Jud Yalkut

In 1965 Yalkut became resident film-maker for USCO ('The Company of Us', a media arts collective).[4] Yalkut created the following films for USCO events in the mid-sixties, some in collaboration with USCO members: Turn, Turn, Turn (USCO did the soundtrack), Ghost Rev, Diffraction Film, and Down By the Riverside.[5]

Yalkut became interested in psychedelics, and produced a short film in 1966 titled D.M.T. The film featured slides by artist Jackie Cassen, choreography/dancing by Mary McKay, and the voice of Ralph Metzner reading from Timothy Leary's book Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations.[6]

In 1966 Yalkut started collaborating with Nam June Paik, a working partnership that would continue into the 1970s.[4] Together, Yalkut and Paik produced hybrid film-video works that combined moving image technologies, electronic manipulations, performance and installation. These works include Videotape Study No. 3 (1967–69), Beatles Electroniques (1966–72) and Cinema Metaphysique (1966–72).[1][3]

As well as Paik, Yalkut worked with many other New York-based visual and performance artists. For example, in 1966 Yalkut created Moondial Film, an experimental film that documented an "electromedia" happening by Aldo Tambellini.[3] In 1967, Yalkut made a film of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, Kusama’s Self-Obliteration, using multiple dissolves and additional superimpositions.[3] In 1968, Yalkut collaborated with the dancer and choreographer Trisha Brown, contributing a film to the dance, Planes, for projection onto the performance space. The film included found aerial footage of New York City, rockets launching and microscopic imagery.[7]

During his time in New York, Yalkut organized film programs for Charlotte Moorman's New York Avant Garde Festivals. He also taught film-making courses at New York University, School of Visual Arts, and the Millennium Film Workshop.[1][3]

In 1973, Yalkut left New York and started a film and video program at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.[1]

He was one of the founders of Dayton Visual Arts Center.[1] He taught at Sinclair Community College in Dayton and at Xavier University in Cincinnati.[2]