State of the arts videorecordings
name: label: Creator
content: Lawrence P. Fraiberg Productions
label: Names
content: Lawrence P. Fraiberg Productions
label: Names
content: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: New Museum (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: O.K. Harris Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Whitney Museum of American Art
label: Names
content: Campoli, Cosmo
label: Names
content: Cavanau, Ted
label: Names
content: Derman, Rick
label: Names
content: Fraiberg, Lawrence P.
label: Names
content: Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012
label: Names
content: Kovich, Robert
label: Names
content: Nolan, Barry
label: Names
content: Paik, Nam June, 1932-2006
label: Names
content: Phillips, Liz
label: Names
content: Rose, Barbara
label: Names
content: Segal, George, 1924-2000
label: Names
content: Solomon, Holly, 1934-2002
label: Names
content: Thorne, Joan, 1943-
topic: label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Performance art
label: Topic
content: Artists' studios
label: Topic
content: Video art
label: Topic
content: Sound sculpture -- United States
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Art -- Economic aspects
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated 1979-1980 by Lawrence P. Fraiberg.
creator: label: Creator
content: Lawrence P. Fraiberg Productions
setName: label: See more items in
content: State of the arts videorecordings
abstract: label: Summary
content: The State of the Arts videorecordings measure 2.4 linear feet and consist of 30 videocassettes (U-matic) and three sets of handwritten notes, all created during the production of a pilot episode for a broadcast television documentary series on contemporary art in 1979. Four stories were produced for the pilot: a staged debate on modern art at the Museum of Modern Art; an investigation into the economics of the contemporary art market, a collaboration between video artist Nam June Paik and sound artist Liz Phillips, and an extended interview with sculptor George Segal on the occasion of his 1979 retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Video footage includes raw footage for each segment and edited versions of the economics of art story, the Nam June Paik and Liz Phillips story, and the George Segal story. The reporter and interviewer for the program was Barry Nolan.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: State of the Arts was planned as a broadcast television magazine program on the subject of contemporary art. The pilot was produced in 1979 by Lawrence P. Fraiberg Productions with funding provided jointly by IBM and the National Endowment for the Arts. Fraiberg and Tom Cavanau served as executive co-producers, Rick Derman as field producer, and Barry Nolan as interviewer. The program never aired.

Lawrence P. Fraiberg was a longtime television documentary veteran when the pilot was produced. He graduated from the University of California in 1949 and began his career at television station KPIX in San Francisco. He became vice president and general manager of WNEW-TV in New York in 1965, and was named president of Metromedia Television in 1977. In 1980  he was appointed president of the Television Station Group for Westinghouse Broadcasting. An active member in community and industry organizations, he is a recipient of an honorary degree (1978) from St. John's University, New York, a Peabody Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Broadcasting Industry (1986), and a Trustees Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1990). He died in 2011.

Barry Nolan, the interviewer for State of the Arts, went on to a career as a television magazine host and producer, with credits including Evening Magazine, Hard Copy, Extra!, and Nitebeat, and in 2012 produced the documentary No Way Out But One with his wife, Garland Waller.
function: label: Function
content: Production companies
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1979
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.frailawr
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Video recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as one series.

Series 1:  -- State of the Arts --  Production Video, 1979 (2.4 linear feet; boxes 1-3)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed in 2015 by Megan McShea. Additional finding aid description of the digitized video recordings was completed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2024.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The State of the Arts videorecordings measure 2.4 linear feet and consist of 30 videocassettes (U-matic) and three sets of handwritten notes, all created during the production of a pilot episode for a broadcast television documentary series on contemporary art in 1979. Four stories were produced for the pilot: a staged debate on modern art at the Museum of Modern Art; an investigation into the economics of the contemporary art market, a collaboration between video artist Nam June Paik and sound artist Liz Phillips, and an extended interview with sculptor George Segal on the occasion of his 1979 retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Video footage includes raw footage for each segment and edited versions of the economics of art story, the Nam June Paik and Liz Phillips story, and the George Segal story. The reporter and interviewer for the program was Barry Nolan.

Although the program never aired, the video shot for the pilot documents significant artists and gallerists of its time, with profiles of O.K. Harris Works of Art and its founder, Ivan Karp, as well as art dealer Holly Solomon and critic Barbara Rose, Marcia Tucker in the early days of the New Museum, and footage of artists like Nam June Paik, Liz Phillips, and George Segal in their studios, describing their work in detail. The sound and video piece created by Paik and Phillips with the dancer Robert Kovich was commissioned by the State of the Arts producers for the pilot program, and the four hours of video documenting their collaboration and its product may therefore be unique.

Interview subjects for the economics of art story include Ivan Karp, Tom Drysdale, Rick Derman, Cosmo Campoli, Joan Thorne, Holly Solomon, Marcia Tucker, and Barbara Rose. The Marcia Tucker interview takes place at the New School, which was at the time the home of the New Museum. Footage also includes a gallery party at O.K. Harris Works of Art. Extended interviews with Liz Phillips, Nam June Paik, and George Segal are found in the footage of their respective stories.