In the summer of 1976, Liza Béar (b. 1942) and Keith Sonnier (1941-2020) launched Send/Receive Satellite Network, an ambitious research and advocacy initiative exploring how communication satellites—long dominated by military, governmental, and corporate interests—might be reclaimed for the needs of artists. Culminating in a live teleperformance linking the East and West Coasts of the United States via the high-power experimental Communications Technology Satellite (CTS), also known as Hermes, on September 11, 1977, the project was grounded in several months of sustained inquiry. During this first, preparatory phase, Béar and Sonnier immersed themselves in the technical, legal, economic, and geopolitical frameworks of satellite systems. They gathered documentation, conducted interviews, and attended NASA workshops, ultimately building a comprehensive archive designed to inform and mobilize activist artistic communities around the regulatory structures shaping public use and availability of satellite networks.

Send/Receive Satellite Network: Phase I stands as the conceptual articulation of this effort. Shot on ¾-inch portable video, the tape presents itself as an in-depth video essay on the politics and possibilities of satellite access. It unfolds in three thematic sections: a comparison between the information landscape of the 1970s and the early days of television in the 1930s; an examination of the shifting balance of power between governmental and private actors; and a reflection on the broader implications of space-based infrastructures for global communication.

Visually, Phase I draws from an eclectic assemblage of imagery and printed material collected by Béar and Sonnier during their investigation. Antennas, earth stations, transmission charts, diagrams, headlines, and excerpts from trade journals are animated through panning, cropping, and superimposition, and overlaid with character-generated text. Sound-wise, the design is equally layered: ambient music by Brian Eno mingles with fragments of recorded conversations and readings captured in such moments as a WBAI radio broadcast and the final mixing session.

First publicly screened at The Kitchen in New York City in May 1977, Phase I was conceived by Béar and Sonnier as a traveling work—an informational and mobilizing tool meant to rally fellow artists in the struggle over satellite networks. In this sense, the tape not only reflects their rigorous investigation into the conditions of access but also foreshadows the operational phase of the project, documented in Phase II, serving as a first step toward building a viable, artist-run communication network. More than a study of emerging technology, Phase I makes visible the foundational question at the heart of Send/Receive: not simply whether artists could use satellites, but how—and on what terms—that access might be collectively claimed, shaped, and shared.

Clara M. Royer, 2025