As a fixture on the SoHo-based experimental art scene of the 1970s and 1980s, Argentine-American video/television-art pioneer and conceptual artist Jaime Davidovich (born 1936) has worked in a broad variety of mediums throughout his long career, including video, painting and installation, while also establishing himself as an activist and TV producer. His weekly variety program,
The Live! Show
(1979–84), featured performances and interviews with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Tony Oursler and Michael Smith, while other video works included appearances by the artist Stuart Sherman. Davidovich embraced a postmodernist’s eclecticism and a humorous aesthetic. In this lively conversation with scholar Daniel R. Quiles, Davidovich recounts his early years in postwar Argentina, the 1963 coup d’état that led to his relocation to New York and his long, influential career.