Jud Yalkut (/dʒʌd jælkʌt/;1938–2013) was an experimental film and video maker and intermedia artist.
Personal life[edit]
Jud Yalkut was born in New York City in 1938.[1] In 1973, he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he lived until his death at the age of 75 in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 23, 2013.[2]
He was married to Peg Rice.[2]
Career[edit]
Yalkut attended McGill University, Montreal, where he studied poetry, before returning to his place of birth, New York, to take up film-making.[3] While at McGill, Yalkut and Leonard Cohen were fraternity brothers.[3]
New York[edit]
In 1965 Yalkut became resident film-maker for USCO ('The Company of Us', a media arts collective).[4] Yalkut created the following films for USCO events in the mid-sixties, some in collaboration with USCO members: Turn, Turn, Turn (USCO did the soundtrack), Ghost Rev, Diffraction Film, and Down By the Riverside.[5]
Yalkut became interested in psychedelics, and produced a short film in 1966 titled D.M.T. The film featured slides by artist Jackie Cassen, choreography/dancing by Mary McKay, and the voice of Ralph Metzner reading from Timothy Leary's book Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations.[6]
In 1966 Yalkut started collaborating with Nam June Paik, a working partnership that would continue into the 1970s.[4] Together, Yalkut and Paik produced hybrid film-video works that combined moving image technologies, electronic manipulations, performance and installation. These works include Videotape Study No. 3 (1967–69), Beatles Electroniques (1966–72) and Cinema Metaphysique (1966–72).[1][3]
As well as Paik, Yalkut worked with many other New York-based visual and performance artists. For example, in 1966 Yalkut created Moondial Film, an experimental film that documented an "electromedia" happening by Aldo Tambellini.[3] In 1967, Yalkut made a film of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, Kusama’s Self-Obliteration, using multiple dissolves and additional superimpositions.[3] In 1968, Yalkut collaborated with the dancer and choreographer Trisha Brown, contributing a film to the dance, Planes, for projection onto the performance space. The film included found aerial footage of New York City, rockets launching and microscopic imagery.[7]
During his time in New York, Yalkut organized film programs for Charlotte Moorman's New York Avant Garde Festivals. He also taught film-making courses at New York University, School of Visual Arts, and the Millennium Film Workshop.[1][3]
Dayton[edit]
In 1973, Yalkut left New York and started a film and video program at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.[1]
He was one of the founders of Dayton Visual Arts Center.[1] He taught at Sinclair Community College in Dayton and at Xavier University in Cincinnati.[2]
Notable exhibitions[edit]
- Dream Reels: VideoFilms and Environments by Jud Yalkut, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2000.[1]
- Jud Yalkut: Visions and Sur-Realities, University of Dayton, Spring 2013 – a career retrospective.[1]
Awards and commendations[edit]
In 1968 Kusama’s Self Obliteration, Yalkut's 1967 collaborative film with Yayoi Kusama, won the Fourth International Experimental Film Competition in Belgium.[8]
Yalkut received six Individual Artist Fellowships and three Artist's Project Grants from the Ohio Arts Council. The Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District honoured him with a Master Individual Artist Fellowship and a Lifetime Achievement Fellowship in 2003.[2]
Many of Yalkut's films have been preserved by Anthology Film Archives through grants from the National Film Preservation Foundation.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g "Electronic Arts Intermix : Jud Yalkut : Biography". www.eai.org. Archived from the original on 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ^ a b c d "Film and video artist Jud Yalkut dies at 75". www.daytondailynews.com. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ^ a b c d e f Zinman, Gregory (September 2013). "DREAM REELER: Jud Yalkut (1938–2013)". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ^ a b "Jud YALKUT – Light Cone". lightcone.org. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ^ Oren, Michel (Winter 2010). "USCO: Getting Out of Your Head to Use Your Head" (PDF). Art Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-27. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
- ^ "D. M. T. 1966". Film-Makers' Coop. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Trisha Brown". www.trishabrowncompany.org. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ^ Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (18 October 2013). "Yayoi Kusama: The Orgy of Self Obliteration". Film International. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Preserved Films: 2015 Federal Grant Winners". National Film Preservation Foundation. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
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