Video art, as distinct from theatrical cinema, diverges from many conventional cinematic norms, often eschewing actors, dialogue, narrative, and plot. This genre, which does not necessarily aim to entertain in a traditional sense, also sets itself apart from avant-garde cinema, short films, and experimental film.
The official birth of video art has been pinpointed as 1965. Among other video art events, in October 4, 1965, Korean-American artist Nam June Paik acquired the earliest Sony Portapak and recorded Pope Paul VI’s motorcade in New York. That same day, he screened the footage to friends at Café a Go-Go in Greenwich Village. While some dispute the exact details, it’s clear that Paik, alongside artists like Juan Downey, Frank Gillette, Les Levine, Ira Schneider, and Andy Warhol, played a pivotal role in the birth of video art in 1965.
The launch of the Sony Portapak democratized video production. Artists like Peter Campus and Joan Jonas explored new technologies, using video feedback and playback. Collectives such as Raindance, TVTV, and Videofreex produced alternative news and street tapes. Warhol documented happenings and performance art, while Paik used the video camera as a paintbrush and the TV screen as a canvas, heralding a new era in video art.
Technological advancements played a crucial role in the evolution of video art. The development of video synthesizers allowed artists like Steina and Woody Vasulka to create abstract works, exploring the formal qualities of video as an art form. In 1969, Ira Schneider and Frank Gillette’s “Wipe Cycle” was an early example of multi-channel video art, utilizing nine television screens to mix live footage, commercial television content, and pre-recorded tapes.
As video art evolved through the 1980s and beyond, artists began to explore new applications and sophisticated effects. This period saw the fusion of narrative, psychology, and anthropology, with video art reflecting and critiquing contemporary society. The accessibility of video editing software democratized the medium, allowing more artists to engage with it.
By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, artists like Pipilotti Rist, Tony Oursler, and Douglas Gordon expanded the possibilities of video art. Works like Marco Brambilla’s Civilization (2008) and Johan Grimonprez’s “Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y” used found footage to create complex narratives and social commentaries.
The medium continued to diversify with artists like Kalup Linzy and Ryan Trecartin, who brought new genres and techniques to video art. Linzy’s “Conversations Wit De Churen II: All My Churen” (2003) satirized soap operas, while Trecartin’s experimental videos explored contemporary culture through innovative editing and performance.
Video art has thus grown from its experimental roots in the 1960s to become a dynamic and multifaceted medium, continually evolving with technological advancements and changing cultural contexts.
For those of us working and creating in the digital art space, the slow growth and eventual cemented establishment of video art as a respected medium is especially heartening, considering the tools for making video art democratized several decades before computers.
Now let’s take a closer look at just a handful of some of the more prominent figures in the history of video art.
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik, widely regarded as the founder of video art, was a Korean American artist whose innovative work transformed the art world. Beginning in 1962, Paik was an active member of the avant-garde art movement Fluxus, which sought to blur the boundaries between different art forms as well as between artist and audience.
Paik was a pioneer in using television sets as a key component of his sculptures, creating elaborate stacks of video monitors and TV-based sculptures starting in the 1970s. One of his notable early exhibitions, Exposition of Music – Electronic Television in 1963, featured televisions scattered throughout the space with magnets distorting the images. Paik’s groundbreaking piece TV Cello, in collaboration with cellist Charlotte Moorman, combined video, music, and performance, showcasing his ability to merge different mediums into a cohesive artistic expression.
Paik is often hailed as a prophet of the digital age, foreseeing the profound impact of technology on society. His works, infused with humor and frenetic energy, include iconic pieces like a Buddha watching itself on a monitor, image-manipulating synthesizers, and robotic totems made of TV monitors.
Paik’s art aimed to challenge the passive consumption of mass media, encouraging viewers to take control and engage critically with technology. Throughout his career, Paik continued to innovate, culminating in works like Global Groove and Electronic Superhighway, which reflected his vision of a connected world. Paik’s legacy as a pioneer of electronic art remains influential, reminding us of the power and potential of media in the digital age.
Wolf Vostell
Wolf Vostell, a lesser-known founder of Fluxus, worked with TV sets as an artistic medium half a decade before Paik. Born in 1932 near Cologne, Germany, Vostell’s early experiences during World War II profoundly influenced his artistic vision. He introduced the concept of décollage (or, as he would later deconstruct the word itself, dé-coll/age) which involved creating art through the destruction or tearing away of existing images, contrasting sharply with the additive nature of collage.
His seminal work, The Black Room Cycle (1958), was among the first to integrate a television set into an artwork. Vostell’s 1963 piece, Sun In Your Head, is one of the earliest video artworks, showcasing his unique approach to video as a medium for collage-based image-making.
Vostell’s art often reflected a critical view of contemporary society and technology. Having experienced Nazi Germany as a child, he believed that art should confront and remind us of the past’s violence and destruction. This belief was evident in his works that incorporated rough concrete slabs, altered photographs, and disrupted broadcasts, often addressing themes of war and authoritarianism. His incorporation of television into art was both innovative and provocative, aiming to challenge the passive consumption of mass media. Vostell’s legacy is marked by his relentless exploration of media and technology’s impact on human consciousness, making him a crucial figure in the history of video art and multimedia installations.
TV-Dé-coll/age, no. 1 (pictured below) features a large, slashed-up white canvas. Through the gaps, viewers can peak at six static-ridden TV screens playing a mix of news montages and visual noise, making evident Vostell’s philosophy of reduction.
Andy Warhol
Celebrated master of Pop Art Andy Warhol was also a prolific filmmaker, creating over 400 films that span from minimalist works like Sleep and Blow Job to the epic The Chelsea Girls.
