rev.99 is a bi-coastal multi-media collective founded by 99 Hooker in March of 2000 when he organized the live audio and video performance: Same Day, Different Millennium (VHS, 60 Minutes, No Solution, NY, NY, 2000). Since then dozens of video and audio artists have passed through their switchers and mixers at venues ranging from the Hirshhorn and Anthology Film Archives to rock clubs and loft parties. You can see their work and enjoy a beer whenever you visit Freddy's Bar on Dean Street in Brooklyn. Say hello to video master Donald O'Finn when you do. If rev.99 is performing live look for Kathy Coogan on camera and DJ Jim Pletcher. Brother Russell Scholl may even be there mixing in his massive video cabinet of curiosities.
In 2005, rev.99 began developing their Improvised History project. Using Stan Brakhage's art history lectures (recorded by Josh Wallace, 1983), rev.99 structured a mix of set pieces and roll-in media to highlight his anecdotes about fellow artists and his/their aesthetic ideas. First seen at Anthology Film Archives, rev.99’s Improvising History has evolved into a multi-screen live performance. Much more than a soundtrack to ease Brakhage's monumental silent films, rev.99 plays his media to create a kindred but radically different experience. After performing at the Hirshhorn Museum, curator Kelly Gordon wrote “Cosmic. We are still all talking about it.”
