The primary audience for scratch video in the early to mid-1980s, was in nightclub performances by industrial music bands such as
The Anti-Group,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Nocturnal Emissions,
Psychic TV,
SPK,
Test Dept, and
Autopsia. Some of those involved described their work as a form of
cultural terrorism or as a form of
anti-art. In the mid-1980s typical London venues would be screenings at artist-run spaces such as the
Ambulance Station, in independent cinemas such as the Brixton
Ritzy Cinema, or
the Fridge nightclub, which boasted an array of dozens of recycled colour televisions. There was also significant distribution on
VHS tape, following similar networks to
cassette culture. After Andy Lipman's
City Limits feature contextualised the art values of this practice, material began to be featured in small screenings in official art galleries such as the
ICA and
Tate. Television stations, like
Channel 4 began late night screenings of art videos, including scratch video. However, because much of the material was constructed using domestic VHS equipment, it was deemed both technically and legally unsuitable for broadcast (for fear of breaching copyright law). Being highly politicised, some of the material also broke with the broadcaster's criteria of balance. ==Artists==