Kathy High
visual/media artist, independent curator, educator
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videos

This selection of videos represent works produced over twenty years. The videos fall roughly into four thematic areas.
Animal/Interspecies »  Science/Body »  Queer/Body »  Activist/Anti-War » 

:: Animal Interspecies

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ANIMAL ATTRACTION

2000 (video, 59 min.)

ANIMAL ATTRACTION is a documentary on telepathic animal communication, about the relationship between people and animals, questioning the way we project onto our pets, imbuing their gestures with human qualities and attributes. Looking at the paranormal phenomenon of telepathic communication, this video investigates the social group of New Agers who are involved in working with animals.

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EVERYDAY PROBLEMS OF THE LIVING

2000-05 (12 part series, video, 26 min.)

Project about anxieties surrounding living and dying – a meditation on mortality. High, thinking that she might die at 45 in the year 2000, decided to “perform her death,” recording a tape around the topic each month. Her own pets also play a major role in the events that occur each month, as she projects her own fears and anxieties onto them.

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SOFT SCIENCE: EMBRACING ANIMAL

2004-05 (video documentation of installation, 3 min.)

What is our animal nature? EMBRACING ANIMAL is a multi-media/ inter-species ersatz scientific investigation of exchanges between people and animals. Videos play animal/people transformations – werewolves, vampires, and the shifting space between human and beast.

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ANIMAL FILMS

2002-03 (videos, 1 - 3 min.)

Ongoing project of short films produced with various animals.
  • THE BIG PUSH, (2 min), collaboration with Push Cat.
  • LILY’S NIGhtmlARE, (2 min.), collaboration with Lily Dog.
  • VOICES FROM THE OTHER SIDE, (3 min.), collaboration with Ernie Cat.
  • MISS PIGGY (1 min.) – momentarily inhabiting a pig’s body
  • FRESH KILL (3 min.) – ritual of burying road kill

  • :: Science Body

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    UNDEREXPOSED: TEMPLE OF THE FETUS

    1993-4 (video, 60 min.)

    This experimental narrative/documentary, about women’s relationships to new reproduction technologies and genetic engineering, combines documentary interviews with field “experts,” and a science-fiction segment depicting stories of in-vitro fertilization, donor insemination and surrogacy arrangements.

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    HIGH-TECH BABY-MAKING: NORTH AND SOUTH

    1994 (video, 28 min.)

    This work uses excerpts from films by feminists around the world to look at the state of reproductive technologies for women – both conceptive and contraceptive technologies. The status of first world and third world reproductive politics is also reflected in these excerpts.

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    I NEED YOUR FULL COOPERATION

    1989 (video, 28m)

    Juxtaposing feminist examinations of medical tracts, narrative of patient treatments and archival footage, I NEED YOUR FULL COOPERATION reveals the evolution of women’s relationship to modern medicine.

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    JUST SAY YES: KATHY HIGH LOOKS AT MARKETING LEGAL DRUGS

    1990 (video, 30 min.)

    This tape is a critique of pharmaceutical companies practices and the coercion of doctors to use their goods. Who suffers in this process?

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    NOT SO ANCIENT HISTORY

    1990 (video, 14 min.)

    Review of abortion rights history from mid 1800s, and AMA history, to present “Pro Choice” struggles.

    :: Queer Body

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    SHIFTING POSITIONS

    1999 (video, 28 min.)

    SHIFTING POSITIONS is a semi-autographical/fictional trilogy, exploring becoming queer later in life, my father's dementia and our mid and end-of-life crises.

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    THE ICKY & KATHY TRILOGY

    1999 (super 8 film to video, 9 min)

    This trilogy is about twin sisters who “act out”. At the age when a young girl might discover her own sexuality, they explore themselves in their "games" and playtime together. In a study of adolescent sexuality, the girls engage in slightly illicit acts together.

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    HOME-COMING QUEENS

    1997 (video, 00 min.)

    This project is a documentary in collaboration with Paper Tiger TV and the teens of Green Chimneys/Gramercy Residence, a foster home for gay youth.

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    GŰERITA & PRIETITA

    1995 (video, 20 min.)

    Mesmerizing, experimental documentary. First person account of two women as they travel through Mexico, keeping a visually fascinating, intimate video journal of the trip.

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    SOAP OPERA

    1995 (video, 6 min.)

    An exploration of the intimate relationship soap opera viewers have to their 'shows'. From a visit with co-producer Liss Platt's family (200 years combined viewing) to a fan event at a Santa Monica beach, Soap Opera looks at the way soaps can become an extension of our world.

    :: Activist Antiwar

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    ART NOT TERRORISM

    2008 (video, 30 min.)

    Video about the events surrounding the controversy of the VIRTUAL JIHADI exhibition at the Arts Dept. at RPI by Wafaa Bilal and also at the Sanctuary for Independent Media, Troy, NY. Production: Hudson Mohawk Indy Media, NY (http://hm.nysindy.org).

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    ZERO VISIBILITY

    2005 (video, 5 min.)

    Using the current climate of fear that has gripped New York City and our nation to explore science fiction of a possible future, a possible past – ZERO VISIBILITY is a poetic exploration about vulnerability. The tape explores an imaginary scenario of a city that has been “experimented” upon for decades.

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    INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN A TIME OF WAR, and TIME OF WAR

    2002-03 (video, 2 x 30 min.)

    Participated in the production of two 30 minute videos against the U.S. involvement in Iraq as part of ongoing efforts to protest Bush Administration and its actions.

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    TURNING TRAGEDY INTO WAR

    0000 (video, 00 min.)

    Made in response to the events surrounding the World trade Center collapse on September 11th in New York City. TURNING TRAGEDY INTO WAR counteracts the corporate media’s war driven and racist spin on the events of September 11. The show critiques the media’s coverage while providing a background of the U.S. involvement in the Middle East.