1. Using relevant examples, discuss how the development of video as an art form has altered the way the viewer experiences art. (30) Video art come into existence in during the 1960s. Video art is a new art form which relies on moving pictures and is comprised of video and audio data. What distinguishes this form of new media from traditional media is not the digitising of media content into bits, but the dynamic life of the “new media” content and its interactive relationship with the viewers.
This dynamic life, moves, breathes and flows with pulsing excitement in real time.However, video art are varied and strived beyond entertainment, they may simply explore the boundaries of the medium or to rigorously attack the viewer’s expectations of video as shaped by conventional cinema. New and expanded opportunities opened up for video artists with the invention of Sony Portapak, a portable videotape recorder that allowed instant playback.
The portability of the camera allows recording to be done in any sites not just in a recording studio, and thus opening up vast possibilities in terms of creating content and experimenting with moving images.The accessibility of video cameras encourages more people to explore this medium and the technology- savvy may be able to relate to it better. The instant playback function provides immediacy and control over the image, since it records and shows on the screen what the camera sees in real time and allows immediate review of the work.
Manipulation and editing can be done at later stage to enhance the effects of the work, adding surreal feel to the replication of the real setting.The new medium of video explored by different artists like Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and Gary Hill offers viewers a whole new experience of art, tailored to meet their artistic intentions. Nam June Paik is a Korean artist, who started his career as a musician.
Being s bold early experimenter with video, he has a great influence in imagining and realizing the artistic potential of video and television. Paik’s works includes installations with videos, television productions, films and performances.To Nam June Paik, television was not a defined and limited medium but was interactive and a kind of performance object with which he could perform through his imagination and rage against conformity. He therefore experimented with the television sets. One example is, Magnet TV. In this work, Paik made use of powerful, externally mounted electromagnets to manipulate electrons within the television set.
In doing so, the process produced a continuously morphing display of abstract lines and shapes on the television screen.For traditional mediums such as paintings and sculptures, viewers have to passively view the stationary images, to gather the insights of the work. Whereas, in the Magnet TV, the large magnet outside the television can be moved to change the image and create abstract patterns of light, thus offering the viewers opportunities to actively interact with the work. Hence, unlike traditional mediums, the work yields a new visual experience through its ability to morph based on circumstances.Through the sophisticated, radical treatment, Paik transform an ordinary television set into a performance object capable of engaging the audience and inviting their participation. ^^ Humanising Technology 1.
In 1964, Paik moved to New York, and began working with classical cellist Charlotte Moorman, to combine his video, music, and performance. In the work TV Cello (1971), the pair stacked televisions on top one another, so that they formed the shape of an actual cello. Affixed to this creation was the neck, string and bridge of a real cello, and together with electronic pickups, it was playable.
