NIGHTCLUBBING Archive by Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong
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Abstract
NIGHTCLUBBING was a weekly cable television show produced by video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong. The NIGHTCLUBBING Archive is a collection of videorecordings featuring live footage filmed between 1975 and 1980 that captures the burgeoning punk scene in nightclubs around New York City.
Biographical Note
Pat Ivers attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before working at Manhattan Cable TV's Public Access Department. She began documenting New York City's downtown nightclub scene in the 1970s, working with Nam Juin Paik and other video artists, as well as the Metropolis Video collective and Emily Armstrong. In the 1980s Ivers was instrumental in the creation of the Corporate and Cable Communications Program (now The Media Arts and Technology Department) at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) of The City University of New York (CUNY). She began working for ABC Sports in the 1990s and is currently a Producer/Editor at WPIX.
Emily Armstrong scheduled, produced, and promoted television programs as a coordinator in Manhattan Cable TV's Public Access Department in the 1970s. Together with Pat Ivers, a fellow MCTV employee, Armstrong began documenting New York City's downtown nightclub scene to present on the weekly cable television show NIGHTCLUBBING. Armstrong designed and ran the Professional Video Training Program (PROVIT), which retrained thousands of NYC trade union media professionals in new digital technologies. She also worked as a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Video Artist-In-Residence in the public school system.
Sources:
Go Nightclubbing (www.gonightclubbing.com/index.html)
Historical Note
NIGHTCLUBBING, a weekly cable television show produced by video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong, debuted in 1979. The show was comprised of live footage filmed between 1975 and 1980 by Ivers and Armstrong that captures the burgeoning punk scene in nightclubs around New York City, including CBGB, Mudd Club, and Danceteria. The recordings feature dynamic performances by Bad Brains, Ballistic Kisses, Max Blagg, Blondie, Bush Tetras, John Cale, Contortions, Cramps, Dead Boys, Dead Kennedys, DNA, Go Go's, The Heartbreakers with Richard Hell, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Levi and the Rockats, The Lounge Lizards, Offs, Iggy Pop, Pylon, Strange Party, The Stilettos with Tish and Snooky, Suburbs, Suicide, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Talking Heads, and many others.
Sources:
Bedford+Bowery: Nightclubbing (http://bedfordandbowery.com/category/nightclubbing/)
Go Nightclubbing (http://www.gonightclubbing.com/history.htm)
Arrangement
This arrangement retains the collection's original order. Titles of the videos derive from the titles provided by Ivers and Armstrong. The videos are arranged chronologically, then alphabetically, in the following series:
Series I: Performances
Series I contains live performances recorded by Ivers and Armstrong for the weekly cable television show NIGHTCLUBBING. The footage captures various artists and musicians performing in nightclubs around New York City between 1976 and 1980. This series also includes undated recordings as well as later recordings from 1997 and 2003.
Series II: Interviews
Series II contains video interviews with various musicians, performance artists, critics, and writers involved in the New York City punk scene. Many of the videos are undated. The dated interviews were all made in the 2000s except for one recording from 1977.
Series III: The Come-On's
The seven videos in Series III comprise two shoots and rough edits of The Come-On's video installation project. The project allowed participants to select to view a tape of a performer, or "seducer," in a photo booth. Each tape featured a musician or artist from the downtown scene who attempted to "seduce" the viewer.
Series IV: Narrative Tapes
The six videos in Series IV comprise narrative tapes, which functioned as the precursor to modern music videos. In each narrative tape, an artist's performance is accompanied by thematically relevant stories, images, and video clips.
Series V: Video Lounge
The nineteen videos in Series V contain Video Lounge footage captured by Ivers and Armstrong. The artists created the Video Lounge format after being commissioned to design a video installation for the opening of the Danceteria nightclub in 1980. Video Lounge became a permanent feature at Danceteria but Ivers and Armstrong also included the format in the NIGHTCLUBBING television series, which showed video art, various video clips and footage, and musical performances.
Series VI: Nightclubbing
The sixteen videos in Series VI contain episodes of the NIGHTCLUBBING television series that was broadcast as a local television show in New York City and was also screened at late night viewings at the Anthology Film Archives. While the majority of these recordings are undated, the dated videos were made during 1975-1980.
Scope and Content
The NIGHTCLUBBING Archive by Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong is a collection of videorecordings produced by video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong for the weekly cable television show NIGHTCLUBBING. The videos feature live footage filmed between 1975 and 1980 that captures the burgeoning punk scene in nightclubs around New York City. The videorecordings vary by type and include live performances captured for the television show; interviews with various musicians, performance artists, critics, and writers; a video installation project; narrative tapes; Video Lounge footage; and episodes of the NIGHTCLUBBING television series.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); NIGHTCLUBBING Archive by Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong; MSS 305; unique identification number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Fales Library purchased the Nightclubbing Archive by Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong from Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong in 2010.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Access copies for some materials are available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Please contact fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
