Raindance Foundation (RainDance Corporation) was founded in October 1969 by Frank Gillette,

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the vice presidential nominee i ...

, Michael Shamberg, Louis Jaffe, and Marco Vassi. Raindance was a self-described "alternate culture think-tank" that embraced video as an alternative form of cultural communication. The name "RainDance Corporation" was an ironic reference to the mainstream organization Rand Corporation. Influenced by the communications theories of

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media studies, media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridg ...

and

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing m ...

, the collective produced a data bank of tapes and writings that explored the relation of cybernetics,

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

, and

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

. From 1970 to 1974, Raindance published the seminal video journal '' Radical Software'' (initially edited by Beryl Korot and Phyllis Gershuny), which provided a network of communications for the emerging alternative video movement with a circulation of 5,000. In 1971, Dean and Dudley Evenson joined the Raindance Foundation and taught video workshops through the Metropolitan Museum of Art under a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Dean Evenson was instrumental in hooking up the first half inch video transmission through New York City's Sterling Manhattan Cable, thus paving the way for Public Access Television. Dudley Evenson co-edited Issue #5 of Radical Software with Michael Shamberg. In 1971, Shamberg wrote ''Guerrilla Television'', a summary of the group's principles and a blueprint for the decentralization of television. ara Greenwald: The Process is in the Streets. Challenging Media America. S. 168-179. In: MacPhee and Reuland (eds.).Realizing the Impossible. Art Against Authority. Oakland, Edinburgh 2007. In 1976, Raindance members Ira Schneider and Beryl Korot edited ''Video Art: An Anthology'', one of the first readers on

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. ...

. The original Raindance collective dispersed in the mid-1970s. The nonprofit Raindance Foundation continued and in the 1980s produced the first comprehensive TV series on video art called "Night Light TV" which showcased video works by William Wegman, Ira Schneider, Russ Johnson (of Taly and Russ Johnson), Joan Jonas, Juan Downey, John Sturgeon, and Willoughby Sharp. Raindance also administered The Standby Program at Matrix, bringing video editing to artists in the 1980s and 1990s.

Notes

References

* ''Video Art an Anthology'' edited by Ira Schneider and Beryl Korot (New York and London 1976 , paperback: ). * Guerrilla Television'' by Michael Shamberg and Raindance Corporation (1971 Holt Rinehart and Winstin, New York, Chicago, San Francisco , and paperback {{ISBN, 0-03-086735-5).

External links

RADICAL SOFTWARE, A Brief History of RainDance
by

Davidson Gigliotti Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

(2003).
Raindance Corporation
in th
Video Data Bank
The 20th Anniversary of the Raindance Foundation was celebrated in 1990 with a retrospective at Kitchen in New York City. Video art