Elements, 1978
Video (black-and-white, stereo sound); 2:00 min.
Rutt/Etra video synthesizer, Nuvicon video camera, Textronics tube oscillator, Javelin time-lapse videotape recorder, microphone, and Serge audio modules (voltage controlled amplifiers, sequencer)
One of the earlier works Hill produced on the Rutt/Etra video synthesizer, Elements combines abstract “landscapes” with fragmented syllabic language. Undulating topological forms superimpose themselves on one another, changing their shape and direction of movement.
“An initial image was made using a single free-running oscillator that continuously swept through the frequency range, producing wave-like band patterns often flipping over and changing direction. A rescanned recording of this slowed down seven times was the input to the Rutt/Etra.”
The nature of the image constantly shifts from what could be microscopic forms—amoebas moving in all directions—to what may be aerial views of impenetrable-looking networks that gradually fall into place before one’s eyes. At the same time, one hears syllabic fragments of the words “earth,” “fire,” “water,” and “air” that, although abstract, give the work a rhythmic pulse that converges with the rhythm of the visual elements.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, p. 578.
"Video by Videomakers 1979: Gary Hill,” Experimental Television Center, Binghamton, New York, April 5, 1979.
“CAPS Video Festival: 1978 – 79,” Media Study/Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, June 5 & 6, 1979.
"Meet the Makers: Gary Hill.” Donnell Library, New York Public Library, New York, New York, June 14, 1979.
“Projects Video XXVIII,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, August 7 – September 18, 1979.
Solo exhibition. Media Study/Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, May 3 – 18, 1980.
Image Dissector Screening Series, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, June 10, 1980.
“New York Video,” Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, July 7 – August 2, 1981.
“Gary Hill: Equal Time,” Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California, March 28 – May 2, 1982.
"Text/Picture Notes,” Visual Studies Workshop Galleries, Rochester, New York, May 14 – August 6, 1982.
“Freie Video-Produktionen aus den USA,” Steirischer Herbst ‘82, Funkhaus Graz, Graz, Austria, November 6 – 10, 1982.
“The Electronic Gallery,” University Art Gallery, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York, March 2 – March 25, 1983.
Solo exhibition. Center for Media Art, The American Center, Paris, France, December 13 – 15, 1983.
“Gary Hill Selected Videography,” JISC Plaza Video and International Cultural Community Services, Tokyo, Japan, March 16, 1984.
Solo exhibition. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, May 24 – June 15, 1986.
2e Semaine Internationale de Vidéo, Saint-Gervais Genève, Geneva, Switzerland, November 16 – 21, 1987.
Solo screening. Espace lyonnais d’art contemporain (ELAC), Lyon, France, July 26 and September 27, 1988.
Vidéoformes 89: Festival de la Création Vidéo, Clermont-Ferrand, France, April 20 – 29, 1989.
Solo exhibition. “OTHERWORDSANDIMAGES,” Video Galleriet, Huset, Denmark and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark, April 20 – May 13, 1990.
"Gary Hill: In Light of the Other,” Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England, November 7, 1993 – January 9, 1994; The Tate Gallery, Liverpool, England, February 25 – May 2, 1994.
ForumBHZvideo, Festival Internacional de Video, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, November 10 – 15, 1993.
“Gary Hill: Sites Recited,” Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California, December 3, 1993 – February 20, 1994.
Sedicesima Biennale Internazionale del Bronzetto Piccola Scultura Padova, Padua, Italy, October 29, 1995 – January 28, 1996.
“Gary Hill: O lugar do outro/where the other takes place,” Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 1 – 6, 1997 (not the full run of the exhibition); Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, October 3 – November 2, 1997.
“Gary Hill: Rétrospective de ses premières oeuvres mono-bandes,” Cinéma Lux, Caen, Basse-Normandie, France, December 11, 1997.
“Voices,” Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 4 – August 23, 1998. Travelled to: Fundació Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain, September 17 – November 1, 1998; Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing, France, February 28 – April 11, 1999.
Solo exhibition. Center for Contemporary Images, Saint-Gervais Genève, Geneva, Switzerland, September 9, 10, 1998.
Solo exhibition. Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark, January 17 – April 5, 1999.
"Gary Hill: Video Works,” NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan, February 16 – March 31, 1999.
“Rewind to the Future,” Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany, December 1, 1999 – February 13, 2000.
Solo exhibition. Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 17 – June 4, 2000 (May 25, 2000 screening).
Solo exhibition. Museo Caraffa, Córdoba, Argentina, July 7 – 30, 2000 (July 8, 2000 screening).
“Hill(scape),” Extra Microwave Media Art Festival (organized by Videotage), Hong Kong Space Museum Lecture Hall, Hong Kong, January 14 – 31, 2001 (January 19 screening).
“l’écriture vidéophage – les bandes vidéo de Gary Hill,” La Compagnie, Marseille, France, May 1 – 31, 2001 (May 1 & 3 screenings).
“Gary Hill: Selected Works 1976 – 2003,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, May 2 – August 24, 2003.
“Videographies – The Early Decades,” EMST (The National Museum of Contemporary Art), Athens, Greece, July 13 – December 31, 2005.
Seoul International NewMedia Festival, Seoul, Korea, August 4 – 14, 2011.
