About Matthew Speier
Matthew Speier, Vancouver artist and videographer, was an early adopter of video technology. He was a Metromedia Community Producer, Video Inn member, and instructor of video technology within the artist-run system. As part of Video Inn’s 1974 Video Workshop for Educators, Speier facilitated a workshop on the role of video technology in the education process. In 1975, he presented a video screening of contemporary Canadian dance sequences, entitled Interplay, utilizing an experimental multi-monitor playback technique.
Speier was a professor of sociology in local post-secondary institutions University of British Columbia and Capilano College. Speier resides in Vancouver.
Videos by Speier in the SVES Video Library : Junk Sculpture (1972), Regina Fields (1973), Lotus Eaters (1973), Dance Solitaire / Body Parts (1974), Something! Ah! (1975) and Paula Ross Dancers (1974).
About the Matthew Speier fonds
The Matthew Speier fonds in Special Collections is primarily comprised of videotapes from his project, Dance-Video Canada, and later dance-videos and interviews with choreographers and dancers.
Collaborations between dancers, choreographers, and video artists followed quickly on the introduction of portable video. This more agile technology – what Speier refers to as the “video mirror” – allowed, for the first time, immediate feedback on rehearsals and performances for the dancers. Artists took the collaborations further, using this new tool to explore the interplay between kinetic movement and the video frame. Speier and others, such as Paul Wong and Terry McGlade, explored the new genre of dance-video with contemporary dancers. These collaborations were plentiful enough that by 1978 Video Inn published Dance Catalogue, 50-odd dance-related videos in the Video Inn Library.
Dance-Video Canada Project
Speier was awarded a Canada Council grant to travel cross-country. Stopping at most major Canadian cities along the way, Speier recorded experiments in modern dance and developed the genre. His collection includes interviews with then-emerging dancers and choreographers; now notable figures in Canadian dance history. Dance-Video Canada was comprised of 50 1/2″ open reel videotapes recorded between 1973 and 1976; and 1 1/2″ open reel compilation of camera studies edited from the original recordings. Recordings were made in Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and California.
Contributors: Judy Jarvis, Lawrence Adams [Fifteen Dance Laoratorium], Canadian Dance Drama Co. [Garbut Roberts, Gary Colwell], Olive Crawford [University of Winnipeg], Paula Ross Dance Co., Elizabeth Langley, Jacqueline Ogg [Alberta Contemporary Dance Co.], Burnaby Mountain Dance Co., Ahuva Anbery [University of Alberta], Charlene Tarver [Alberta Contemporary Dance Co.], Marianne Livant [Regina Modern Dance Workshop], Regina Modern Dance Workshop, Camera Studies [YorkUniversity], Al Huang [York University], Moon Dance [David Weller, Anita Martin], Toronto Dance Theatre, Rachel Browne [Contemporary Dancers of Winnipeg, Jim & Michelle Green [Saskatoon Dance Theatre], Anna Wyman Dance Theatre, Marsha Padfield [University of Alberta], Mary Sidorchuk [St. Paul’s Elementary School], Joyce Boorman [University of Alberta], Judith Davies [Rideau Street Dance Centre], Richard Rutherford [Royal Winnipeg Ballet], Robert Dubberly, Linda Rubin [Synergy Movement Workshops], Iris Garland [Simon Fraser University Dance Workshop], Pat Richards [Dalhousie University], Marnie Head[University of Saskatchewan], Tournesol Dance Experience [Ernst & Carole Eder], Lawrence and Miriam Adams, Elizabeth Langley-Garneau.
Scope and Content
94 1/2″ open reel videotapes recorded 1973-1978. In addition to Dance-Video Canada video recordings there are later recordings with Paula Ross and Anne Wyman dance companies. The videotapes are sparsely labelled and undergoing cataloguing.
Related Materials
1.
Video: Paula Ross Dancers [Excerpt]
Matthew Speier
1974 25:00 Vancouver, Canada
2.
Video: Something! Ah!
Producers: Gann Matsushita and Matthew Speier
1975 23:00 Canada
In the documentary, Something! Ah!, Speier discusses how he was drawn to dance video because of his love of music, visual art, film, and the language of the body. He discusses the relationships between his challenges as a sculpture and translating 3 dimensional kinetic movement into 2 dimensional space. Contact us to view.
3.
Publication title: dance-video canada
Publication subtitle: videotapes by matthew speier
Publisher: Dance-Video Canada, Vancouver, Canada
Date: c.1977
Location: SVES Time & Space Pubications Library
Link to full catalogue.
4.
Media Artist and Activist Documentation (MAAD) – Matthew Speier
5.
SVES photo documentation of Speier’s screening Interplay at Video Inn (261 Powell Street) February 23, 1975. VIEW
Access
This fonds has not been digitized. Email library@vivomediaarts.com to request access to this fonds and related materials.