Reaction 4: Fluxus

I'm always kind of shocked at how limited art was early on; how little merging there was between each art form.

I like how participatory Kaprow's happenings were, but I don't really think of them as "art", per se; more like a kind of game due to its unaesthetic and participatory nature. I do think that it's interesting how he mapped out each happening like a score of music; specifically timing each section of his performance, much like John Cage.

I thought it was amusing that the artists went as far to make the "flux pills" and make "flux cooporative housing". In addition with the "flux hall", I feel that the movement was very closed-off and that without the public's influence, flux went off by itself and spiraled into a very weird movement.

I admire their idea of giving the public access to their "art"; especially with the audience-participatory acts, I think it seems very fun.

In some ways, the entire fluxus movement reminds me of something young children would do on their own; send funny things through the mail, record themselves doing weird things, make games, eat jello off of furniture and cars, play with matches, whack a piano.

Reunion Documentary

I thought it was interesting that the man was obviously so involved in his memories and yet the person he talked to had never heard of fluxus.

I don't like how all of the composers and artists dedicate their work towards each other; it adds to the feeling of the fluxus movement being cut-off and a fringe act.

Reaction 3: John Cage

After playing flute classically for 10 years, I have heard a lot about John Cage; mostly about 4:33. However, I never realized that in addition to composing, Cage dabbled in so many other art forms. Having now learned about his work in composition and musical performance, I wonder if his art reflects the same elements; changing the use of something to make a whole new tool. Besides his art, though, I was very impressed by Cage's stoicism during performance. In the Paik tribute, you can literally feel the tension of the people staring at Cage, wondering what in the world he's doing sitting there with the stopwatch and the closed piano lid and asking each other when the music will start. Cage, however, sits there like a statue; seemingly immune to the doubt and skepticism going on around him.

The first thing I noticed about John Cage was how happy he was about what he does. I never realized what he was trying to do via his music; "to begin to like what we dislike makes the world more open". After hearing this, I became much more appreciative of his art. It was shocking that Cage started so early in his life to move away from the conventional approach to music; the music he composed for the dancer, "In the Name of the Holocaust" was already very indicative of what he would later move on to do. However, much of his work does not speak to me. Maybe it's because I have a preconcieved notion of what music is, ingrained by my classical flute playing, but much of his work does not appeal to me as much as his pure intention does. However, John Cage was also classically trained; it makes me wonder how he can separate his instinct from this training apart from his completely unharmonious composition.

Entlastungen Pipilottis Fehler

Entlastungen Pipilottis Fehler

The stop-start kind of imagery taken at such a close-up that it’s impossible to tell what’s going on and what the images actually are in combination with the scales in the background give an interesting effect. The held note in combination with the freeze-frame was also interesting, and was a good leadup to the shocking images and creepy voice on the black screen. I do wish I could understand what she was saying, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to get the full effect of the video. The emotions the girl shows and the way the video warps her face is very strange, but it gives an interesting effect; the rainbow-greenish static crossing the screen in front of the falling girls seems like it has some connection to the voice and music; the timing is very similar. The striped shirts of the mimes also seem like they have some connection with the static. This sort of experimental video isn’t anything I’ve ever seen before, and I still think it’s a very strange concept. Her juxtaposition of unreal and graphic images with the realistic ones are very reminiscent of the sound of the piece; the voice and the strange crashing sounds.

Reaction: William Wegman, Bill Viola, Michael O'Reilly

William Wegman
I was really amused that William Wegman ended up doing such “safe” art for calendars and etc, after seeing his early video work. His work is hilarious and kind of strange; very different than the work of his that we see now. My favorite clip was probably the singing stomach; I’m guessing all of the people who watch that video go home an try it. His videos also remind me a little of some of the youtube comedians that are around now. They’re also gross at times, and make you wonder what kind of thought process led to such strange videos. I think his work fit well into the short clip of dog baseball he made for sesame street.

Bill Viola
I like Viola's work much less than Wegman's; due to its experimental nature, I find it unsettling and sort of confusing. The first video; him sitting on a couch and screaming intermittently; reminds me of Silent Hill. I don't really understand what he was trying to portray.

