"The Cultural Logic of Video" by Maureen Turim

The essay starts out questioning the relationship of cultural forms and their "logic" or functioning and goes on to ask what cultural logic does an artistic practice embody today. The logic can be presented as an active figure or passively, they can both be equally seductive but formalists often deny either an active or passive relationship with artwork. It discusses postmodernism and Lyotard who defined the ideas of legitimation and delegitmation. Lyotard strategically updates and reworks an analysis of avant-gardes and of the sublime. The reading moves on to David Antin and his views on video. He was discussing it in its early stages and said that it was in a "pleasantly shabby technical state" although later it has become much more refined. It mentions that in terms of video the singular element of psychoanalysis has been narcissism, citing Krauss and her idea of the camera and monitor as electronic mirrors. The essay states justifications for both sides of the question it introduced at the beginning.

Yet again we are introduced to this view of video being a narcissistic medium and again I'd be inclined to agree. Video is very much an exploration of self, either through the viewing of another individual or yourself through a live feed. With cameras and monitors acting as mirrors it is easy to see the connection.


A question that might come about from this reading might be how do you feel your personal video work fits into the active or passive logic debate introduced by Turim?

"Performance, Video, and Trouble in the Home" by Kathy O'Dell

The article starts by describing the popular 1950s television show "The Honeymooners"as performance art. It goes on to justify the statement by referencing the steps it made in redefining gender roles within the bounds of marriage. The show was also very performative in that it was it dealt heavily with the idea of the body, from the home structure to the actual physical qualities of the main character. The body later became one of the main focal points in not only performance but also video art. It says that identification is a multilevel process that involves both the viewer and the viewed. It mentions that "I" is very subjective and differs from person to person and cites artists such as Dan Graham who used this ideology in their works. O'Dell argues that performance art often links us to our home environments due to its importance on the human body which referenced the domestic site.

The idea of a mask is brought up and its significance to the idea of self identification. The types of masks have changed over time, from the medieval caricature masks to the modern day masks that are primarily to disguise identity, specifically recalling Joan Jonas's "Vertical Roll" where she wears a translucent mask at times in order to hide her real appearance only to reveal it later pointing out the unrealistic qualities of the mask.

Obviously the idea of the mask is very fascinating to me. The presence of this object that both reflects the features of the human face as well as augmenting it at the same time is a very powerful tool. It can disguise identity, highlight a quality, be a caricature to emphasize uniqueness, etc. I think that it is a relatively untapped area of video art. With the exception of a few famous artists like Jonas, masks have not staked a big claim in video art which is very surprising to me since it is a medium that is so heavy on the self and identity.

A question I would pose is what are some other ways that masks could be introduced into the field to further utilize their meaning?