USCO | nga

USCO, also known as the Company of US or US Company, was a group of artists, poets, filmmakers, engineers, and composers who formed a multimedia collective in 1963. Two of its cofounders—Michael Callahan (b. 1944), an electronics innovator and president of Museum Technology Source, and Gerd Stern (b. 1928), a poet, media artist, and president of Intermedia Foundation—reflect on their lives and the creation of USCO. Callahan and Stern discuss their artistic journeys and initial collaborations, which led to the formation of this innovative and technologically prescient multimedia collective. They provide insight into USCO’s influences and activities during the 1960s. Archival footage and behind-the-scenes access to their visit to the National Gallery of Art in preparation for their performance on March 3, 2019, provide a greater context for understanding USCO’s collaborative spirit, rich history, and art practice. This video opens with Michael Callahan and Gerd Stern, seated side by side, shown from about the waist up. In the first few minutes, black-and-white and color photographs from previous points in their lives are interspersed with interview footage. Other footage includes 1966 films of USCO and excerpts from multimedia works entitled Verbal American Landscape and From Hubbub to We Are All One, reprised and performed at the National Gallery of Art in 2019. Verbal American Landscape focuses on signs—street signs, commercial signs, those on buildings, construction and warning signs. The sign images are projected onto a large screen with the use of three slide projectors in a darkened auditorium, and the projected images overlap at the edges. Each image is projected for a few moments before it is replaced by others, sometimes after flickering several times. For instance, at one point, the image to the left shows a sign saying “Hacker” against a blue-gray background, probably a building facade. The sign at center says, “Danger Blasting Area Turn Off” before it is cut off along the bottom edge, so that the final words are lost. The words “Danger” and “Turn Off” are written in crimson; “Blasting Area” is written in pale orange, all against a black background. The sign to the right says, “Construction Pass at Your Own Risk” in red letters against a mustard-yellow background. The lettering on all three signs features large display type of block capital letters. After a moment, these signs flash off the screen and are replaced with others, saying “Do not enter,” “Wrong way,” “Dead end,” “Sweet Temptation,” “Pull,” “Wait,” “Save,” “Love,” and other words and phrases, which are sometimes cut off or incomplete. Some signs include symbols or emblems, such as a heart or neon cowboy. From Hubbub to We Are All One includes projected images of magazine covers, landscape photographs, and snapshots of individuals and groups of people. Footage near the end of the video shows preparations for the performance at the Gallery in a large auditorium. At the front of the auditorium, a long table is laid out with a variety of apparatuses used during the performance, including four carousel slide projectors, a small sound mixer, CDs and a CD player, and the original mixed electromechanical and electronic device Callahan designed and built during the 1960s.