Screenings
Video Art emerged in the 1960’s when the boundaries separating traditional art practices like film, sculpture, painting, performance, drawing, dance, music and writing – blurred. Artists began hybridizing various mediums combining them with new forms of technology, in particular - video.
Today Video Art has evolved into a hybrid stage combining all manner of digital technologies such as sensors and computer aided interactivity, projection mapping, robotics and augmented reality to name a few.
Part 1, The evolution of the moving image in art
The Aspect of the Fantastic
Camera obscura (Early form of image projection - a pin hole camera that you can enter)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura
The magic Lantern (An inverted Camera Obscura with a glass lens instead of a hole)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_lantern
A nineteenth century magic lantern projector
https://museumvictoria.com.au/learning-federation/video-temp/magic-lantern-show-video/
The phantasmagoria – (1820’s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hVVLOHdTI
Thaumatrope (turn sound off!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Mlr4hvW-E
The Zoetrope - (1889)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_8fX-N3Ji4
(in class demonstration of the phenakistoscope and thaumatrope)
The first motion picture ever made (1889)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDmAxdLvdQ4
Refinements by the by the Lumière brothers (1896)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Ppp5902Yg
Early experiences in cinema were wondrous, magical – even shocking!
A Trip to the Moon silent film directed by Georges Méliès (1902)
Film evolves into a form of mass entertainment... Until?
* MOMA website - http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/dada
Art Story Website http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm
* WWI, Cabaret Voltaire & the beginnings of Dada (doc film - watch till 9:10) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEBnxWQct24
* Marie Osmond reads Hugo Ball's 1916 Poem "Karawane"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G69O7fvM3BI
* Ballet Mechanique (1924 ) ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWa2iy-0TEQ
The Ballet Mecanique Robotic Orchestra performs George Antheil's 1924 "Ballet Mecanique" at the National Gallery of Art
The first piece of music that has been composed OUT OF and FOR machines, ON EARTH.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZEtFwev630
Man Ray’s Emak-Bakia (Basque for Leave me alone) (1926) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvAnGTJjG_0
* Marcel Duchamp’s Anemic Cinema (1926) (turn sound off!!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsnhBUp7xxM
Sprang from his optical experiments –
http://www.dada-companion.com/duchamp/films.php
Abstract Animation: Non-narrative visual/sound experiences + Unique qualities of motion, rhythm, light and composition inherent in the medium of cinema
* Oskar Fischinger, Optical Poem (1938) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=they7m6YePo
(Created decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music videos)
The Whitney Brothers were pioneers of computer graphics and minimal abstract films. Working with airbrush stencils, optical printing, computer-generated graphics, and then simply using light, the brothers created non-objective films in their California studio. By the 1970s, the two brothers had ventured off in different cinematic directions: John went to Hollywood. One of his most famous works was the animated title sequence from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo, His work also inspired Douglas Trumbull – who created the visual effects for Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001. James went on to create highly mystical abstract films and was regarded as one of the great masters of abstract cinema.
*James Whitney - Lapis - (1966) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzniaKxMr2g
*John Whitney "Catalog" 1961 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbV7loKp69s
Stan Brakhage’s his films were for him - painting made to move.
* Stan Brakhage
Mothlight (1963) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5P5vkegmvU
* To make Mothlight, Brakhage collected hundreds of insect wings, petals, blades of grass, pollen, and leaves and meticulously pressed them together with tape and then fed that tape into a projector. https://thesegirlsonfilm.com/2013/12/11/on-stan-brakhages-mothlight-1963/
“Over the lightbulbs there’s all these dead moth wings, and I … hate that. Such a sadness; there must surely be something to do with that. I tenderly picked them out and start pasting them onto a strip of film, to try to… give them life again, to animate them again, to try to put them into some sort of life through the motion picture machine.”wiki
*Contrast this to the Rutt-Etra video synthesizer (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZQiHuTbnes
*Bill is still around today – supposedly with an updated software version of the synthesizer.
(a digression) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ULLo2teZYc
Thus far we have examined an evolution of Video Art through the lens of Cinema.
