On August 9, 1983, LBMA premiered the self-produced cable television series titled Shared Realities: A Cultural Arts Cable Programming Series. Consequently, twelve one-hour episodes aired on Long Beach Cablevision’s local Channel 3 over an eighteen-week period. Produced by LBMA VIDEO and overseen by Executive Producer Kathy Rae Huffman, the series featured interviews, art reviews and discussion, music, and live performances, among many other topics and disciplines. The series took its name, Shared Realities, from the statewide Cable and Arts Conference held in Long Beach at the Queen Mary in 1983. Utilizing accessible cable television was a key objective within the original vision of the LBMA VIDEO Program since its inception by curator David Ross in 1974. This exhibition offers a screening of eight out of the twelve one-hour programs that have been digitally archived by the Getty Research Institute’s Media Archival Department.
As a medium, video art prides itself on providing an original and experimental perspective on the world. The innovative concept of using cable access to expand this new medium beyond an institutional context elevated LBMA’s community engagement and commitment to contemporary art. The 1983 programming of Shared Realities was supported by California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
LBMA was one of the first museums in the United States to embrace video as an artistic medium. The museum began collecting and displaying video art in 1974, and went on to develop one of the country’s most significant video collections, consisting of approximately 5,000 videotapes amassed over three decades. In 2006, the Getty Research Institute acquired the video collection in its entirety; 5,000 tapes, documents, and ephemera were transferred to them for stewardship. More than one-third of the collection has been reformatted, and this exhibition would not have been possible without the processing and cataloging by the Getty Research Institute’s Media Archival Department. 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the inception of the LBMA VIDEO program. This exhibition endeavors to honor LBMA as pioneers in showcasing the medium, and to continue the tradition of enriching our community and beyond via video art.