Performance Video

Performance Video Unit - notes by Bob Cotton 19/11/09 November 19, 2009

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Performance Video Unit - notes by Bob Cotton 19/11/09

“Your task is to produce a short performance combining video and audio to be shown as part of an evening extravaganza.”

“performance video”

definitions:

video of performance art

Performance Art grew out of various 20th Century avant garde activities - Cabaret Voltaire was perhaps the beginning of this form of artistic activity (Zurich 1916)…the Bauhaus foundation course in the 1920s encouraged experimentation in this area, artists in the 1920s and 1930s included performance in their work - Kurt Schwitters, Andre Breton and others are examples.

However the recent roots of performance art are in the 1950s and 1960s when Al Hansen, John Cage, Nam June Paik, David Tudor, George Brecht, Yoko Ono and other FLUXUS group members developed a form called the ‘Happening’ - interesting for digital media students is the fact that Happenings included elements of:

scripting

chance

multiple media

live performance

audience participation

location

many of the concerns of current digital art were being explored by this pre-digital group of artists.

definitions of Performance Art:

“A form of theatrical art featuring the activity of the artist and works presented in a variety of media.” - (Answers.com)

“Performance art has origins in Futurism and Dada, but became a major phenomenon in the 1960s and 1970s and can be seen as a branch of Conceptual art. …” (Tate)

Performance art is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. …(Wiki)

video used in a performance - Video Art

Video Art also grew from the Sixties, when artists like Nam June Paik began exploring the newly available portable video camera systems introduced by Sony and others (Sony Portapak, 1967). During the late 1950s and 1960s artists also began to incorporate Television sets/monitors and other mass-consumer electronics in their work - look at Wolf Vostell and EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology) - the group that famously included Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Kluver. But other artists, including Nam June Paik, Bruce Nauman, Joan Jonas, Andy Warhol, and Fred Forest, are more synonymous with the form.

Video art can encompass both performance and installation - and more recently the use of projectors in different locations (like Moth TV).

A step-change in the public-awareness of multiscreen audio-visual art came with the fovcus of the Expo67 in Montreal, where artists from Europe, Canada and the US explored the idea of presenting complex messages and emotions through the programmed projection of multiple images (many using the then new Kodak Carousel slide projectors). At the same show, large-format projection systems (precursors to iMax) and interactive formats were presented.

The impact of Expo67 was felt briefly in the Movies - The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison, 1968) and Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1970 - the film of the festival) both used multi-image (‘multiscreen’) techniques to create a more immersive effect.

In the 1970s Video-Walls (racks of TV monitors displaying single and multiple images) began to be used in video art as well as commercial video installations for events like product launches, Expos and the like.

“Video Art” definitions

Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. (It should not however be confused with television or experimental cinema). Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations. (Wikipedia)

Video installation is a contemporary art method that combines video technology with installation art. It is an art form that utilizes all aspects of its surrounding environment as a vehicle of affecting the audience. Its origins tracing back to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has increased in popularity as the means of digital video production have become more readily accessible. Today, video installation is ubiquitous, visible in a range of environments–from galleries and museums to an expanded field that includes site-specific work in urban or industrial landscapes. Popular formats include monitor work, projection, and performance. The only requirements are electricity and darkness. (Wikipedia)

3. video used in/or of a stage performance — theatrical, musical,

The third interpretation of ‘performance video’ is that of video used in a live performance on stage - interesting examples of this include the famous Pink Floyd ‘The Wall’ (1979):

Pink Floyd: The Wall (1979) - stage set with screens

large-scale animations by Gerald Scarfe

Fura del Baus theatre company: Metamorfosis 2006

Faustian drama with choreographed video interventions with live actors…

Project Briefing November 12, 2009

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Below are a few of the things that Liam and I showed at the briefing today for those of you that missed it.

We showed a varied selection of things that might be of interest and suggest an area that you may wish to work in The important thing to take from this is that we are looking for innovative approaches to performance, it can be audio/music, video performance, VJaying, live streaming/broadcast, or something social-network related?

Messa di Voce: “Pitchpaint”