“Gary Hill: Momentombs,” Suwon Art Museum, Suwon, Korea, November 26, 2019 — March 6, 2020.
“Gary Hill: Continuous Happening,” Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, October 23 - December 8, 2024
New York State Projects: Video XXVIII. Program notes. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1979, unpaginated.
“CAPS Video Festival: 1978 – 79.” Media Study/Buffalo (June-August 1979), p. 4.
Williams, Janis Croft. “CAPS Video: Wegman, Hill, Kolpan, Lucier.” Afterimage 7, 4 (November 1979), p. 4.
Die Bilderwelt der Literatur. Schriftsteller arbeiten fürs Fernsehen. Graz: ORF Landesstudio Steiermark, 1982, p. 104.
The Electronic Gallery. Binghamton, New York: University Art Gallery, State University of New York, Binghamton, 1983, unpaginated.
Oeuvres vidéo de Gary Hill en sa présence. Center for Media Art. Program notes. Paris: American Center, 1983, unpaginated.
Furlong, Lucinda. "A Manner of Speaking: An Interview with Gary Hill." Afterimage 10, 8 (March 1983), p. 11.
Video: A Retrospective. 1974 – 1984. Long Beach, California: Long Beach Museum of Art, 1984, p. 74.
Hanhardt, John G. Gary Hill. The New American Filmmakers Series 30. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1986, unpaginated.
2e Semaine Internationale de Vidéo. Geneva: Saint-Gervais Genève, 1987, p. 125.
De Moffarts, Eric. “Télévision: le dernier carré?: La 2ème Semaine Internationale de Vidéo à Genève.” Gen Lock 7 (December 1987), p. 11.
Vidéoformes '89: Festival de la Création Vidéo. Clermont-Ferrand, France: Festival de la Création Vidéo, 1989, p. 12.
Van Assche, Christine. Gary Hill. Paris: Editions du Centre Georges Pompidou, 1992, p. 10. (Including an excerpt from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”)
Sarrazin, Stephen. Chimaera Monographe No. 10 (Gary Hill). Montbéliard, France: Centre International de Création Vidéo Montbéliard, Belfort, 1992, pp. 23, 24, 78. (Including an excerpt from an interview with Gary Hill)
Gary Hill: Sites Recited. Long Beach, California: Long Beach Museum of Art, 1993, p. 25.
Van Assche, Christine and Corinne Diserens. Gary Hill. Valencia: Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Centre del Carme, 1993, p. 14. (Including an excerpt from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”)
Mignot, Dorine. Gary Hill. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum; Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 1993, p. 14. (Including an excerpt from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”)
ForumBHZvideo 1993. Festival Internacional de Vídeo: Limite. Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Festival Internacional de Video, 1993, pp. 46, 48. (Including excerpts from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”)
Willis, Holly, ed. Gary Hill. Spinning the Spur of the Moment. Irvington, New York: The Voyager Company, 1994, p. 15.
Vischer, Theodora, ed. Gary Hill: Imagining the Brain Closer than the Eyes. Basel: Museum für Gegenwartskunst; Ostfildern: Cantz, 1995, p. 116. (In German: Gary Hill: Arbeit am Video. Basel: Museum für Gegenwartskunst; Ostfildern: Cantz, 1995, p. 121.)
Lestocart, Louis-José. “Gary Hill: Surfer sur le medium / Surfing the Medium.” art press 210 (February 1996), p. 20.
Dantas, Marcello. Gary Hill: O lugar do outro/where the other takes place. Rio de Janeiro: Magnetoscópio, 1997, pp. 69, 78.
Der elektronische Raum: 15 Positionen zur Medienkunst. Bonn: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Dueuschland, 1998, p. 147.
Phillips, Christopher. Voices = Voces = Voix. Rotterdam: Center for Contemporary Art; Barcelona: Fundació Joan Miró; and Tourcoing: Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporain, 1998, pp. 20, 44 - 46.
TV Dinner No. 2 at The Kitchen: Gary Hill and Meg Stuart. Program notes. New York: The Kitchen, 1998, unpaginated.
Gary Hill: Video Works. Tokyo: NTT InterCommunication Center, 1999, pp. 5, 19, 20.
Kold, Anders, ed. Gary Hill. Aarhus: Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 1999, p. 114.
Morgan, Robert C., ed. Gary Hill. Baltimore: PAJ Books / The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 68, 188, 217, 232, 293.
Gary Hill en Argentina: textos, ensayos, dialogos. Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2000, p. 8.
Gary Hill: Instalaciones. Córdoba: Ediciones Museo Caraffa, 2000, p. 73.
Hill (scape): Gary Hill’s video screening, performance and installation exhibition. Program notes. Hong Kong: Videotage, 2001, p. 4.
Gary Hill: Selected Works and catalogue raisonné. Wolfsburg: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2002, pp. 65, 72, 73.
Barro, David. Gary Hill: Poeta da percepção, poet of perception, poeta de la percepción. In Portuguese, Spanish and English. Porto: Mimesis, 2003, pp. 11, 32, 54.
Unfolding Vision: Gary Hill, Selected Works 1976 – 2003. Taipei: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2003, pp. 14, 15, 88 – 89.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, pp. 24, 578.