Michael Phillips Callahan, Sr., 79, of North Reading, MA passed away at his home on Tuesday October 24, 2023.

A quiet, discerning, and caring man, Michael will be missed not only by family, but also by many long-term friends and colleagues. It is likely his quick wit and wry sense of humor that will be particularly missed. Michael considered many lifelong friends as extensions of his family.  He was generous with his time and was quick to respond to any request, artistic, personal, and the many “can you help me figure out how to make this work”.

Michael was an artist at heart, working primarily in the design and construction of interactive, multimedia installations, products, and events. His work has been shown in a variety of venues, primarily throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He is listed, by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, as well as other places, as an American Artist.

Self-taught in electronics, in his late teens Michael became the Technical Director of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, a collective of classically trained composers exploring the options and effects of electronic manipulations on audio recordings and live performances. The Tape Center became a gathering place for other musicians and  notable figures of the 1960s San Francisco “scene.” The Tape Center group continues to meet weekly on Zoom.

In 1963 Michael  collaborated with the poet Gerd Stern to present Who R U? and What’s Happening at the San Francisco Museum of Art. The performance, considered to be one of the first multimedia live art events, featured a mix of recorded sound and slide projections with live audio and closed-circuit television capturing conversations with four chosen panels of local politicians, journalists, and other “known” San Francisco-ites. The partnership with Stern would become a lifelong collaboration.

Michael made the move  to New York in 1964 to become one of the founding members of the visionary multimedia art collective, USCO (Us Company or Company of Us). His position was to oversee the technical aspects of the group’s work. Much of their work was based on an attempt to demonstrate the effects of media and the changes to come

in societal communication. USCO’s prescient artworks demonstrated early concepts such as instantaneous mass messaging, or multiple messages and images sharing the same space and time such as we are now accustomed to seeing today on CNN and MSNBC. A number of these ideas were derived from the writings of media theorist Marshall McLuhan. The USCO community is credited as having had a major impact on the development of multimedia, intermedia, installation, and immersive/environmental art, as well as the internet. Their work site was an old church in Rockland County, New York. Based on USCO’s presence, the church is now listed on the National Register of Historical Places. USCO’s artistic contributions have been featured in numerous exhibitions and countless publications like Life magazine. Their artwork is in several museum collections including the National Gallery of Art.

In 1967, Michael and several other members of USCO joined together with a group from the Harvard Business School to form Intermedia Systems Corporation. The company’s intent was to use new media to present and expand management training concepts, such as those related to “organizational climate.” They worked with large government and business clients as well as entertainment venues, such as the Woodstock Festival.

In the early 1970s, Michael branched out to form his own company, Callahan Associates, Inc., which focused primarily on technical products employed in new-media performances and exhibits. In 1976 he accepted an appointment at Harvard University as Supervisor of Film Studies and Electrical Engineer at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. He remained at Harvard for 17 years, leaving in 1993 to expand his previous company to focus on the design and manufacturing of audio-visual equipment to meet the specialized needs of museums and other institutions offering electronic media in public spaces. Clients of Museum Technology Source, Inc. range from larger organizations such as the National Park Service and Sony Corporation of America to smaller venues such as museums and historical sites.

Michael leaves his loving family; his wife of 51 years, Adrienne (Siebrecht); his son Michael Phillips Callahan, Jr., and his wife Katherine (Remelt); his daughter Sierra Edith Callahan and her husband Aaron Michael Abrams; his grandson Otis William Abrams; and his sister Jessie Patricia Callahan Wood.

Donations in memory of Michael would be greatly appreciated and can be sent to either: The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, 2041 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 or Rosie’s Place 889 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. www.croswellfuneralhome.com