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Madeleine Altmann
Madeleine Altmann (Born May,11 1963) is a contemporary video artist who was born and raised in Brazil and England and currently resides in the USA. Altmann has been active in visual arts for most of her life. Starting off in photography she moved on to television, interactive telecommunications and video art. Her work delves into the intersection of nature, technological change, and visual representation. Building on a diverse set of influences, from Henry David Thoreau (Altmann lives a few miles away from Thoreau’s home and works in the same environment) to Rebecca Solnit and Bill Viola, her work presents a landscape of both our internal and external worlds. We see a simple walk through the woods with her dog as the cosmic experience, echoing the belief that local is universal. As reiterated in her 6 panel Black Ice piece, the microscopic parallels the macroscopic.

Background
Madeleine Altmann grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Despite being the daughter of a WWII Jewish refugee she was sent to Mary Immaculate Catholic Convent School until she moved at age 13 to England. Dropped in the middle of turbulent Britain throughout the mid to late 70’s led to a kind of schizophrenic appreciation of culture and the arts, from Samba to Punk. Her family was the very first to enroll and support the now elite TASIS England It was there she first developed her interest in photography. Throughout those years several near death experiences brought about a certain appreciation for being alive and witnessing the wonders of the world.

Altmann graduated from Hampshire College in the USA in 1985 with a degree in Film and Video. She studied experimental film and broadcast television and would later meld these two fields into MVTV. (Madeleine’s Variety TV). She went on to work at various video houses while getting her Masters from SFAI (San Francisco Art Institute)

Career
While in San Francisco, Altmann produced 52 live shows through Public Access Channels. During the 80’s and before the internet, big broadcast companies controlled all the airwaves except PEG. What ensued was a viewer directed, wild multilayered response and antithesis to the polished and controlled aesthetics of Broadcast TV. The first show was dedicated to Abbie Hoffman and George Kuchar. Madeleine worked with Hoffman and his daughter Ilya Hoffman during and after Hampshire College and this interactions served as a launching point for Altmann’s subversive series. Kuchar was Madeleine’s mentor at SFAI and a major contributor and guest on MVTV.

In 1991 Altmann moved to Prague, The Czech Republic to produce a show for NTV. In coordination with their Cultural institutions, Altmann produced and starred in Tady a Ted ( Here and Now ), a bilingual show both in English and Czech showcasing life in Prague after the Velvet Revolution.

Returning to San Francisco, Madeleine started Erotica SF, a magazine style show on leased access about everything erotic in San Francisco. When Viacom pulled the plug and refused to comply with the contract, Altmann took them to court. Along with the help of the ACLU, Altmann vs. Viacom is a landmark case protecting the rights of free speech for cable producers everywhere.

In 1994 Altmann was invited by Nick West, professor at New York University to join his program to develop content for YORB (where callers could navigate a 3D virtual world via their phones) as well as learn all about the interactive technologies, ITP had to offer. Altmann produced an interactive CD-ROM about dying and assisted suicide. Working with what was then a very nascent internet, Altmann came upon the idea of starting a peep show on the web called Babes4U. It enabled women who previously worked in strip clubs to go instead to a private office run by women only and transmit their images for the first time ever over a computer to another computer. Not only was it safer for the women who worked in the industry it was important for the company to women run and profit sharing. At that time almost no one was streaming images over the internet let alone live video. B4U worked at the forefront of live video streaming and also developed one of the first micro-payment systems that enabled pay-per-use processing via credit cards. The business exploded over night and led the way for mainstream use of the technology. A large majority of the business was eventually outsourced to another company, which also partnered with Playboy.

Soon Altmann decided to have a family and give back to the community. She worked as a PEG Director for 7 years helping countless non-profits put out their message. Altmann went on to make numerous award winning TV series through Bedford TV many of which are broadcast to millions of homes internationally. List of shows

During that time Altmann lived in a nature preserve and become very interested in the natural world with her photography and now video art.