Go Nightclubbing!: Downtown New York 1977-80

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Video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong, in the pre-MTV days from 1977-80, spent their nights documenting New York’s nascent punk and No Wave scenes. Armed with Portapak cameras, they shot rare performances and interviews with the Dead Boys, Iggy Pop, the Heartbreakers, John Cale, the Cramps, Sun Ra, the Go-Go’s, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, James Chance and the Contortions, Richard Hell, and countless others at legendary clubs like CBGB’s, Mudd Club, and Danceteria. Described by the New York Times as the “Lewis and Clark of Rock video,” Ivers and Armstrong originally presented their work on the show NIGHTCLUBBING, in the early days of cable TV. Since then, their footage has been presented at museums and galleries around the world. Ivers’s and Armstrong’s iconic 1980 video installation at the opening of the influential Danceteria nightclub pioneered the concept of video as a permanent feature in a nightclub and of the video DJ as artist.

Anthology is thrilled to present four separate screenings comprising seven different compilation programs, with Ivers and Armstrong here in person for Q&As after all shows, and very special appearances from Suicide’s Martin Rev on Saturday, July 15, and the Patti Smith Group’s Jay Dee Daugherty and the Dead Boys’ Jeff Magnum on Sunday, July 16!