To establish a context for the transition from Moving Image Art into Video Art we need to introduce the Fluxus movement. Not unlike DADA Fluxus developed as an anti-art', anti-commercial anti-aesthetics “movement” in the early 1960’s . Flowing primarily from NYC, Fluxus artists did not agree with the authority of museums to determine the value of art, nor did they believe that one must be educated to view and understand a piece of art. So instead of “shows” in galleries and museums they staged a series of “Happenings” – or art events. Happenings were artworks in and of themselves - they often merged mediums such as dance, performance, film/video and sound-works, chickens, and readymade events – ANYTHING! Happenings required active participation from an audience to come to full fruition and were an early form of participatory art.
This is an audio lecture by Allen Burkoff, (born June 20, 1951) an artist and social psychologist who has been a part of the Fluxus movement since the 1980’s. Its really more of a manifesto on “How to make a Happening” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iCM-YIjyHE
* Keep in mind that the Fluxus practitioners were huge tricksters!! This is a very informative narrative on Fluxism by Burkoff with a slideshow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGZ9OS1Oj14
It was also about this time that the Sony AV-3400 Portapak was introduced. http://umwvideoart.com/2015/untitled-1
* Here is a fun Snip-it from "Portapack Conversation" by David and Carol Martin http://www.vdb.org/titles/portapak-conversation
* Some of the earliest pioneers of Video Art were part of the Fluxus movement including Charlotte Moorman, Wolf Vostell and Nam June Paik. Early early examples of their work often feature the appropriation, deconstruction and manipulation of mass media and culture as a form of political critique.
Wolf Vostell, (1932 - 1998)
Sun in your head, (1963 ) https://vimeo.com/133622416
* Wolf Vostell E.d.H.R. Electronic dé - coll / age, Happening Room (1968) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzGsVbSdD3k
Charlotte Moorman (1933-1991)
A retrospective documentary on her - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aeH9FdtAqY
* Nam June Paik / Charlotte Moorman - Charlotte Moorman performs with Paik's 'TV cello'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9lnbIGHzUM
Nam June Paik (1932 -2006) – Often cited as the father of video art.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEAUjFLSqXY
Exhibition preview for the 2012 Smithsonian Exhibition.
* Tatshots video http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tateshots-nam-june-paik-nephew
Electronic Superhighway (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p16JxNV90SU
* Fascinated by the image of the Robot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InPigDoTHQ8
* – a piece from later in his career, a description by conservator Glenn Wharton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO_lwjhoSiU
Kind-a long audio piece with images https://www.arts.gov/photos/nam-june-paik-artist-who-invented-video-art
Part 2, In the 1960 and 1970’s “Video Art” came into existence. Since then it has evolved into...
A spectacle in service of media and cultural critique
Ant Farm - Media Burn (1975) Classic (satirizing the media, the media event, officidum, facts, television, the automobile... play till 7:22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U53-Sfnqwss
Dara Birnbaum (repeated transformations expose the illusion of fixed female identities in media and attempts to show the emergence of a new woman through use of technology)
Wonder Woman (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMG-QCJVsE
Antonio Muntadas, Video is television? (1989) (Deconstructing the mechanics of the message and the medium)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N439EuEv-xg
EBN Emergency Broadcast System (1990’s)
Documercial (show first) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5KawIf6Vzs
Electronic Behavior Control System https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQZsKWV4mDo
Get Down - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuVd8k3QFP8
Commercial Entertainment Product https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR2lKjApPzo
Dreammaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1TCyEjyxFw
I am a man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHAA1q7HYY
What's Happening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxQsnU8mKOw
A vehicle for introspection
Bill Viola - This video of an exhibition of his work provides an excellent overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg19GwNCJU0
Ocean Without a Shore - Venice Biennale 2007
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-V7in9LObI
Tiny Deaths and Martyrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuD4JVFXXq8
Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV__yTp0MLk
Bruce Nauman - Good Boy, Bad Boy (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXmzT3aplEw
A means of dissecting and rewiring the body to examine human behavior
Tony Oursler – human behavior as art
Documentary… kind-of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-q15Qf-Q64
Tate interview and studio tour (watch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuWozY8NIS0
Installation at AROS Exhibition Center, Aarhus, Denmark 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HjR1X0a4e4
Bound Interrupter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTG1oxBo-3o
Walk through of "Face to Dace (2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtOyJI6AQ1I
A kind of immersive moving painting about language, music, movement, lousy flowing pictures, poetry, commotion, premonition of death, sex and friendliness
Pipilotti Rist
Video Overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7qIoRv84I4
I’m not the girl who misses much (1986)
She discusses “I’m not the girl…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn0isretmA0
Pipilotti Rist - Be Nice To Me (Flatten 04) (199?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDh_D1G0hU
Ever is overall – (1997)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gd06ukX-rU
Pipilotti Rist Retrospective at Kunsthaus Zürich (curator discussion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GMYlk_NSQ
In German – great installation footage + underpants!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4aSRLPCWCI
She talks about her installations – great interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z_-ofYzkqE
Pipilotti Rist sums up Video Art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKR-QhjOz-o
Pepperminta! – Here venture into feature format
trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGLoK_Qzgr8
You can watch all episodes on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf4eTNqKtf0
As a Segway into Cinema
Steve McQueen (director of 12 years a slave!) talks about the screen – the spectator – and the story.
