Liza Béar and Keith Sonnier

Send/Receive Satellite Network: Phase I and Send/Receive Satellite Network: Phase II, 1977, produced by Lisa Béar and Keith Sonnier

"The now defunct CTS satellite, an experimental satellite jointly owned by NASA and the Government of Canada, was used for the demonstration."

The CTS satellite also made history as being the first communications satellite used for video art, by artist Keith Sonnier in 1977 for his 2-part piece titled "Send/Receive Satellite Network", in which video and character generator text & graphics were fed over the satellite between the East and West Coasts of the United States. This marked the first time that satellite communication technology was used for video art. NASA cooperated with Sonnier's project, and provided a satellite uplink truck for access to the CTS satellite. The piece was produced in two parts, "Phase I", which was a critique of satellite technology and whether it would become accessible to the public rather than the commercial & military purposes for the technology at that time, using feeds sent over the satellite by the artist and other participants, and "Phase II", which featured excerpts of the feeds sent.

View Send/Receive on Keith Sonnier's Vimeo page

Liza Bear also co-produced the art magazine AVALANCHE with Willoughby Sharp