Nancy's Party

This tape documents Nancy Cain’s birthday party and captures the inner workings of the Videofreex’s social ethos. As pipes are refilled and passed around, and the music of Aretha Franklin and the Beatles croons in the background, members of the Videofreex take turns with the camera to experiment with the effects of light, proximity, and focus in the smoke-filled room. Activity includes brief clips of a television talk show host discussing current voting turn out,  longer segments of close-ups of Nancy’s face, and Parry Teasdale’s attempt to continuously blow smoke into the viewfinder. This tape most poignantly records the coupling off of Videofreex members—Bart and Nancy, Parry and Carol, David and Curtis—that informed the social dynamic of the group as a whole.

—Faye Gleisser