"Media artist Andy Mann (1949-2001) was a pioneer of video art who lived in Houston between the early-1980s and his death of pancreatic cancer on February 3, 2001. During the first years of Aurora Picture Show, Mann became friends with founder Andrea Grover, created a video sculpture for the entrance of Aurora’s original church space, and presented a program of his work at Aurora in September of 1998. Mann left an extensive collection of his video art and documentation to Aurora Picture Show with the desire to have the work accessible for educational and artistic purposes. The Andy Mann Archive is comprised of over 1000 video tapes and reels dating from the late-1960’s through 2001, including countless works and footage unavailable elsewhere.

Some of Mann’s early tapes such as One-Eyed Bum (1974) are recognized as seminal video works and have been requested for research, teaching, and exhibition purposes by media theorist Gene Youngblood (Expanded Cinema), the Museum of Modern Art, Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute Library, and others. Beyond a wealth of the artist’s own work, the archive also contains candid footage and interviews with New York, Los Angeles, and Houston-based artists between the 1970s and 90s, including folk musician Phil Oaks, performance artist Chris Burden, painter Mark Lombardi, and Houston artists Jesse Lott. Aurora Picture Show is honored to be the repository for Andy Mann’s personal archive of 3/4”, BetaSP, S-VHS, and Video8 cassettes as well as 1/2” open reels."

--source, Aurora Picture Show, https://www.aurorapictureshow.org/andy-mann-archive, accessed September 1, 2023

The Andy Mann Video Archive is not yet fully processed, but an inventory is available. Contact UH Libraries Special Collections for more information.