The Martha Rosler reading is another origin story of video art. It mentions the portable equipment becoming available in the 1960s and that the early uses were a critique of Western art institutions. Video was a tool for rebellious people to fight back against the system they were a part of. The writing is split up into four sections: Prehistory, History, Myth, and Conclusion. Prehistory discusses the technology of the past that was the predecessor video capabilities and the people of the time's interaction with them. History discusses the varying levels of legitimacy that video art has been viewed of having. Myth is primarily an attack on Nam June Paik. It basically sets up the notion that everything traditional video art history credits Paik with doing is incorrect. It alludes to him working within the mass media that he claimed to be fighting against and taking control of. It went on to praise McLuhan for being more focused on the powers of the artist and not on that of mass media. Conclusion summed up the information that was given throughout the reading.
This reading is more accusatory than the others so far. It makes claims like that mass media has power over western culture and that artists were fighting in almost a warlike scenario of "the culture industry versus the consciousness industry. The part that mainly grabbed my attention was the Myth portion. I wouldn't call myself a huge Paik fan (I barely knew of him until a few weeks ago) but I found myself feeling almost defensive of him while reading. The author discredits many of the accomplishment he is traditionally known for making in the field. She makes it sound like he wasn't successful at all in fighting against television and mass media. I think regardless of your personal opinion of his work, he should at least be credited with being one of the first artists to make this a central concept in his work and bring it to the forefront of the medium.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
"Introduction" and "Video Black--The Mortality of the Image"
The introduction's primarily purpose is to make the reader aware of the book's organization which was divided up into five groups. The History section focuses on the origin of the medium and the errors that come about from trying to declare one definitive history. The Furniture/Sculpture/Architecture section discusses the traditional devices that video art is shown on, like the television, and their purpose as a sculptural element, as well as discussing the locations that display the medium. Audience/Reception deals largely with the idea that despite video being a tool to capture a moment in time, it has plenty of room to misrepresent an event often by representing only "dominant ideologies." Syntax and Genre speaks to the formal aspects of a specific piece's properties and how it functions within the context of the field. Telling Stories seems to discuss how video has the power to express a certain meaning through its qualities.
Video Black starts off with an short anecdote to illustrate Viola's point which is that video by itself is not have the ability to do anything but mindlessly record and observe. He references sacred art and how the landscapes (which are physically "real") are much less important than the spiritual elements of the piece (which can't be confirmed as "real"). He mentions that "the inner and outer worlds have reversed their roles." Viola goes on to discuss that in video, time is the most important material. He mentions how fading to black is natural to humans because it mimics the blackness of our pupils and represents the idea of looking eye to eye while watching a piece.
Viola gives several examples of how video art, like all art, is not to be taken at face value. The religious art he referenced was a great example of how the literal landscape wasn't nearly as important as the spiritual elements of the piece, so much so that often times the landscape would be completely written out. The same can be said for video work; even though we are viewing something that may appear commonplace or "real" we must look past that and see the underlying message of the work. It gives you the opportunity to step into the artist's shoes and see things from their perspective. The idea of the fade to black being a reference to the pupil seemed like a stretch to me a first but the more I thought about it the more I realized that subconsciously I already acknowledged it in my traditional viewing practices. Perhaps I didn't feel that it was specifically the pupil but more so a blink or a final closing of the eyes before sleep; either of these ideologies seem to still fit with the general proposal that Viola offered. They form a bond between the eyes and the screen (which you are viewing with your eyes). This seems to veil the screen and bring on the feeling that you're witnessing these actions firsthand.
Video Black starts off with an short anecdote to illustrate Viola's point which is that video by itself is not have the ability to do anything but mindlessly record and observe. He references sacred art and how the landscapes (which are physically "real") are much less important than the spiritual elements of the piece (which can't be confirmed as "real"). He mentions that "the inner and outer worlds have reversed their roles." Viola goes on to discuss that in video, time is the most important material. He mentions how fading to black is natural to humans because it mimics the blackness of our pupils and represents the idea of looking eye to eye while watching a piece.
