The Critic's Informed Viewing

Description

"In the piece, Elwes is seen on an ordinary night in watching the TV. She then begins to give a critique on what she sees on the screen, although more of a train of thought, highlighting the shallowness and banality of popular television. She particularly singles out the pop music programme 'Top of the Pops'. A more serious and intellectual precursor to Channel 4's 'Goggle Box'.

'...she is doing what the TV producers so often fail to do... to build up a a realistic view of the audience... to respect their intelligence and find a way of communicating with them that is both enjoyable and stimulating." Pete Shelton, "Who Is Watchig Whom?", Performance Magazine, April/May 1983. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

The Critic's Informed Viewing review extracts from The Critic and Deconstruction catalogues, Mark Wilcox, 1985. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

Additional Informations

The Critic's Informed Viewing text extracts and stills, 1985. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

Letter 'Dear Alex' with descriptions of Nostalgia (1982) and The Critic's Informed Viewing (1982), 14th January 1983. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

"Catherine Elwes' The Critic's Informed Viewing is a restless, meandering journey through an evening's viewing in front of the box. The woman in this piece is not an object designed for the gaze of men but instead a critical, active observer. She is the viewer, not the viewed. The artist as armchair critic examines the way in which TV represents women and even intervenes in the playback of the videotape itself; freezing frames, flipping channels, cracking jokes and munching on a TV dinner." (Mark Wilcox, "Deconstruct", Subverting Television. Deconstruct, Scratch, Alter Image, Arts Council Film and Video Umbrella Programme, 1984; Time Based Arts, Amsterdam, March 1985.) (Source, pdf, site web Rewind)

"'Alternative Television - contemporary video artists presenting their own work'. A selection of videotapes presented by the artists at the Northampton Arts Centre January 1984. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

View image stills from the video (Source, site web, Rewind)

Presentation place

- A Season of Independent Film and Video, Arts Centre Northampton College, Northampton, England, 23 février 1984. (Source, pdf, Rewind) - Subverting Television. Deconstruct (A Three Part Programme of British Video Art), sélectionné par Marc Wilcox pour Netherlands Video Circuit, Arts Council Film and Video Umbrella Programme; Time Based Arts, Amsterdam, mars 1985. (Source, pdf, site web Rewind)

Publications and Periodicals which reference the work

- Mark Wilcox, "Deconstruct", Subverting Television. Deconstruct, Scratch, Alter Image, Arts Council Film and Video Umbrella Programme, 1984; Time Based Arts, Amsterdam, March 1985. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

- Tamara Krikorian, "Artists' Television", Broadcast television and the visual arts : a supplement to the catalogue TSWA, the National Open Art Exhibition, TSWA, Plymouth[?], 1984, p. 49-55. (Source, pdf, Rewind)

- Stephen Partridge & Sean Cubitt (eds.), REWIND| British Artists' Video in the 1970s & 1980s, John Libbey Publishing, East barnet, Herts, 2012.