On Christmas Eve in the Chelsea Hotel, social and political activist Abbie Hoffman prepares homemade gefilte fish. He recounts the story of an awkward dinner hosted by Dr. Benjamin Spock to which Hoffman brought gefilte fish. The filmmaker initiated the idea to tape Hoffman for posterity in anticipation that he might disappear for evading drug charges. The video was exhibited as a component of The Fun House (1974), an installation at the New York Avant-Garde Festival produced by Charlotte Moorman at Shea Stadium. By this time Hoffman had gone underground.
Abbie Making Gefilte Fish (4 min., excerpt, 1973) is a video produced by early video artists Laura Kronenberg (Cavestani), David Schweitzer, and Frank Cavestani. This video is included in "Food for Thought: A Video Art Sampler," now showing at The Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave., at 92nd Street, New York, NY
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