Warhol’s foray into filmmaking began in 1963 with the acquisition of his first film camera. His 1964 film Sleep, which runs for five hours and twenty minutes, features his lover John Giorno sleeping and exemplifies Warhol’s experimental approach to the medium. Described by Warhol as an “anti-film,” Sleep set the stage for other long-duration works like Empire, an eight-hour film of the Empire State Building. Warhol’s filmmaking captured the raw and dynamic cultural milieu of his time, blending art with personal and societal commentary.
Beyond his films, Warhol’s video work further expanded his exploration of the moving image. The Andy Warhol Museum houses an extensive collection of over 2,500 videotapes, including episodes of his television series Fashion, Andy Warhol’s T.V., and Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes. These works, along with his Factory Diaries, provide a comprehensive view of Warhol’s life and the vibrant artistic community that surrounded him.
Warhol’s films and videos are critical to understanding his influence on media and culture, capturing the essence of the Pop Art movement and reflecting his unique vision of contemporary society. His experimental techniques, such as the double-screen projection in Outer and Inner Space, showcase his ability to innovate and challenge conventional narratives, cementing his legacy as a pioneer in both visual and video art.
Chris Burden
Chris Burden, an American artist prominent in the late 1960s and 70s, was known for his daring performance, sculpture, and installation art. His video works often served as records of provocative performances.
One of his most infamous pieces, Shoot (1971), involved a friend shooting him in the arm with a small caliber rifle. Burden described the brief moment the bullet entered his body as a “living sculpture,” encapsulating the essence of his performance art. This piece, along with others like Five Day Locker Piece (1971), where he confined himself in a small locker for five days, and Trans-fixed (1974), where he was crucified to a Volkswagen Beetle, cemented his reputation for pushing the boundaries of art and physical endurance.
Burden’s work often explored themes of pain, danger, and the desensitizing effects of media. His performances highlighted the stark realities of violence and human suffering, forcing audiences to confront their own reactions to such experiences.
As his career progressed, Burden shifted from performance art to creating monumental sculptures and installations, yet his works continued to reflect social environments and technological advancements. Pieces like The Big Wheel (1979), a massive spinning flywheel powered by a motorcycle, and What My Dad Gave Me (2008), a towering skyscraper made from Erector set parts, showcased his innovative approach to art. Through his daring and often controversial pieces, Burden challenged conventional perceptions of art and its role in society, leaving a lasting impact on the art world.
Dan Graham
Dan Graham was a pioneering artist whose work spanned performance, video, and architectural installations. From the late 1960s into the late 70s, Graham shifted his focus toward performance art, using video as an extension of his body to explore phenomenological experiences. His 1969 film Sunset to Sunrise, where he moved the camera opposite to the sun’s path, exemplifies his conceptual inversion of time and set the tone for his subsequent works.
Graham’s performances were often recorded on video, systematically interrogating the nature of perception and the relationship between the viewer and the viewed. One of his most notable works, Performer/Audience/Mirror (1975), delves into the dynamics of subjectivity and objectivity by having Graham interact with both a live audience and his own reflection in a mirror, creating a complex feedback loop of self-perception.
Graham’s later works continued to explore the interplay between viewer, performer, and environment. His architectural pavilions, incorporating two-way mirrors, highlighted how our surroundings structure our perception. These structures allowed light to enter while maintaining privacy, reflecting Graham’s ongoing interest in the immediate past and the role of reflective surfaces. His installations, such as the Time Delay Room (1974), used video technology to alter the viewer’s bodily experience, creating environments where time-delayed video projections disoriented and engaged audiences in new ways.
Graham’s video documentaries, including Rock My Religion (1983-84) and Minor Threat (1983), further showcased his ability to blend cultural critique with art, examining the social implications of rock music and youth subcultures. Through his diverse body of work, Graham left an indelible mark on contemporary art, continually challenging and expanding the boundaries of perception and representation.
Shigeko Kubota
Shigeko Kubota, often referred to as ‘the mother of video art,’ was a New York-based visual artist, curator, and writer from Japan, and a key figure in the Fluxus movement. Born in Niigata, Japan, in 1937, Kubota’s early life was steeped in artistic influence, with a Nanga painter grandfather, a music teacher mother, and a dancer aunt.
After studying sculpture at Tokyo University of Education, Kubota moved to New York City in 1964, disappointed by the lack of interest in avant-garde art in Japan. She quickly became an integral part of the Fluxus art scene, known for her groundbreaking performance Vagina Painting (1965), where she attached a paintbrush to her underwear and painted with movements evocative of traditional Japanese geisha calligraphy, making a feminist statement on the masculine-dominated field of abstract expressionism.
Kubota’s video-based work began in earnest after she reviewed the TV as a Creative Medium exhibition at Howard Wise Gallery in 1969. Captivated by the potential of video, she started developing her own practice, eventually co-founding the feminist video collective Red, White, Yellow & Black in 1972.
Her work was divided into video diaries and video sculptures. Her video diaries captured raw and edited footage from her personal life, leveraging the portability and accessibility of the Sony Portapak camera. Kubota’s video sculptures, which integrated video into three-dimensional forms, became iconic, notably her Duchampiana series, inspired by Marcel Duchamp. Her work Nude Descending a Staircase (1976) was acquired by MoMA in 1981, the first video sculpture in their collection, paving the way for the museum’s curatorial department dedicated to multimedia and performance art. Kubota’s innovative blending of video, sculpture, and performance has left a lasting impact on the development of the moving image in contemporary art.
Join us next week for Parts II (1980s–2000s) and III (web3 and AI)!
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