The title of my Digital Archive project is Anarchy in the Village during the Vietnam Era. As I have conducted research, I have come across some very interesting groups and figures. One of the most fascinating people is a man named Aldo Tambellini.

Tambellini was a young artist in 1960s Greenwich Village, who encountered early criticism before achieving success. He was a liminal figure with regard to my larger focus of radical groups. Tambellini was, however, loosely connected to such groups through an art collective that he helped found in 1959 called the “Group Center.”[i] The biography section of Tambellini’s personal website says that the Group “organized alternative ways and non-traditional presentation of the artists’ work to the public.”[ii] Through the Group, Tambellini met Ben Morea, who was an ardent leading member of two anarchy groups with strong presences in Greenwich Village. These two groups were called Black Mask and Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers. What Tambellini shared with Morea was more antiwar sentiment, location in the Village, and the artistic avant-garde rather than ideology.

The Group Center hosted many shows in Washington Square Park. This provided benefits and detractors to the collective of revolutionary artists. Susan Sherman of “the village Voice” covered the performance “Outfall” at the Park. This event took place on a September night in 1965. Sherman described the initial buzz of excitement that enchanted the crowd. This, however, was short-lived as cold weather, long breaks, overcrowding, and poor visibility “soon turned the enthusiasm into boredom.”[iii] Tambellini, in conjunction with Judith Dunn, presented the first event, “Black-Round,” which consisted of “light projections and mechanized sound.”[iv] The reviewer called it, “The most ambitious event artistically [of the night] and the one that suffered the most from its outdoor presentation.”[v] Technical and mechanical issues were the cause of long, unexpected breaks and left the reviewer “with a feeling of disappointment.”[vi]

Another of Tambellini’s works was reviewed in “the village VOICE.” It is not clear where this presentation was held, but it was likely indoors given that it took place in mid-December of 1965. This piece was titled “Black Zero” and the critic commended it for its “sense stimulation” and its “contrasts between light and dark (white and black) and noise and silence.”[vii] This appeal quickly wore off as the reviewer explained: “It also made me sleepy.”[viii] The assessor closed: “When I left the theater I felt disoriented, which I offer as testimony to his effectiveness; but my mind was dulled, which is not so good. For audiences at any future performances of ‘Black Zero,’ I think the secret ingredient is LSD.”[ix]

Tambellini’s career improved from early criticism of his performances. The artist founded his own theater for countercultural films, which he called the Gate Theater. Tambellini described this venture in his own words: “On September 16, 1966… I opened the 200 seat Gate Theatre on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street… The Gate Theatre was the only theatre to show avant-garde, underground films in continuous showing, till midnight, seven days a week. The theatre charged $1.50 admission. The Gate was dubbed the ‘Radical Underground in Film.’”[x] Tambellini grew to be an important figure to come out of the Village’s avant-garde art world. His works were later shown at, among other places, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and England’s Tate Museum.

Tambellini’s early career parallels the lifespan of the extremist anarchy groups of which he was loosely associated. Both were flashy and intense at first, but ultimately tired and short-lived. These dizzying and drug-induced ventures were irrational, but politely described as countercultural or even radical. The combination of all of the factors that led to the creation of such art and radical groups skewed reality and made something that is bright, loud, and chaotic to a sober person, inspiring to an influenced or inebriated one. Unlike anarchy groups in the Village during the Vietnam War era, Tambellini was able to continue his work and make a long career out of it.

Sources [i] http://www.aldotambellini.com/bio4.html [ii] http://www.aldotambellini.com/bio4.html [iii] Susan Sherman, the village VOICE, September 30, 1965, Page 16. [iv] Susan Sherman, the village VOICE, September 30, 1965, Page 16. [v] Susan Sherman, the village VOICE, September 30, 1965, Page 16. [vi] Susan Sherman, the village VOICE, September 30, 1965, Page 30. [vii] the village VOICE, December 23, 1965, Page 20. [viii] the village VOICE, December 23, 1965, Page 20. [ix] the village VOICE, December 23, 1965, Page 20. [x] http://www.aldotambellini.com/rebel2.html