Preceded by shorts: Irving Saraf's Tyrannus Nix (1970) collages processed images of Richard Nixon, newsreel footage, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's reading of the eponymous poem. The poet's diatribe describes Nixon as a tyrant, an actor, an ad, a betrayal. (12 mins, Color, 16mm, PFA Collection, permission of artist). With queasy accuracy, T.R. Uthco's Eternal Frame (1975) re-stages the assassination of J.F.K. in Dealey Plaza. Doug Hall is "artist-president" and Doug Michels a drag Jackie in this bizarre simulation of the Zapruder footage. This seminal videowork doesn't seek the man beneath the image recognizing that the image was the man. (23:50 mins, B&W/Color, 3/4" Video, From EAI) Robert Downey's earliest surviving effort, Babo 73 is an absurdist romp through American politics with Taylor Mead as the "President of the United Status." This darkly comic day-in-the-life of the prez brags the launch of a nuclear war aborted by God, an impending invasion by the Red Siamese, and a bout of shoe fetishism. Meekly built Mead never conjures the image of the robust, collected sort we routinely send to the White House. Rather, he is a cranky, glib, and distracted mess-of-a-man, inspecting parking meters as he ponders acts of war. The riotously off-sync sound ensures a president who'll never say "read my lips."-Steve Seid