Video Spaces

Eight Video Installations at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

When portable video cameras and recorders reached the consumer market in the mid-1960s, artists suddenly had access to a medium that had been the exclusive domain of commercial broadcasters. The mavericks who gravitated towards video recognized a wide open area with promising artistic potential. Every enhancement in the camera or tape deck was an occasion for passionate debate and further discovery. Fueled by this energy, video exploded in many different directions. When video merged with such disciplines as architecture, sculpture, and performance, a dynamic new art form was created: the video installation.

In recent years video installation and video sculpture have emerged as the most fertile forms of video art. By releasing the image from a single screen and embedding it in an environment, artists have extended their installations in time and space. The works envelop the viewer, who moves around and through them. Engulfed by the assemblage of temporal parts, the process of looking is as much about the physical experience as the composite memories that live on in the mind. The installations illustrate the dissolution of the seriality of time that characterizes the late twentieth century. The following installations were at view at the Museum of Modern Art from June 22 to September 12, 1995.

Description of Works

Judith Barry and Brad Miskell (New York). HardCell, 1994.

Figure 1.

Judith Barry and Brad Miskell, HardCell, 1994. Photo: Courtesy Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York.

HardCell is like a cyborg made up of second-hand parts. It looks as if an entity from outer space has just crash-landed in a dumpster and is crawling out. Disembodied fragments of monologues and bits of computer code stream across its computer screens. This folksy creature promotes a comfortable feeling with technology, but at the same time it calls into question the current predilection for an all-out embrace. [As an artist and writer, Judith Barry has actively explored video and theory for twenty years. Her work has been shown extensively in North America. Brad Miskell is a New York artist and writer.]

Stan Douglas (Vancouver). Evening, 1994.

Figure 2.

Stan Douglas, Evening, 1994. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery, New York.

Evening considers American television of the late 1960s, when stations began to be less concerned with the editorial character of their newscasts than with enhancing the anchors’ stardom. The installation centers around WCSL, in Chicago, which is based on the station that initiated the concept of “happy news,” and two other fictional networks in that city. The stations are represented by three large video projections, side by side against a long wall. Using archival clips, Douglas follows nine developing news stories from 1969 and 1970. The newscasters, played by actors, read material scripted by the artist. The anchors begin in unison with “Good evening, this is the evening news,” then proceed with their separate reports. They wear uniform happy faces, no matter how horrid or entertaining the events they cover. Between reports of the trial of the Chicago Seven, the Vietnam War, the investigation into the murder of local Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, the stations’ directors cut between human-interest stories and bantering among the anchors. This is “infotainment,” before there was a word for it. [Stan Douglas is an artist who lives in Vancouver. His work has been seen at the last Documenta, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and in numerous one-person exhibitions in Canada.]

Teiji Furuhashi (Kyoto). Lovers, 1994.

Furuhashi’s life-sized dancers in Lovers are drained of life. Projected onto the black walls of a square gallery, the naked figures have a specter-like quality. Their movements are simple; they gracefully walk and run. Their repetitive actions become familiar. It is a surprise when two translucent bodies come together in a virtual embrace. This is more of an overlap than a touch. These ostensible lovers are not physically involved. [Teiji Furuhashi is a co-founder of Dumb Type, an internationally recognized arts collective based in Kyoto. The group...