On September 11, 1977, Liza Béar (b. 1942) and Keith Sonnier (1941-2020) staged an experimental teleperformance linking about twenty artists on the East and West Coasts of the United States via a live, two-way satellite telecast. Simultaneously relayed to local cable viewers, the event was enabled by the high-power experimental Communications Technology Satellite (CTS), known as Hermes, with signals transmitted from a satellite truck in Battery Park City, Manhattan, and NASA’s ground station at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Conceived as a test of the technical and economic feasibility of an artist-run satellite network, it marked the culmination of Send/Receive Satellite Network—an ambitious research and advocacy initiative launched by Béar and Sonnier in the summer of 1976 to explore public access policy and alternative uses for space communications.

Send/Receive Satellite Network: Phase II documents the operation. Edited down to thirty minutes from over three hours of footage, the tape captures bi-coastal interactions between artists at both transmission sites, with most contributions unfolding as improvised responses to the formal constraints of real-time audiovisual linkage: Nancy Lewis in New York and Margaret Fisher in California dance a split-screen duet; Allan Scarritt engineers a feedback loop that amplifies the signal delay; while Richard Landry, Richard Peck, and Terry Fox compose ethereal soundscapes drifting between coasts.

Also included are on-camera discussions with NASA Ames telecommunications chief Bradford Gibbs and Andrew Horowitz, founder of the Public Interest Satellite Association (PISA). Together, they address the broader political and legal stakes of public satellite access—especially in relation to Hermes, whose Ku-band capabilities (12-14 GHz) and 200-watt transmitter allowed for relatively low-cost operation via compact earth stations, making it uniquely suited for nonprofit and experimental use.

More than a technical achievement, Phase II reflects a bold reimagining of satellites as platforms for civic agency and artistic expression. Yet the work also exposes the hard limits of such a vision. Plagued by financial, administrative, and technical setbacks—including generator failure, overheated satellite channel, and recurring signal losses—the experiment brought Béar and Sonnier to a crucial conclusion: that true autonomy in telecommunication cannot float on the lofty promise of satellites alone; it must be rooted, grounded, and nurtured close to the earth, where material, economic, and social realities sustain lasting networks.

Clara M. Royer, 2025