Revisiting Video-Nou Polyphonic memories for a shared present #1

Between 1976 and 1979, the Video-Nou collective experimented with and applied the potential of video as a tool for social intervention, horizontal communication, and collective creation. In 1976 Franco had just died, and the foundations for what was to be a new democratic coexistence were starting to take shape in the Spanish state, with difficulties and enthusiasm in equal measure. Everything was yet to be done and said. Against this complex backdrop, video—a portable new medium unburdened by tradition—offered new spaces of freedom for creation and communication and an invitation to conversation.

In its three years of existence, Video-Nou generated projects in close collaboration and dialogue with many groups and grassroots social and cultural movements throughout Catalonia. These interventions thus became forums for communal debate, reflecting the voices, struggles and circumstances of ordinary people, which the mainstream media ignored.

In March 1979, some members of Video-Nou founded the Servei de Vídeo Comunitari. This new project preserved the spirit of collective creation but shifted the focus towards video-related community training on the one hand, and producing documentaries by institutions such as the City Council on the other. The Servei de Vídeo Comunitari was active until 1983.

In this three-podcast miniseries, we sit down to talk to four members of the Video-Nou collective. Hand in hand with Lluïsa Roca, Luisa Ortínez, Xefo Guasch and Carles Ameller, we weave a polyphonic narrative that offers a direct, experiential testimony of an era. At the same time, they give us an insight into the processes of collective creation as everyday activism, as a passion, as debate, conflict and a shared path towards a freer society.

In this first episode, we revisit the early days of Video-Nou and its connection with other artists who were also starting to work with video in Catalonia. We look at the collective’s relationship with the counterculture, the underground, and libertarian movements. And we consider the particularities of video as a tool for documentary, communication, creation, and protest, with special attention to its uses within the political and social context of the period of the Spanish transition. We explore strategies such as feedback and counterinformation, and we get a behind-the-scenes insight into the making of Video-Nou’s first projects: Gràcia. Espais Verds (February-March 1977) and Campanya política per a la Lliga de Catalunya (April-May 1977), better known as the Video-Bus.