La Mamelle, Inc./Art Com
| Company type | Not-for-profit arts organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Arts, publishing, media distribution |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Defunct | 1995 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
Area served | International |
Key people | Carl Loeffler (director and founder) |
| Products | Artist publications, video art, electronic media, online network (Art Com Electronic Network) |
La Mamelle, Inc. / Art Com functioned as a not-for-profit arts organization and artist-run space from 1975 until 1995, located at 70-12th Street in San Francisco’s South of Market district.
Originally established with a concentration on publishing, the organization broadened its scope to include an artists’ venue that hosted exhibitions and events showcasing mail art, performance art, conceptual photography, video art creation and screenings, maintained a library, distributed artist-generated materials, and pioneered one of the earliest online networks for artists.
History
- The inaugural issue of La Mamelle Magazine was released in the summer of 1975 under the direction of Carl Loeffler.
- By 1976, the La Mamelle Arts Center opened its doors as an 8,000-square-foot space dedicated to alternative exhibitions and performances at 70-12th Street.
- During the late 1970s through the 1980s, it championed live art, video and electronic media, artist-curated shows, and operated a bookstore focused on artists’ publications. The center amassed a notable archive documenting contemporary art activities worldwide and founded Northern California’s pioneering Video Art archive.
- Beginning in 1980, under the name Art Com, the organization emphasized the fusion of arts and technology by presenting video and audio content through community access television and radio, cable TV networks, and engaging in collaborative video and telecommunications projects.
- The print version of Art Com Magazine—previously titled La Mamelle then Art Contemporary—ceased publication in 1984; it was revived as an electronic journal in 1986 alongside the launch of the Art Com Electronic Network (ACEN).
- ACEN stood out as one of the earliest interactive online platforms for artists, envisioned as a 'virtual village' to encourage worldwide cultural exchange and collaborative artistic production.
- From 1980 through the mid-1990s, the organization managed Contemporary Arts Press Distribution and Art Com Media Distribution to disseminate artist-created publications and media to libraries, bookstores, and television outlets internationally.
Exhibitions and performances
Artists featured included Richard Alpert, Anna Banana, Judith Barry, Chris Burden, Paul Cotton, Peter D'Agostino, Paul Forte, Bill Gaglione, General Idea, Sharon Grace, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Doug Hall, Stephen Laub, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Tony Labat, Chip Lord, Tony Oursler, Mark Pauline, Chris Robbins, Willoughby Sharp, Bonnie Sherk, Barbara T. Smith, Lew Thomas, T.R. Uthco, Nina Wise, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Michael Kirkegaard, and the Fleshtones.
Selected books
- Loeffler, Carl E. and Darlene Tong, Performance Anthology: Source Book for a Decade of California Performance Art, San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1980, 1989
- Ascott, Roy and Carl E. Loeffler, guest editors, Connectivity: Art and Interactive Telecommunications, Leonardo 24:2, 1991
Selected bibliography
- Foley, Suzanne. Space Time Sound, Conceptual Art in the San Francisco Bay Area: The 1970s. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1981.
- Jones, Mark J. "E-Mail From Carl", CyberStage 1.2, Spring 1995
- Zimbardo, Tanya. Video City: A New Medium in the Museum in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: 75 Years of Looking Forward. San Francisco: SFMOMA.
Archives
In 1999, the primary archives and documentation of La Mamelle, Inc./Art Com were acquired by Stanford University Libraries.
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive maintains an extensive video archive comprising hundreds of artist-produced videotapes, including those distributed through Art Com TV Distribution.
Alternative art spaces in the San Francisco Bay area
La Mamelle, Inc./Art Com was founded during the 1970s, a period marked by a proliferation of artist-run venues across the country. Within the Bay Area, notable contemporaneous organizations included Intersection for the Arts, the Museum of Conceptual Art (active from 1970 to 1984), Galeria de la Raza, SF Camerawork, Crossroads Community (known as the farm) from 1974 to 1980, The Floating Museum (1975–77), 80 Langton Street (which later became New Langton Arts, operating from 1975 until 2009), Site/Cite/Sight, and Southern Exposure.
External links
- AS-AP survey page for La Mamelle, Inc. / Art Com
- La Mamelle timeline
- Overview of Archiving the Non-Archival by Darlene Tong
- Judy Malloy – Memories of Art Com
- Carl E. Loeffler obituary, SF Gate
- Artists' Use of Telecommunication Conference –SFMMA 1980
- ACEN on Media Art Net
- Specters of San Francisco Magazines
- Profile on Experimental TV Center
- Stephen Perkins's ‘'Utopian Networks and Correspondence Identities
- Selected back issues, Steven Leiber Basement bookseller
- God Only Knows Who the Audience Is: Performance, Video, and Television Through the Lens of La Mamelle / ART COM exhibition, CCA Wattis Institute
- Articles with short description
- Artist-run centres
- Culture of San Francisco
- Visual arts publishing companies
- Arts organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco
- Art museums and galleries established in 1975
- Art museums and galleries disestablished in 1995
- Publishing companies established in 1975
- 1975 establishments in California
- 1995 disestablishments in California
- South of Market, San Francisco