Conrad began to work in video and performance in the 1970s as a professor at Antioch College in Ohio, where he replaced the filmmaker Paul Sharits. In 1976, Conrad joined the faculty at the Center for Media studies at the University at Buffalo. While in Buffalo, Conrad was part of a scene that included Sharits, as well as Hollis Frampton, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Peter Weibel, James Blue, Cathy Steffan and Gerald O'Grady. Their practices in film, video, performance, and other forms were documented in the 2008 book "Buffalo Heads: Media Study, Media Practice, Media Pioneers, 1973–1990", edited by Vasulka and Weibel.