Artists Talk on Art records
name: label: Creator
content: Artists Talk on Art
label: Names
content: Barnet, Will, 1911-2012
label: Names
content: Bourgeois, Louise, 1911-2010
label: Names
content: Christo, 1935-
label: Names
content: De Niro, Robert, Sr., 1922-1993
label: Names
content: Denes, Agnes
label: Names
content: Goldberg, Michael, 1924-2007
label: Names
content: Jeanne-Claude, 1935-2009
label: Names
content: Longo, Robert
label: Names
content: Mendieta, Ana, 1948-1985
label: Names
content: Morris, Robert, 1931-2018
label: Names
content: Murray, Elizabeth, 1940-
label: Names
content: Neel, Alice, 1900-1984
label: Names
content: Pavia, Philip, 1915-2005
label: Names
content: Sleigh, Sylvia, 1916-2010
label: Names
content: Wilke, Hannah
label: Names
content: Wojnarowicz, David
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art critics
label: Occupation
content: Art dealers
label: Occupation
content: Art historians
label: Occupation
content: Artists
label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Historians
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Creator
content: Artists Talk on Art
setName: label: See more items in
content: Artists Talk on Art records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 65.2 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2023.  The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring 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. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 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.

There is a 0.8 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2023 that includes flyers, board meeting minutes, correspondence, program schedules, panel release forms, financial records 1982-2023; slides, 1980s-1990s; a notebook about the history of ATOA; and one hard drive containing 175 panel discussions and program series, 2016-2023.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Established in 1974 and still active in New York, Artists Talk on Art is the art world's longest running and most prolific aesthetic panel discussion series organized by artists for artists.  Founded by Lori Antonacci, Douglas I. Sheer, and Robert Wiegand, the forum has presented 6,000 artists in nearly 1,000 documented panels or dialogues. ATOA held its first panel, "Whatever Happened to Public Art," on January 10, 1975 and it drew a "crowd" of 77 people.  In the decades that followed, ATOA presented dozens of panels or dialogues a year, tackling such diverse topics as "What is Happening with Conceptual Art," with Louise Lawler and Lawrence Weiner; "Painting and Photography: Defining the Difference," with Sarah Charlesworth, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, and Robert Mapplethorpe; "Organizing Arts Activism," with Lucy Lippard; "The Artist and the Epidemic—an information panel about AIDS"; "Cross-generational Views of Feminism"; and hundreds more.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 64.4 Linear Feet
label: Extent
content: 317.43 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1974-2018
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.artitalk
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Transcripts
label: Type
content: Video recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The records are arranged into ten series.

 Series 1:  Adminstrative Files, 1974-2013 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)

Series 2:   Director's and Chairman's Correspondence, 1977-2006 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)

Series 3:   Grant Files, 1977-2009 (1 linear foot, Boxes 1-2)

Series 4:   Panel Release Forms, 1978-2012 (1 linear foot, Boxes 2-3)

Series 5:   Panel Transcripts, 1981, 1986, 1988, 2017-2018 (1 folder, Box 3; 0.002 GB, ER01)

Series 6:   Printed Materials, 1975-2015 (0.8 linear feet, Boxes 3-4; 0.434 GB, ER02)

Series 7:   Scrapbooks, 1975-1989 (0.2 linear feet, Box 4)

Series 8:   Photographic Materials, circa 1975-circa 2000 (1 linear foot, Boxes 4-5) 

Series 9:  Video and Sound Recordings of Events, 1977-2016 (59 linear feet, Boxes 6-65; 317.43 GB, ER03-ER04)

Series 10: Unprocessed Addition, 1982-2023 (0.8 linear feet, 1 hard drive; Boxes 66-67)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Most of the video and sound recordings and panel flyers were digitized by the Artists Talk on Art organization prior to donation. Electronic copies of transcripts for twelve panels were donated in 2017-2018. Video and sound recordings, and their digital surrogates, and electronic records were processed to a preliminary level and an inventory for the finding aid was prepared by Megan McShea in 2017-2018. Individual event recordings were processed and described at the item level in this finding aid in 2019. The paper portion of the collection was processed and described by Barbara Aikens in 2017.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Most of the video and sound recordings in this collection have been digitized for research access and the digital copies are available in the Archives of American Art research offices.  Digital copies of the panel flyers and transcripts are also available in Archives of American Art offices.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Transcripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 65.2 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2023.  The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring 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. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 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, Howardena Pindell, Larry Rivers, Sylvia Sleigh, Kahinde Wiley, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and others speak about their work.  The original recordings exist in a variety of formats, including U-Matic and VHS videotape, MiniDVs, sound cassettes and sound tape reels.  ATOA digitized most of the video and sound recordings prior to donating the collection.   

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. 

There is a 0.8 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2023 that includes flyers, board meeting minutes, correspondence, program schedules, panel release forms, financial records 1982-2023; slides, 1980s-1990s; a notebook about the history of ATOA; and one hard drive containing 175 panel discussions and program series, 2016-2023.