When the video camera become available and fell into the
hands of artists. Some of the first things they did was to record relatively
simple actions. Snapping tree branches, mooching around their
studios and so on.
These actions carried on and the camera became smaller and
cheaper and the camcorder became the means for artists to record things like
trekking through their bedroom (Lucy
Gunning) dancing in the street (Gillian
Wearing) or autobiographies (Tracey
Emin.)
What the camcorder seemed to offer was a certain type of
freedom, allowing artists to catch phenomena or actions. A new spontaneity was
offered, have camera will art.
Didn’t it?
Trying to think of recent video works which didn’t show
either documentation of actions or wasn’t plonked down and let run. Maybe I need
to see better video work.
This thinking was trigged by seeing the work of Li Binyuan
at the CFCCA Manchester. His exhibition Social
Behaviours features a number of performative actions captured by
smartphone.
Simple actions simply captured.
While I understand everything is more complex then it
appears. Some of the actions presented, cartwheeling across a bridge, jumping
in time to the rhythm of a passing train, flicking a lighter, remind me of
those early video works. Press record and go.
It’s probably a falsehood but I can’t help but imagine
Binyuan reaching into his pocket. Pulling out his phone putting it on a steady
surface and getting on with it. I guess it appeals to the sense that art is a spontaneous
reaction to the world.
Also it’s not just the videos, it is also how the videos
have been curated. The videos are displayed in ways which complement the actions
within them. For example Signal where
the artist attempts to light a lighter in time with the flashing lights of a
tower block is projected across two screens. Thereby creating a sense of
distance. Similarly in Exercise 47mins
featuring the artist apparently making trees sway by blowing on them, this is
partly projected on a cloth which itself sways in sympathetic motion.
It’s a sympathetic curation which allows the themes and
playfulness of the videos to come through.
It’s what the videos show and the way that they have been
curated that prompted these thoughts on video art. That a certain expectation of
what video art is and how it could be shown has been set. That for the last
thirty of more years a convention of video work being shown on monitor or wall.
Echoing the tradition modes of cinema and television. Which was
often used by artists to promote a sense of familiarity and pulling the viewer
in.
The biggest change in galleries seems to be the move from monitors
to flat screens.
Theirs is also the question of why there hasn’t been a ‘second
wave’ of video artists. Given the availability of the technology and the
changes of that technology it’s a wonder we haven’t seen artists embrace it to
make and show art in new ways. Janet Cardiff has
employed this tech in this piece.
Maybe it just hasn't gotten into the gallery space, maybe it’s
up on YouTube. Maybe it’s a technology that artist are just understanding the possibilities
in their hands.
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