How did the show evolve?

"As a whole, the programs on Communications Update have had a political orientation, and have taken a fairly direct approach to their material. When Communications Update first came on the air, it focused on developments in telecommunications policies and technologies. The impetus was not only to provide a body of information which might otherwise not be available in mass media sources, but a concern with the kind of coverage given. As Liza Bear, the series' executive producer wrote, "To artists concerned with changing the tone and content of television, with what is shown and said and how, nuance and integrity of presentation are paramount." ...

After its initial season, Communications Update began to shift its emphasis. Bear explains, "I didn't want to go on just becoming a lexicon or dictionary of new technology or new political policy problems." While retaining its documentary mode, Communications Update began to develop as an outlet for programs made by individuals attempting to gain "an active role in the making of information as artists and as citizens." ...

Communications Update subsequently focused on works which explored the relationship between documentary and drama, not conforming to either but drawing from both."

Source: "Independents on Television," Pat Thomson, Afterimage, Summer 1983

History: Impetus for the show

Schedule for the first 13-week series 
 Jan-Apr 1980:

Why did we start the show? 

One reason was that "the TV media was not covering communications issues and we felt that it had to be done. It was important that we, as artists, investigate the issues presented by the facts as we perceive them and not from the vantage of the multinational conglomerates; in so doing we made the information our own by working with it."

Source: "Great Expectations: Artists' TV Guide, Robin White, Artforum International Summer 1982. Quote by Liza Béar

COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE 1979-1992

"The initial thrust of Communications Update,

a weekly 28-minute public access tv show on

Manhattan Cable, was an interest in the

politics of communications (primarily cable

and satellite). Frequency and consistency of

output being essential components of cultural

impact, we used the public channels because they were the only consistent media outlet that we had—a regular weekly outlet as opposed to sporadic exhibition of videos in alternative spaces. The aim was to provide artists an active role in the making of information, as opposed to being passive receivers of it, and an opportunity to share their on-going investigations with a wider audience.

     Most of the initial programs were produced through our own video cooperative, [and] were political in orientation. The focus on telecommunications policies and technologies didn’t come out of the blue. A response to the emerging electronics revolution of the late seventies, it was an outgrowth of interactive satellite tapes I made with sculptor Keith Sonnier [Send/Receive: Phase I and Phase II) in 1977-78, and an attempt to localize it. The impetus was not only to provide a body of information which was not available from mass media sources, but also to be concerned with the kind of coverage given—how that information was presented. I wanted to distinguish the program from the authoritative postures assumed by network broadcasting.

     “To artists concerned with changing the tone and content of television, with what is shown and said and how, nuance and integrity of presentation are paramount.

    “Artists make books, magazines, films, installations, transmissions and window displays, as well as lucrative artifacts and trouble for the clean boundaries of a category, so no one should feel queasy that we make television. Like other forms and formats for work, we use cable to symbolize, to amuse, to inform, to perform, to debunk, to demystify, to comment, to formally experiment, to shift gears, to analyse, to reveal, to investigate, to instigate an interaction ...”

Liza Bear, “All Aboard”, The Independent, March 1983

Go to LINKS for complete article, for Keith Sonnier's website and the Send/Receive blog (in beta mode).