Viola gives several examples of how video art, like all art, is not to be taken at face value. The religious art he referenced was a great example of how the literal landscape wasn't nearly as important as the spiritual elements of the piece, so much so that often times the landscape would be completely written out. The same can be said for video work; even though we are viewing something that may appear commonplace or "real" we must look past that and see the underlying message of the work. It gives you the opportunity to step into the artist's shoes and see things from their perspective. The idea of the fade to black being a reference to the pupil seemed like a stretch to me a first but the more I thought about it the more I realized that subconsciously I already acknowledged it in my traditional viewing practices. Perhaps I didn't feel that it was specifically the pupil but more so a blink or a final closing of the eyes before sleep; either of these ideologies seem to still fit with the general proposal that Viola offered. They form a bond between the eyes and the screen (which you are viewing with your eyes). This seems to veil the screen and bring on the feeling that you're witnessing these actions firsthand.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
De-collage/Collage Reading
Right at the beginning of the reading it defined its thesis which was that video has been formed as an opposition to the dominant commercial television and as an international new form of art in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As it mentions in the thesis statement, TV had set the standard for video work both in the US and in Europe. When the portable videotape recorder and player became accessible in 1965 artists such as Nam June Paik and Wolf Vostell jumped on the new media and went on to set models of what video art was to be. Often times video pieces were ironically critical of things such as pop art, everyday gestures, and high society despite it's status as new technology. It became very much in tune with the anti-art movement Fluxus. "Happening events" that were large scale and involved an interaction with the space as a social environment became popular. Paik and Vostell above all else wanted their work to make the viewer question TV's hold on society and to create new tools out of video and television.
I agreed the reading very much. I personally feel that video art came about as a way to oppose mainstream media and television programming. To this day video art is usually focused on producing something that cannot be seen in everyday life even though you're usually viewing the same medium. This also ties in with the claim that it made about having critical agendas. Often in video pieces, a direct reference is made to conventional television, film, or everyday life and usually that is mocked or made light of in some form or another to point out the pitfalls of the traditional lifestyle.
I agreed the reading very much. I personally feel that video art came about as a way to oppose mainstream media and television programming. To this day video art is usually focused on producing something that cannot be seen in everyday life even though you're usually viewing the same medium. This also ties in with the claim that it made about having critical agendas. Often in video pieces, a direct reference is made to conventional television, film, or everyday life and usually that is mocked or made light of in some form or another to point out the pitfalls of the traditional lifestyle.
Some of my Video Work
This video is entitled "Alone." It was a reference to the classic horror movie motif: it had an isolated girl that the audience identifies with who is being taunted by an intruder on her property. The sound of a beating heart keeps the emotion of the piece after each frightful occurrence takes place, strengthening your connection with the female character.
This video, titled "Alone Parody," is meant to be played immediately following "Alone." Its purpose is to make light of the first video and the horror film genre as a whole. Also to demonstrate the complete change in emotion of the work when a few simple elements are altered.
They are broken up into two different pieces because they are both standalone works but the viewer can get the most out of my message when they are played together.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Screening 1/6/10
Vertical Roll by Joan Jonas was a unique piece. Horizontal bars of video interference were continuously falling down the screen distorting the images that we were viewing. to me it was a very feminist piece. A female body was displayed throughout the video in various ways. The sound of a spoon pounding kept the rhythm of the piece. At the end, a woman's face was displayed above the horizontal bars. The spoon sound was reminiscent of the traditional female role of cook in the kitchen and the bars continually falling on her head seemed to reference a "glass ceiling" which kept her from rising to the top of the screen.
Moby Dick I by Guy Ben-Ner was a hard piece to watch. A home movie aesthetic paired with no audio made it difficult to hold you interest. It depicted a family, lead by the father, that reenacts the "Moby Dick" novel. While watching I became a little confused at the mix of video editing tricks and basic home video recording. After a while the concept became lost to me.
Moby Dick I by Guy Ben-Ner was a hard piece to watch. A home movie aesthetic paired with no audio made it difficult to hold you interest. It depicted a family, lead by the father, that reenacts the "Moby Dick" novel. While watching I became a little confused at the mix of video editing tricks and basic home video recording. After a while the concept became lost to me.
About Me
My name is Adam Thomas. I'm a third year Digital Media major at UF. Video has always been my main interest in the field and I'm looking forward to exploring it further in this course. In my short catalog of video work, I am usually drawn to a "horror movie" aesthetic. I'm very much interested in the psychological reasons for why individuals enjoy being scared and I like to explore that in my work, either by way of trying to insight the emotion of fear through a piece or by juxtaposing a horror movie scene with an opposite emotional response like humor.
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