Barbara Rubin, an underground filmmaker, resided in New York in 1965, where she was captivated by an emerging band known as The Velvet Underground. As a part-time art groupie, Rubin believed the band would be an ideal match for Andy Warhol's managerial expertise.
At the time, Warhol was searching for a band to manage, and Rubin thought The Velvet Underground would be a perfect fit. The band performed at the Café Bizarre, a bar on West 3rd Street, and Warhol dispatched poet/photographer Gerard Malanga to witness their live shows.
The Velvet Underground became an integral part of Warhol's Factory, and they would eventually begin to perform in front of screens projecting the films of Rubin, Warhol, and Paul Morrissey. One of the films they showcased was Christmas on Earth (1963),a film Rubin created at the age of 17 using a 16mm camera owned by filmmaker Jonas Mekas.
This film is widely regarded as one of the first legitimate works of multi-media art. In 1966, Warhol was invited to deliver a lecture at the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry at Delmonico's Hotel. He brought along Mekas, Rubin, and The Velvet Underground.
Instead of giving the lecture, Mekas and Rubin filmed the group of shocked psychiatrists (and their wives) as The Underground, accompanied by Nico, performed their music, with Warhol asking the attendees embarrassing questions about their sex lives. Excerpts from this encounter would later be featured in Mekas' film, Walden.
Barbara Rubin continued to contribute her talents to an underground movement that aimed to explore cultural and sexual boundaries while fusing image and audio in innovative and experimental ways.
