IN THE WORKS:

The Little Mermaid Singalong
Presented with Canadian Artist Matthew-Robin Nye, Paper Tiger presents The Little Mermaid Singalong, a half-hour variety program featuring solo performances by princesses, in-depth discussion about the feminist and queer readings of the film and its legacy, and of course, multi-lingual singalongs with both the original and updated lyrics.
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PTTV's 30TH ANNIVERSARY!
October 28, 2011 marks 30 years of creative, radical media arts in New York City and the very first live cable access broadcast of Paper Tiger Television. From November 2011 through February 2012 the PTTV video collective will partner with cultural institutions, universities and creative spaces throughout the city and build upon the philosophy and ideals established in the early pioneering work of the collective. We hope to engage people around the themes and ideas that have made Paper Tiger Television such an amazing force in the radical media landscape.

BACKGROUND

PTTV uses experimental video to document the ideas and actions of creative resistance. By challenging the form, content and process inherent in corporate, commercial media we advocate for a system that is more democratic and responsive to the needs of citizens. PTTV was founded on the ideal that access to the tools of communication is essential for information equity and a strong democracy. Yet today, despite ubiquitous cameras, easily accessible editing tools, the proliferation of self-broadcasting through the Internet, radical use of media has not changed the basic power structures in our social, political and economic systems.

PTTV will look back at its history of ultra-low budget, grassroots media making as a springboard for exploring what new directions collaborative media making might take in our new media environment.
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DETROIT

Paper Tiger video collective (PTTV) went to Detroit in November 2010 to look into what flowers are cracking the concrete in one of America's most run down cities. New inspiring spaces such as squats, community gardens and artists spaces are appearing in the ruins of post-industrial, global capitalism. PTTV is looking at how failure of the local aspects of a global economy give rise to new forms of community and have the ability to change everyday life. Among the issues we are covering are how a devaluated housing market is allowing people to create a thriving and innovative new community, how locals are using vacant spaces to move beyond a extremely depressed labor market and how the media and corporations are reacting to these new situations.
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Social Movements
The current global economic crisis has generated a series of social movements and political upheavals. From the riots in Athens to the university strike in Puerto Rico to political demonstrations in Thailand, a new specter is haunting the globe, with unsuspected force. The involvement of segments of population usually disconnected from political action, their use of media tools unavailable just a decade ago and the fact that there isn't a clear ideological or institutional line guiding these protests makes them different from the traditional modes of political action. Are we in a new revolutionary moment or is this just a regular cycle of politics a usual? Paper Tiger Summer 2010 interns are putting together a show to set forth some questions regarding the nature and the possibilities of these new movements.
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D E C E P T I O N
You know that sense of being legally cheated we all feel everyday? How is it that our world has become a puzzle to solve: advertising, media and politics have all become about misrepresenting, distracting, omitting, or overwhelming us with excruciating details... Paper Tiger is asking for video submissions, no longer than 3 minutes, in which YOU tell us about your biggest D E C E P T I O N: what you hate most about advertising, politics or deceptive media... whether it is the fine prints on your medicine leaflet, the lack of coverage of some important news, or that padded push-up bra of your hot date. All submissions will be threaded into a PTTV show and will be broadcasted! For more info visit the D E C E P T I O N project page

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Archive Project
We've launched an ambitious archiving project! The Paper Tiger archive includes over 320 shows and hundreds of related documents, items, and ephemera. These shows and documents not only reflect the work of many prominent media scholars, activists, cultural critics, and artists of the last 25 years, but also that of activists from social justice movements whose struggle might otherwise have gone undocumented. As a result, the Paper Tiger archive houses one of the most unique and important historical media collections, and encompasses critical components of the evolution of public access television, video art, media advocacy, visual literacy, and video activism. This project is currently in the assessment stage.

There are two components to the current project:
• preservation of tapes (video masters)
• organization, catalogue, and preservation of historically important documents, items, and related ephemera (for example, photographs, props from shows, meeting minutes, etc.)

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RECENT SHOWS:

#338 Public Spaces
This documentary takes a critical look at the history and future of public space--from the Agora to shopping malls to NYC's community gardens. The film unrolls the complicated relationship between public and private control over space. Featuring scholars, activists and community organizers, including Don Mitchell, Sharon Zukin, Galen Kranz, and Rob Robbins
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#336Surveilling Surveillance
Paper Tiger Television's new show on surveillance culture. From government wiretapping to Facebook, GPS systems to credit card swipes, Google searches to nanny cams- how are you being watched? What are the implications of living in a surveillance culture? Are we safer or are our civil liberties threatened? Watch this new production on our Vlog!
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#335 U.S. Department of Defense Contracts #335
A live performance piece taped at Manhattan Neighborhood Network Studios in which Paper Tiger reads and responds to the United States Department of Defense Contracts for July 2nd, 2010. These contracts, valued $5 million or more, are announced each business day at 5 pm on the Department of Defense website. Produced with Red Channels. Watch it on our Vlog!
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#334 Reality Unreeled: The Really Real Unreal Reality of Real Reality TV
Is reality television real? Is this the real life or is it just fantasy? Paper Tiger's summer 2009 interns created a show on reality television, to explore the social impacts and affective stereotypes of this explosive and exploitative genre that has taken TV networks by storm. The show features an interview with media critic, journalist and founder of Women in Media and News, Jennifer L. Pozner. Pozner explains the social, economic and cultural reality of reality TV. The show also includes an interview with Robert Galinsky, founder and “principal” of the New York Reality TV School, where actors get trained how to act real. And the interns try to make sense of all of those "Addicted to Beauty" posters through interviews with random subway passer-bys. Watch it on our Vlog!.

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#332 Basta Ya!
Paper Tiger collaborated with youth in Brooklyn to create a video on how gentrification and development affects residents. Rents and property values skyrocketed over the past few years in Sunset Park, a mostly Latino and Asian working class neighborhood in Brooklyn. People are being displaced as condominiums are being built. This video was created to inform residents about what is happening and to inspire the community to take action. However gentrification is happening in communities everywhere, and we want this video to also be seen in a global context. Watch it on our Vlog!

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Peace Pentagon Production
For forty years, the building at 339 Lafayette, also known as the Peace Pentagon, has been home to countless peace and justice organizations in New York City. The AJ Muste Institute, the current owner of the building, has played a vital role in supporting the work of many committed and inspirational leaders of the social justice movement. A recent engineering survey revealed that the building is in need of significant repairs, therefore this stronghold of national and international activism and organizing now faces an uncertain future. Members of Paper Tiger Television, which has been housed in the Peace Pentagon since 1986, produced a video that raises awareness of the building’s significant history and the need to repair, renovate and green the building. The current situation presents a unique opportunity to transform this landmark building into a powerful and sustainable cornerstone of progressive ideals, while simultaneously making a prominent statement against the consumer excess rapidly engulfing the neighborhood around it. Watch it on our Vlog!.