Artists Talk on Art records, circa 1974-2018

Collection Information

Size: 64.4 linear feet

9 gigabytes

Summary: The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 9 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators, and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City from 1975 to 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
ATOA's recordings chronicle the American art world, covering critical discussions and significant art world issues over five decades. Thousands of artists such as Will Barnet, Louise Bourgeois, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Robert De Niro, Agnes Denes, Michael Goldberg, Robert Longo, Ana Mendieta, Robert Morris, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Philip Pavia, Larry Rivers, Sylvia Sleigh, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and others speak about their work. The original analog recordings exist in a variety of formats, including U-Matic and VHS videotape, MiniDVs, sound cassettes, and sound tape reels.
The collection also includes printed histories, board and program committee meeting minutes, financial statements, general correspondence files of the president and chair, attendance statistics, grant files, panel participant release forms, sixteen panel transcripts, a complete set of panel flyers (many are annotated) and other printed materials, three dismantled scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panels and panel participants.

Biographical/Historical Note

Artists Talk on Art (1974- ) is the art world's longest-running and most prolific, ongoing aesthetic panel discussion series. ATOA has presented more than 1,400 panels, open screenings, and dialogs featuring nearly 6,000 artists, critics, historians, dealers, and others since January 1975.

Provenance

The Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) records, including digital files of the video and sound recordings, were donated to the Archives in 2016 by Douglas Sheer, Chairman of ATOA.