Cashing in on the home-video craze, Fisher-Price introduced a $100 camcorder called "Pixelvision." Meant strictly as a toy for young image gatherers, the camcorder is a thing of utter simplicity. Using a common audiocassette, it records five minutes of black-and-white video on each side, has infinite focus, and a chip for a camera tube. This toy, stripped of features but loaded with paradox, has become an object of fascination for many mediamakers. Dirt cheap, it frees artists from the preciousness of art, while allowing them to place greater "value" on the precious few pixels produced. Simultaneously, the technical limitations of the toy have inspired new heights of minimalist discipline in the conception and composition of videoworks. Much can be made from nothing, belying the 24-carat standard of the field. Add to this more philosophical aspect the visceral allure of the image. Graced with a strangely mosaic surface, the low-end picture has a hyper-real appearance that has been greedily incorporated into many high-end works. Cheap but beautiful, "Pixelvision" is a signpost on the road from formal aesthetics to the democratized image. --Steve Seid Tonight's program explores the range of experimentation from tapes by seasoned pros like James Benning, to newcomers like Sadie Benning; from mesmerizing works finalized in-camera, to more elaborate compositions edited in higher formats. Special thanks to Eric Saks for inspiring and compiling this program.