Willoughby Sharp was born in 1936 in New York and died in 2008. He was an internationally known video artist but also a curator, gallerist, writer, producer and teacher. He was the publisher and co-founder of Avalanche magazine between 1970 and 1976.
Between 1970 and 1974, he produced the “Videoviews”, a series of videotaped dialogues with artists such as Bruce Nauman, Joseph Beuys and Chris Burden. In 1976, he co-produced with Liza Bear Five Video Pioneers: Vito Acconci, Richard Serra, Willoughby Sharp, Keith Sonnier, William Wegman (MoMA, New York). This same year, he represented the United States at the Venice Biennale.
In September 1977, he participated in Send/Receive Satellite Network: Phase II, the first trans-continental interactivesatellite work made by artists. This experience led him to produce pre-internet art involving interactive telecommunications.
Sharp is also famous for curating several important exhibitions: «Pop Art: An Art Historical Approach» (1964, Columbia University, NY), «Earth Art» (1969, Cornell University, Ithaca, New york), «Body Works» (1970, Tom Marioni’s Museum of Conceptual Art, San Francisco), “Joseph Beuys” (1973, Ronald Feldman Fine Art, Inc., New York) etc.