Michael O' Reilly
I like the narration overlayed with the tones, illustrating the story. The different voices make the narrator's description of his hallucinations and difficulty understanding apparent to the viewer, and the way he speaks; first-person and robotically; enhances the feeling of empathy. It's also interesting how he connected the images with the narration even if they are not overtly related; the part about lowering the mask while the images are of a blender's lid closing. I also was interested by how most images are taken so close-up that it's at first hard to tell what's going on unless you listen to the narration at the same time.

Video Art Notes

4 Major areas of video art
Video Installations; extended sculptural formats through the use of video technology
Live and prerecorded video; video is either prerecorded and played back on a transcription device, or captured on-site and processed and projected in a live setting.
Image-processed video; utilize synthesizers like the one developed by nam jun paik to alter the video waveform electronically.
A video which usually contains a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events throughout its running time.

Charles P. Ginsberg; first to research and develop the first practical Video Tape Recorder (1951). Converted information to electrical impulses; converted onto magnetic tape.
In 1965, Sony introduced the first video player for home use. Betamax; pre- VCR

Artists started using video as a media; First exhibition exploring video’s possibility was “TV as a Creative Medium” with 12 artists including Nam June Paik.
Exhibited May 1969
Many were interactive and participatory; Wipe Cycle transposed present-time demand to disrupt video’s flow of information.

-Nam Jun Paik; father of video art
Also interested in music and performance; started to add video to this
Collaborated with Charlotte Moorman, a cellist. Added video to her body and to cellos

Brian Eno; “I see video as a picture medium rather than a narrative medium. Video for me is a way of configuring light, just as painting is a way of configuring paint.”
Thursday Afternoon- required viewer interaction; had to turn television onto its side

Mid- 80’s; PXL-2000 became popular; $100 home-video maker, geared towards children. Commercial flop, but resurfaced a decade later as the choice tool for many video artists
Sadie Benning; first artist to become known for using Pixelvision. Started at 16; father bought her a camera. Started to use camera for a video diary
Michael O’Reilly; glass jaw, used toy keyboard and pixelvision to document his experiences with healthcare

Pipilotti Rist; Swiss- based video artist; started out as punk rock musician. Incorporates teenage angst and unrequited love into her pieces, does things such as “sip my ocean”, involving her music and video.

Gillian Wearing; “Drunk”. Live performance-esque video

Paul Slocum; hacks atari cartridges, creates music

Matthew Barney
Considers himself a sculptor; scultpures incorporated into films as part of complex environments. The sculptures, banners, and drawings,
Characer; each selection from the Cremaster series focuses on one character. All protagonists undergo a rite of passage and overcome physical and emotional challenges.
Genre and Narrative;
Each film has a distinct look invoking a specific time period and style. Includes; gothic western, aryan films, road movies, romanic tragedies, musicals

Subject

Jellyfish!

"Overture" Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality

I never imagined that people had thought of making a Pangaea of sorts of artistic media even before the invention of technology able to do so. Before reading this article, electronic multimedia did not even strike me as a form of art; instead, I imagined multimedia and the internet a a kind of museum system that housed art. However, now I see that the very act of combining all media into a single, all-encompassing experience by definition changes that media into a whole new animal.

In addition, it's hard to remember that before the computer, before the internet, ideas that seem commonplace to us now; the ability to communicate wirelessly and speedily via e-mail and IM; the ability to download seemingly from midair music, movies, and other media; the computer as a work tool that could create animations, presentations, and sounds. Even making the jump from the earliest computer, one used only for military calculations, to the idea that a computer could be one's own personal assistant is amazing when you stop to think about it.

I also never thought of the internet as a series of hyperlinks; in fact, when I first read it, I was confused. Like a "choose your own adventure" book, from this page alone I can access at least... fifteen different pages and places on blogger's site. Hyperlinks are our method of navigation on the internet; before reading this article I took them for granted.

It's amazing how many ideas and plans and schemes for an interactive virtual reality people have made over time; even in the early day of the computer, people were planning for a fake world. After reading this article, I suddenly hope that virtual reality is not so far away with the new influx of 3-D systems.