Video art is a thoroughly post-modern art form and a relatively new medium in the history of art, and as such is still establishing its validity as an art form. Video art is a time-based medium of the moving image, often also incorporating audio (although not always the case). It is different to cinema, experimental film and television, in that it doesn't not necessarily have a narrative, characters, dialogue, discernible subject matter, follow a linear or logical pattern or events. The intent of video art also defines the difference from these more 'traditional' media (film or television).
Video art can be shown as a single-channel (one video shown on a single screen, TV or projection), multi-channel (multiple screens) or installation (incorporating screens or projections in an installation environment or sculptural sense).
The great potential of the medium means that video art can be almost anything. It can explore and push the limitations of the medium (Peter Campus, Nam June Paik, Bill Viola), it can document performance or body art (Bruce Nauman, Chris Burden), it can tell a great tale (Matthew Barney, Angela Dufresne, Christian Marclay), it can make political statements or social commentary (Pipilotti Rist, Soda_Jerk), it can simply be a beautiful moving image, and the list can go on.
The term 'video art' comes from the analogue video tape technology used at its inception, and is still the name given to this art form even though most video artists now use digital technology.
Fluxus, an avant garde art group in the early to mid 1960s, included early video artists, performance artists and experimental film artists such as Yoko Ono and Wolf Vostell. These avant garde artists had been using film technology to create moving pictures, but it wasn't until the commercial release of the Sony Portapak in 1965 did we see the first noted instance of video art. (This is contentious depending on the source, for example German conceptual artist Wolf Vostell claimed to have been using TV sets in his installations since 1958, and the Sony Portapak is said to have not been released until 1967). Film equipment was heavy, it was expensive and film required developing, whereas with the Sony Portapak video camera, it was lightweight, inexpensive and immediate, the video could be watched straight away.
The first instance of video art was when Nam June Paik, Korean-born American artist, filmed Pope Paul VI's procession through NYC in 1965, and screened it later that afternoon in a local cafe. Paik was also known to use TVs and closed circuit television technologies in his installations.
Paik, along with other seminal early video artists such as Peter Campus, tended to explore the possibilites of the technology, for example using magnets to distort the TV image (Paik) or superimposing images (Campus). Both continued to work with video and new media technologies throughout their career.
Compilation of Nam June Paik's early experimental works on YouTube
Teaser of Peter Campus' video works from 1971-76 on Vimeo
"Wipe Cycle was first exhibited at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York in 1969 ("TV as a Creative Medium"). It consisted of nine monitors whose displays were controlled by synchronized cycle patterns of live and delayed feedback, broadcast television, and taped programming shot by Gillette and Schneider with portable equipment." (N3krozoft.com)
Early video art was also used as a means of documenting performance or body art. Or to comment critically on mass media and television culture. Such as in the art of American artists Bruce Nauman and Vito Acconci.
Further References:
A documentary on early experimentations in video art, titled The New Wave.
Part 1
Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6
I highly recommend taking a look at 50 Great Works of Video Art compiled by Flovorwire.
Video art can be shown as a single-channel (one video shown on a single screen, TV or projection), multi-channel (multiple screens) or installation (incorporating screens or projections in an installation environment or sculptural sense).
The great potential of the medium means that video art can be almost anything. It can explore and push the limitations of the medium (Peter Campus, Nam June Paik, Bill Viola), it can document performance or body art (Bruce Nauman, Chris Burden), it can tell a great tale (Matthew Barney, Angela Dufresne, Christian Marclay), it can make political statements or social commentary (Pipilotti Rist, Soda_Jerk), it can simply be a beautiful moving image, and the list can go on.
The term 'video art' comes from the analogue video tape technology used at its inception, and is still the name given to this art form even though most video artists now use digital technology.
Fluxus, an avant garde art group in the early to mid 1960s, included early video artists, performance artists and experimental film artists such as Yoko Ono and Wolf Vostell. These avant garde artists had been using film technology to create moving pictures, but it wasn't until the commercial release of the Sony Portapak in 1965 did we see the first noted instance of video art. (This is contentious depending on the source, for example German conceptual artist Wolf Vostell claimed to have been using TV sets in his installations since 1958, and the Sony Portapak is said to have not been released until 1967). Film equipment was heavy, it was expensive and film required developing, whereas with the Sony Portapak video camera, it was lightweight, inexpensive and immediate, the video could be watched straight away.
The first instance of video art was when Nam June Paik, Korean-born American artist, filmed Pope Paul VI's procession through NYC in 1965, and screened it later that afternoon in a local cafe. Paik was also known to use TVs and closed circuit television technologies in his installations.
Nam June Paik, Magnet TV, 1965, television set and magnet, black and white, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Photo by Robert E. Mates
Paik, along with other seminal early video artists such as Peter Campus, tended to explore the possibilites of the technology, for example using magnets to distort the TV image (Paik) or superimposing images (Campus). Both continued to work with video and new media technologies throughout their career.
Compilation of Nam June Paik's early experimental works on YouTube
Teaser of Peter Campus' video works from 1971-76 on Vimeo
Frank Gillette and Ira Schneider, Wipe Cycle, 1969
"Wipe Cycle was first exhibited at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York in 1969 ("TV as a Creative Medium"). It consisted of nine monitors whose displays were controlled by synchronized cycle patterns of live and delayed feedback, broadcast television, and taped programming shot by Gillette and Schneider with portable equipment." (N3krozoft.com)
Early video art was also used as a means of documenting performance or body art. Or to comment critically on mass media and television culture. Such as in the art of American artists Bruce Nauman and Vito Acconci.
Further References:
A documentary on early experimentations in video art, titled The New Wave.
Part 1
Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6
I highly recommend taking a look at 50 Great Works of Video Art compiled by Flovorwire.
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