Paper Tiger Television, through the collaborative efforts of artists, activists and scholars, has pioneered experimental, innovative and truly alternative community media since 1981. An early innovator in video art and public access television of the early 80’s, PTTV developed a unique, handmade, irreverent aesthetic that experimented with the television medium by combining art, academics, politics, performance and live television. PTTV, founded on the ideal that freedom of speech through access to the means of communication is essential in a democratic society, regularly exposed the hidden agenda of the mainstream media and questioned the powerful grip of corporate influence on media content to become the first nationally disseminated public access television program. Dee Dee Halleck, one of the original founders of PTTV comments, “It is one thing to critique the mass media and rail against their abuses. It is quite another to create viable alternatives.”
Today’s burgeoning independent media movement can trace its roots directly to the network of media activists developed by PTTV throughout the 1980s. With the recent explosion of Internet video distribution, DIY media has grown from an isolated endeavor to an increasingly powerful international phenomenon.
Paper Tiger collective members, Rebecca Giordano and Lida Shao, will be here to present past and present projects, and to talk about the history of PTTV and why it is still relevant today.
