Boundaries And Beyond: The Termite Tv Collective

Afterimage, May, 2001 by Leann Erickson

Termite ... art moves always forward eating its own boundaries and likely as not leaves nothing in its place but the signs of eager, industrious unkempt activity.

--Manny Farber

Pennsylvania is a sprawling, forest-covered state where real estate agents warn potential buyers that the termite is the state "pet." To a homeowner the termite is something to watch for and fear. With this reputation, it is fitting to find in the heart of Philadelphia a different genus of termite, also busy in their eager activity, eating any boundaries in their path. However, these termites should only be feared by those invested in television as status quo, for this band of termites challenges the culture as they expand the aesthetics of television.

Inspired by the Manny Farber quote, the Termite TV Collective has, since 1992, created their own path through television culture, producing work that challenges their audience to address, head-on, current cultural and political issues as they unfold. But unlike Farber's statement, the Termites are accumulating an impressive body of work which, after nine years, continues to provoke thought and action from its audience.

The Termites began as a small group of MFA students at Temple University, (Mike Kuetemeyer, Jim Ospenson, and Meryl Perlson) in the Department of Radio, Television, and Film (since reorganized as the Department of Film and Media Arts). There they found a philosophical approach to film and video production that allowed them to question "industry" standards, both technical and contextual. As part of a media writing class in 1992 they were asked to propose projects for the course. Encouraged by Temple faculty member Alan Powell, the future Termites decided on using television to work out their ideas. Adapting the name from a Madison, Wisconsin based public access series, the Termite TV Collective formed and secured a weekly half-hour time slot through DUTV, a Drexel University based television channel. With a time slot and a potential audience, all they needed was a program.

From this beginning grew the weekly series, "This is Not a Test," a program now broadcast nationally on Free Speech Television. The collective devised a structure where each program is organized around a theme, yet each Termite is left to interpret that theme in any way he or she sees fit. The opportunity of a weekly program affords producers immediate reaction to issues of importance for both themselves and their audience. Perlson explains the freedom of experimentation offered to the early Termites: "Termite work, like television, was made to be forgotten. We were given this wonderful opportunity to experiment with the medium." [1]

Program #1, "Rizzo's Brain," aired in spring of 1992. "Rizzo's Brain" took a posthumous look at the legacy of former Police Chief and Mayor Frank Rizzo who, for decades, was a controversial presence in Philadelphia politics. With its opening image of a television being smashed by a pickax, viewers realized this was not a conventional news program. Mixing reenactment with appropriated television footage the program careens through the Philadelphia landscape with the subtlety of an itchy finger on a television remote. "Rizzo's Brain" juxtaposes such diverse pieces as a dancing bunny, footage from a Mummer's parade accompanied by a textual analysis of then current Gulf War atrocities, weaving these images with a video portrait of potholes, all held together by Rizzo's own commentary. Rizzo's outrageous statements, reenacted during the beginning of the program, lead the viewer to think that these comments may have been ironically created in the spirit of Rizzo philosophy. At the end, the viewer is treated to an actual Rizzo news interview concerning the MOVE bombing of the late 1970s. As the interview unfolds the viewer realizes, with increasing horror, that all the previous commentary could be directly attributed to Rizzo. This first program was but a promise of more disruptive things to come.

The Termites have always been a small, tight-knit band. All collective members, save one, share the common history of being Temple MFA students. From its first formation with three initial members, to a high point of seven members, including Karen Lefkovitz and Michael O'Reilly, the current Termite TV Collective boasts only one original member, Kuetemeyer. Joined by Dorothea Braemer, Carl Lee and Anula Shetty these four artist-activists continue the philosophy and work begun over eight years ago. Kuetemeyer is quick to point out that while the early shows focused on breaking into the accepted television landscape, new members brought with them a more poetic and contemplative style, expanding the cultural, political and aesthetic perspectives of the programs.

Like any collective, issues of art and administration must be addressed. With their longevity and success, the administrative side often seems to overshadow the art. To tackle this issue, the four members divide the administrative work according to their individual strengths. Shetty addresses the process by explaining that the Termites employ a decentralized decision-making strategy in an "attempt to avoid ego. It's a process that we're still working through." Kuetemeyer explains that this decentralized approach allows members to contribute to a whole while their individual contribution to a show remains theirs. Members also rotate the role of producer, curating individually arranged programming for distribution outlets. Aware of the difficulty such a structure can bring they all agree that the process is more important than the product. Their process has paid off in the form of community support, both locally and nationally.