Interview talking about his early video art works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oumJJ2jErOI
Interview at MOMA – great setup!, too long for class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KM_5z9WvUc
His retrospective exhibition in 2013 – deadpan is at 3:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PACfx0GeOY
Article on how his video art was a preamble for his films
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140228-art-as-fierce-as-12-years-a-slave
Buster Keaton house fall –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsyRhRR5Iu4
Stills from McQueen’s Deadpan
1, https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9f/a9/75/9fa97577b71a12a5fbda9ad879ee6df2.jpg
2, http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/steve-mcqueen.jpg
3, http://artnews.org/files/0000078000/0000077391.jpg/mcqueen_deadpan_02_l.jpg
4, http://67.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9c7nsLaCQ1qzspj4o1_1280.png
A tool for exploring nature and technology, memory and place
Leslie Thorton - Midnight Moment, Binocular Menagerie (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAx00RjmdgA://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAx00RjmdgA
Luna (2013)
Friedrich van Schoor and Tarek Mawad - The bioluminesent forest
Behind the scenes
http://www.bioluminescent-forest.com/behind-the-scenes/
A means to explore feminine iconography and identity within popular culture
Rachelle Beaudoin
http://www.rachellebeaudoin.com/bio#tbm=isch&q=rachial+bodwin
Dara Birnbaum
Wonder Woman (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMG-QCJVsE
Pipiloti Rist
Ever is overall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gd06ukX-rU
FYI - Beyonce vs Pipiloti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V7tQwnJQEo
A medium for the body to express/extend itself
Camille Utterback http://camilleutterback.com/
Bruce Nauman
Interview: "Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear"
http://www.art21.org/videos/short-bruce-nauman-poke-in-the-eye-nose-ear
A tool for reshaping architecture
600 YEARS OF PRAGUE CLOCK TOWER - Tomato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4LVEAiZJyg
Unknown artists - big commercial/state projects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWi44jKQUjc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrtccYX_jEA
A dance/sound and performance partner
Liz Phillips- Excerpts from Roulette Performance (2012)
Liz Phillips – Echo Location – multiple projectors and sound sources
Laurie Anderson - O Superman (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfpi2H8tOE
Charles Atlas/Leigh Bowery - Mrs Peanut Visits New York (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlezo0o3GwY
Charles Atlas/Leigh Bowery – Teach (1997?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SkOZpItvlM
Thomas Redoldner - Sunny Afternoon (2012) https://vimeo.com/40400636
Marina Abramović
http://www.art21.org/videos/segment-marina-abramovic-in-history
A part of a ceremony/meditation
Mary Lucier Procession – (2012)
Bruce Nauman - Anthro/Socio (1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD7U5mcEepU
A lens for surveying surveillance
Julia Scher – Predictive Engineering
https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/julia-scher-predictive-engineering/
Film… but also sculpture
Matthew Barney - Interview on Cremaster (1994 – 2002) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJfI1LRK0tc (Goto 3:40)
Cremaster Cycle Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqQNJvpV8eU
Cremaster 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0eHHJzk1uo
An emotional object
Camille Utterback Potent Objects 2003 http://camilleutterback.com/projects/potent-objects/ (see also Tony Oursler)
A technology for observing the body's collision with technology
Klaus vom Bruch,
Propeller Tape (1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF8ZPoJis9w
Azimut (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnYL0jjAHlM
http://www.liatberdugo.com/switch
As a means of Immersion
Anthony McCall
Five Minutes of Pure Sculpture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FDLc2HbAY
Ryoji Ikeda
WARNING : A very small percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns in this artists work.
