Intercities Performance

Intercities São Paulo/Pittsburgh, was the outcome of a series of tele-communication events connecting a group of Brazilian art researchers in São Paulo with American colleagues in Pittsburgh.

The ‘Instituto de Pesquisa em Arte e Tecnologia’ (IPAT), an institute for research in art and technology supported by the Museum of Image and Sound in Sao Paulo, and the Digital Arts Exchange (DAX) group, affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, conducted during 1987 several private experimental links through telephone lines connecting slow-scan television transceivers.

For the Intercities event, which happened in January 25th, 1988 (the 434th anniversary of the city of Sao Paulo) the two teams worked in close collaboration to find new modalities for informational interchange through the medium of slow-scan television. The event consisted of lectures exchanged and interactive pieces created by artists.

The video documentary represents the event as recorded at the Museum in Sao Paulo. The actions in Pittsburgh are represented only by slow scan images transmitted to the Sao Paulo terminal.