Gretchen Bender, "Tracking the Thrill"

Bender (1951–2004) had something of a moment in the late 1980s as part of a group of New York artists who continued the exploration and manipulation of media images in the wake of the so-called Pictures generation. Although Bender produced wall pieces and sculpture, she's best known for rapid-edit multichannel videos that sliced and diced television footage, particularly commercials that employed nascent computer animation technology, such as an unraveling blue globe of the AT&T logo. These installations were sometimes presented as performances: She staged two such events at the Kitchen, one called Dumping Core in 1984; the other, titled Total Recall, in 1987. The latter forms the centerpiece of this Kitchen survey, which reconsiders her work in video and film, including her post-art-world career as the creator of the intro sequence for America's Most Wanted.