“XFR STN” at the New Museum

“XFR STN” at the New Museum July 17 - September 8, 2013 has many affiliations with Staten Island.

“XFR STN” initially arose from the need to preserve the Monday/Wednesday/Friday Video Club distribution project. MWF was a co-op “store” of the NYC artists ́ group Colab (Collaborative Projects, Inc.). Directed by Alan Moore and Michael Carter from 1986–2000, MWF showed and sold artists’ and independent films and videos on VHS at consumer prices.

Moore, a former Staten Island resident, directed the distribution service during the 1980's in his NYC East Village apartment. MWF had an open house every Monday evening and you never knew who would show up or what would be playing on the video monitor. The club also presented special video programs throughout Manhattan.

In the 1990's the video club moved to New Brighton, Staten Island and continued programing limited special screenings, but it became primarily an online source. When Moore moved to Madrid in 2010 the video collection went into a Stapleton storage unit.

“XFR STN” at the New Museum will also address the wider need in the community of artists for access to media capture and migration services as a means to preserve creative productions stored in aging and obsolete audiovisual and digital formats.

In keeping with the original policies of the MWF Video Club, “XFR STN” will be open to any artist-originated moving image or born-digital materials whose formats have become obsolete. The exhibition/lab will operate publically, informally exhibiting the material that is transferred, as well as rendering it available online through archive.org, an internet library whose mission includes offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.

“XFR STN” will serve as a collection and dissemination point for artist-produced content, as well as a hub for information about these past projects (including production materials and personal recollections).



Graphics from the MWF video collection designed by Staten Island resident Mary Campbell will be included in the project display.

Also, Staten Island resident Phil Sanders of the experimental East Village art and technology art space RYO will be digitizing videos from the 80’s, including compilations from EVTV and ArtMix ’87.

“XFR STN” is a project by Alan W. Moore with Staten Island resident Taylor Moore, Alexis Bhagat, and the artists of Collaborative Projects, supported by the Solo Foundation. It is organized by Johanna Burton, Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement, with Ben Fino-Radin, Digital Conservator, Rhizome; Tara Hart, Digital Archivist, New Museum; Jen Song, Associate Director of Education, New Museum; and Ethan Swan, Coordinator, Bowery Artists Tribute.