The radar – interview – play first
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU140hHeb4A
Test pattern
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwjlYpJCBgk
data.path
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPGkJabeib0
THE TRANSFINITE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omDK2Cm2mwo
Micro Macro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE1b8uHmjq8
Kurt Hentschläger and Ulf Langheinrich / Granular Synthesis
Modell 5 (1996) - https://vimeo.com/43744967
Notte Digitale 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJoMVp17WYc
A capture device for exploring phenomena
Rodney Graham
Coruscating Cinnamon Granules (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a3rt3HnsFs
Torqued Chandelier Release (1997)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg5ojNRLgtI
Lobbing potatoes at a gong (poor quality – multi generation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXUHZQbkog8
https://vimeo.com/dennishlynsky
A disembodied eye for viewing unscripted magic
Megan and Murray McMillan
Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/channels/meganandmurrray
Blog: http://www.meganandmurraymcmillan.com/blog/
observation: http://andreazampitella.com/?p=287
A way examining/suspending time
Christian Marclay - The Clock (2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB3CgEnxnYY
Bill Domonkos
His tumbler - http://billdomonkos.tumblr.com/
His web site - http://www.bdom.com/
Stop and Go (note these are GIFS!!!!!) - http://billdomonkos.tumblr.com/smART
Gary Hill (Interview)
https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/gary-hill-doesnt-miss-a-beat/
Bruce Nauman:
Interview: "Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear" http://www.art21.org/videos/short-bruce-nauman-poke-in-the-eye-nose-ear
a screen for revealing the cliché that is Hollywood… or is it humanity??
Bruce & Norman Yonemoto – Made in Hollywood (1990)
Bruce & Norman Yonemoto – The Vault (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fza8Wq_uzg
A means of provoking performance
Vito Acconci (Situation maker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_dqT-XeIjA (not a video piece – but important for the following)
Theme Song , Part 1 of 4 (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAf6zKRb1wI
Undertone (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xkRgDz-0Sk
A kind of magical method for blurring the line between Virtual and Physical
Jam Jar Fairies
Theatre Book - Macbeth is an augmented reality pop-up book that brings 'the Scottish play' to life with miniature projection mapping.
Alchimie de Courvoisier - Projected Paper Diorama
The Hunter (Theatrical Installation)
******Peepboardpleasure
****Ophelia’s Ghost
****Starkers
Also - Gabriel Barcia Colombo - People in Jars
TED - https://www.ted.com/talks/gabriel_barcia_colombo_capturing_memories_in_video_art
Site - http://www.gabebc.com/
A way of discovering and remaking rhythms
Renaud Hallee
Gravity (2009)
Combustion (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhmWsN8GB_c
Dan Tapper
Changing Signals (2013)
Steina and Woody Vasulka
Noisefields (1974) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbn00MgqURk
A laboritory for experimenting with new forms of narrative
Eija-Liisa Ahtila The House - 1 and 2 (2003)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4vwi5_the-house-eija-liisa-ahtila-1_creation
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4w98d_the-house-eija-liisa-ahtila-2_creation
Steina and Woody Vasulka
Golden Voyage (1973) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUGVZ7ROFmM
Scan Processor Studies by Woody Vasulka & Brian O’Reilly (featuring the Rutt Etra video synthesizer)
http://thefoxisblack.com/2009/12/01/scan-processor-studies-by-woody-vasulka-brian-oreilly/
Documentary on Steina and Woody " Binary Lives *Steina and Woody Vasulka - Peter Kirby / 1996"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYyR6EWbPC0
A Vehicle for addressing issues of language and sign
Bill Seaman
Martha Rosler: "Semiotics of the Kitchen" (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm5vZaE8Ysc
Barbara Kruger - New York Windows
A means of reimagining spaces and places and things
Kit Webster
Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJBzKb3kMPI
DATAFLUX (2008)
Enigmatica Mars (2009)
Mécaniques Discursives - Fred Penelle & Yannick Jacquet (2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xjT0kIDOms
Némo Biennale, Paris (2015)
Mécaniques Discursives at Renaissance Lille 3000 (2014)
A short documentary
BOX , Bot and Dolly - (2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX6JcybgDFo
The making of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ajXJ3nj1Q
Real-time face tracking & Projection Mapping
A delicate dance that interweaves animation and installation
Ondrej Rudavsky
NEW STUFF YET TO BE CATAGORIZED
https://laughingsquid.com/projection-mapped-music-video-for-royals-2pac-beck-mashup-by-pomplamoose/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7X8ZnmLfM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm3ZEMQf98k