Great poster of an interesting event in 1974. I did not realize Bill Etra did live performances too with his Rutt/Etra video synthesizer.

Some more information from ‘The Monroe Doctrine’, a local paper a few days before:

“‘Polyfusion,’ an hour long blending of the Central Maine Power Music Company and the video artistry of the Survival Arts Media and Bill Etra, comes to the Strasenburgh Planetarium dome September 20 and 21. Each night the Survival Arts Media will combine live music and video images with a sophisticated video-processing system. Low light level video cameras will feed images of the musical performance into a Rutt/Etra Video Synthesizer.
The black and white images within the synthesizer will have pure colors added, then be modified by artistically sorting them to take on new texture and form. Images can also be combined within the synthesizer, and the music and video can be used to modify each other. The resulting video collage will be displayed in two giant, color images from General Electric video “Light Gate” video projectors.”

and: “According to Polyfusion coordinator Howie Gutstadt, the theme of the video-music show will be Astral Projection, a concept that expresses individual’s astral body or consciousness.
Gutstadt says that, “It is rare that this much sophisticated video equipment will be used together. The Planetarium is a possible model for the environmental theater that media artists will use in the future.”

all material from the vasulka archive