Tuesday, March 13, 2018 at 7:30pm
Dyke TV
155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn
Curated by Kelly Rakowski (@h_e_r_s_t_o_r_y) and Ainara Tiefenthäler
You’re watching Dyke TV, television to incite, subvert, organize, and provoke — the opening line of the first show from, by, and for lesbians. Founded by Ana Maria Simo, Linda Chapman, and Mary Patierno, and based out of New York City, Dyke TV first aired in 1993 and became a weekly staple on dozens of public TV stations across the country. Its topics ranged from the killing of Brandon Teena and the conviction of Aileen Wuornos, to the latest Madonna sex-gossip and the daily joys and grievances of gay cowgirls, immigrants, athletes, cops, artists, you name it. Regular segments of the magazine-style show included Street Squad’s ”dyke on the street” interviews, Lesbian Health, Workplace, and audience favorite I Was a Lesbian Child, in which grown-up lesbians narrated their own childhood photos.
The program was largely produced by the volunteer efforts of hundreds of women around the United States. Among Dyke TV’s collaborators and guests were many celebrated lesbian artists of the time, as well as some who would only later become known to a wider mainstream audience. Pamela Sneed, Cheryl Dunye, Nicole Eisenman, Sarah Schulman, Ellen Cantor, Carolee Schneemann, Guinevere Turner, and Dorothy Allison are only a few of the women who appeared on the show in its first two years. “Lesbians in cities nationwide are currently forming independent groups to produce segments,” the show’s lavender-colored 1996 website proudly declared. “Dyke TV encourages every lesbian to pick up a video camera and aim.”
After an impressive nearly-300 episode run, the show virtually disappeared in 2005, just missing the popularization of digital video and online streaming; its taped archive remains widely unseen to this day. For tonight's screening at Light Industry, we will present a best-of selection of segments from 1993-1994, followed by a conversation with some of the women who captured and created this chapter of dyke history.
- KR/AT
Tickets - $8, available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 7pm.