Scratch Video was a British video art movement that emerged in the 1980s. It was characterised by the use of found footage and challenged many of the established conventions of broadcast television. Arising out of a turbulent decade that saw amongst other things the miners take on the Thatcher government of the day, Scratch was an appropriate and accessible visual expression for dealing critically and directly with the impact of mass communications on society. These videos tended to critique the institutions making broadcast videos, specifically those commercialised for young audiences, such as MTV.
Today Scratch Video continues to be a popular historical form, maintaining a cult following in contemporary art video circles. For these screenings, Street Level have teamed up with Rewind to bring to Glasgow a selection of some of the groundbreaking works in this genre, including the Gorilla Tapes, the Duvet Brothers and George Barber. Other artists include John Maybury, Kim Flitcroft & Sandra Goldbacher, Jeffrey Hinton, John Scarlett-Davis, Akiko Hada & Holger Hiller, Chris Meigh-Andrews, Nick Cope.
Throughout the 80s various venues across London screened Scratch videos, including the Ambulance Station, the Fridge nightclub and the Brixton Ritzy Cinema, which housed a large amount of recycled colour televisions. These screening were also an opportunity to significantly distribute works on VHS tapes. Scratch in many ways set the ground for the later manifestation of V-J’s.
Scratch Video is one of a number of collaborations between Street Level Photoworks and Rewind.
www.streetlevelphotoworks.org/streetlevel/archive/2009/scratch-video/scratch-video.html
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