The Fourth Encounter in Motovun (1976): A platform for experimentation for early video art

In 1976 the fourth Susret u Motovunu (Encounter in Motovun) took place – a key event for the experimentation of video art, which was dedicated to the theme of ‘Identity’ (Identitet=identità). The video encounter was organised by the Contemporary Art Gallery in Zagreb in collaboration with Galleria del Cavallino from Venice, which had established the Movotun Encounters with the Likovna Gallery (Motovun) in 1972.
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At the Motovun Encounter in 1976, Cavallino produced more than 20 video artworks with artists including Sanja Iveković, Živa Kraus, Zdravko Milić, Dalibor Martinis, Goran Trbuljak, Michele Sambin, Luigi Viola and Claudio Ambrosini. The Motovun videos were made in a spirit of collaboration, with the artists and technicians/producers, helping, supporting and participating in each other’s’ videos. Marijan Susovski explains in the catalogue: ‘for artists’ video, the video encounters – as in Motovun – are still one of the rare occasions to be able to use the video apparatus and work in group with other artists’. Susovski also recalled the importance of the collaboration between Italy and Yugoslavia in the field of video art.
In my presentation I discussed the 1976 Motovun Encounter, focusing on a selection of video artworks produced for the occasion, and other events dedicated to video organised in collaboration with Italian partners including Cavallino, art/tapes/22, Studio 970/2 and Centro Videoarte from Ferrara in Belgrad and Zagreb in the 70s.
The presentation was based on materials collected during the AHRC funded research projects REWINDItalia and EWVA (DJCAD, University of Dundee).