was later broadcasted on WNET Channel 13 in 1978.
To learn more about Revolve, visit The Kitchen’s Archive Site and the Holt/Smithson Foundation website.
peter campus, Work from 1976, exhibition at The Kitchen, March 2–19, 1977
peter campus is one of the artists whose work I viewed before working at The Kitchen. I thought it was amazing. I’m sure my memory is far from perfect, but here it is: I walked through the door at the gallery into a dark space. There was an image on the wall. I was in that image, and it was moving. I wondered — is this what zero G feels like? I felt like I was on my way to the moon. It was a beautiful and powerful piece. So, after I had worked at The Kitchen for a while I got brave enough to ask him to show something. He installed Work from 1976.
– Schoolman, oral history, 2011
To learn more about campus’s exhibition, click here to read a review by Roberta Smith for Art in America (March 1977) and here to read a review by Steven Madoff for Artforum (May 1977).
DeeDee Halleck, Bronx Baptism (1979), produced through The Kitchen by DeeDee Halleck, Carlota Schoolman, Richard Serra, and Michael Shamberg
Halleck produced Bronx Baptism with support from The Kitchen. According to Schoolman, this project was distinct from the types of films that The Kitchen typically exhibited or produced: “I regret that I rarely showed the fantastic documentaries being made in the early ’70s. There were other video centers in New York focused on documentaries at the time, so I typically left that work for them. I’m so glad we helped get this documentary, Bronx Baptism, made. It is the only Kitchen-supported 16mm film that I recall. I think it’s amazing.”
Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives (1977–1983), produced by Carlota Schoolman for The Kitchen Presents. Excerpts compiled by Dean Winkler
When I got back to New York after being abroad for about a year, The Kitchen’s new Executive Director Mary Griffin asked me to rejoin the staff and produce something I wanted to work on. I wasn’t too interested, but I gave it a lot of thought.
I was particularly interested in Robert Ashley. I thought he had done some of the most interesting video I had seen. But he was a composer: how did that happen? It was his piece called Music with Roots in the Aether. The music, the way it was shot, and the installation in The Kitchen’s large space—I thought it was extraordinary,
When Mary asked me if there was anything I wanted to produce, I told her that I would be interested in working with Robert if he was game to work with me. And so, that’s how she got me back to The Kitchen, because he was interested and had this idea for Perfect Lives, a seven-episode opera for television.
— Schoolman, oral history, 2011
To learn more about Perfect Lives, visit The Kitchen’s Archive Site or Ashley’s website.
Tom Bowes, Two Moon July (1986), produced by Carlota Schoolman for The Kitchen Presents
Two Moon July was directed by Tom Bowes, an artist who worked at The Kitchen for many years. His primary job was videotaping dance performances. He was a first-class videographer for following a performance with a single camera. He wanted to make a work of his own at The Kitchen, a piece that was like his life working there.
Mary Griffin [Executive Director of The Kitchen] raised funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to produce the project. At the time, The Kitchen was moving from Broome Street—everything was being moved up to Chelsea. Shooting Two Moon July was the last thing we did at the old space. Tom wrote and directed it; chose the artists, performers, and Kitchen staff; and designed the set. Tom was particularly interested in the people for whom The Kitchen had helped start their careers.
It was a lot of fun to make, especially because we got to redesign the interior of the loft space in ways that wouldn’t have been acceptable if The Kitchen wasn’t moving from there.
— Schoolman, oral history, 2011
To learn more about Two Moon July, visit The Kitchen’s Archive Site.
Images and videos:
1) Interior of The Kitchen, 484 Broome Street, 1975. Photo by Kathy Landman.
2) Still from Trisha Brown, Primary Accumulation, 1974. Produced by Fifi Corday Productions. Digitized video, black and white, sound, 17 minutes, 31 seconds. Courtesy of Trisha Brown Dance Company.
3) Left: Flyer for Trisha Brown, Works on Video at The Kitchen, December 9, 1982. Detail. To see the full flyer, click here. Right: Program for Trisha Brown, Works on Video at The Kitchen, December 9, 1982. Detail. To see the full program, click here.
4) Laurie Anderson in Jean Dupuy, Soup and Tart, 1974. Performance view, The Kitchen. Photo by Kathy Landman.
5) Left: Poster for Jean Dupuy, Soup and Tart at The Kitchen, 1974. Right: Flyer for Jean Dupuy, Soup and Tart at The Kitchen, 1974. Detail. To see the full flyer, click here.
6) Shigeko Kubota, Video Poem, 1975. Installation view at The Kitchen. Photo by Kathy Landman.
7) Left: Beryl Korot, Dachau, 1974, 1974. Installation view at The Kitchen. Photo by Mary Lucier. Right: Flyer for Robert Kushner, The Persian Line, at The Kitchen, January 18 and 19, 1975. Detail. To see the full flyer, click here.
8) Talking Heads (David Byrne, guitar, vocals; Chris Frantz, percussion; and Martina Weymouth, bass) at The Kitchen, March 13, 1976. Performance view. Photo by Kathy Landman.
9) Press release for Talking Heads at The Kitchen, March 13, 1976. Detail. To see the full press release, click here.
10) Still from Nancy Holt, Revolve (1977). Digitized video, black and white, sound, 77 minutes. © Holt/Smithson Foundation, Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York. Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix and Video Data Bank. Courtesy of the Holt/Smithson Foundation and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
11) Left and right: Postcard for broadcast of Nancy Holt, Revolve (1977) on WNET Channel 13, June 18, 1978. Front and back.
12) peter campus, lus, 1976. Courtesy of the artist.
13) Left: The Kitchen, March 1977 Program Calendar. Detail. To see the full calendar, click here. Right: Press release for peter campus, Work from 1976, March 2–19 at The Kitchen. Detail. To see the full press release, click here.
14) Flyer for DeeDee Halleck, Bronx Baptism, 1979. 16mm, color, sound, 28 minutes, 6 seconds. Courtesy of the artist.
15) “Blue” Gene Tyranny in still from Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives, 1978. Produced in collaboration with Carlota Schoolman for The Kitchen. Courtesy of Dean Winkler.
16) Left: Press release for screening of Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives, 1983. Detail. To see the full press release, click here. Right: Postcard for work-in-progress showing of Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives (Private Parts) at American Theatre Laboratory co-presented by Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, and Performing Artservices, December 26–30, 1979. Front. To see the full postcard, click here.
17) Still from Tom Bowes, Two Moon July, 1986. Video, color, sound, 53 minutes, 54 seconds.
18) Program for screening of Tom Bowes, Two Moon July at The Kitchen, October 16 and 17, 1986. Detail. To see the full program, click here.