Video installation
Encyclopedia
Video installation is a contemporary art
form that combines video
technology with installation art
, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art
in the 1970s, it has increased in popularity as digital video
production technology has become more readily accessible. Today, video installation is ubiquitous and 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
.
One of the main strategies used by video-installation artists is the incorporation of the space as a key element in the narrative structure. This way, the well-known linear cinematic narrative is spread throughout the space creating an immersive ambient. In this situation, the viewer plays an active role as he/she creates the narrative sequence by evolving in the space. Sometimes, the idea of a participatory audience is stretched further in interactive video installation. Some other times, the video is displayed in such a way that the viewer becomes part of the plot as a character in a film.
A pioneer of video installation was Korean/American Nam June Paik
whose work from the mid-sixties used multiple television monitors in sculptural arrangements. Paik went on to work with video wall
s and projectors to create large immersive environments.
Other Americans include Bill Viola
, Gary Hill
and Tony Oursler
. Bill Viola is considered a master of the medium. His 1997 Survey at the Whitney Museum in NY is considered a watershed mark in the history of video installation art marking both a period on the sentence of the first generation and a beginning of the next. Gary Hill has created quite complex video installations using combinations of stripped down monitors, projections and laser disk technologies so that the spectator can interact with the work. For instance in the 1992 piece Tall Ships the audience enters a space where ghostly images of seated figures are projected onto a wall. The movement of the audience was the figures to stand up and approach the viewer. Tony Oursler's work exploited the technology developed in the early 1990s of very small video projectors that could be built into sculptures and structures as well as improvements in image brightness so that images could be placed on surfaces other than a flat screen.
David Hall
and Tony Sinden exhibited the first multi-screen installation in Britain, 60 TV Sets, at Gallery House London in 1972. Subsequently British video installation developed a distinctive pattern following the seminal international Video Show at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1975, and later thanks in part to the existence of regular festivals in Liverpool and Hull and public galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford that routinely showcased the work. Sam Taylor-Wood
's early installation pieces are good examples where specially filmed elements are shown as a series of serial projections.
Iranian born Shirin Neshat
combines cinematic sensibility to her video installations.
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
form that combines video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
technology with installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . 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...
in the 1970s, it has increased in popularity as digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
production technology has become more readily accessible. Today, video installation is ubiquitous and visible in a range of environments—from galleries and museums to an expanded field that includes site-specific
Site-specific
Site-specific is used in a range of contexts:In art Site-specific artIn molecular biology Site-specific recombination...
work in urban or industrial landscapes. Popular formats include monitor work, projection, and performance. The only requirements are electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and darkness
Darkness
Darkness, in contrast with brightness, is a relative absence of visible light. It is the appearance of black in a color space. When light is not present, rod and cone cells within the eye are not stimulated. This lack of stimulation means photoreceptor cells are unable to distinguish color...
.
One of the main strategies used by video-installation artists is the incorporation of the space as a key element in the narrative structure. This way, the well-known linear cinematic narrative is spread throughout the space creating an immersive ambient. In this situation, the viewer plays an active role as he/she creates the narrative sequence by evolving in the space. Sometimes, the idea of a participatory audience is stretched further in interactive video installation. Some other times, the video is displayed in such a way that the viewer becomes part of the plot as a character in a film.
A pioneer of video installation was Korean/American Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....
whose work from the mid-sixties used multiple television monitors in sculptural arrangements. Paik went on to work with video wall
Video wall
A video wall consists of multiple computer monitors, video projectors, or television sets tiled together contiguously or overlapped in order to form one large screen...
s and projectors to create large immersive environments.
Other Americans include Bill Viola
Bill Viola
Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media...
, Gary Hill
Gary Hill
Gary Hill is an American artist who lives and works in Seattle, Washington.One of the pioneers of video art, Gary Hill has exhibited his video and video installations worldwide . He is represented by Donald Young Gallery of Chicago.An anthology on the work of Gary Hill by Robert C...
and Tony Oursler
Tony Oursler
Tony Oursler is a multimedia and installation artist.- Tapes, Installations: 1977-1989:Tony Oursler is known for his fractured-narrative handmade video tapes including The Loner, 1980 and EVOL 1984. These works involve elaborate sound tracks, painted sets, stop-action animation and optical special...
. Bill Viola is considered a master of the medium. His 1997 Survey at the Whitney Museum in NY is considered a watershed mark in the history of video installation art marking both a period on the sentence of the first generation and a beginning of the next. Gary Hill has created quite complex video installations using combinations of stripped down monitors, projections and laser disk technologies so that the spectator can interact with the work. For instance in the 1992 piece Tall Ships the audience enters a space where ghostly images of seated figures are projected onto a wall. The movement of the audience was the figures to stand up and approach the viewer. Tony Oursler's work exploited the technology developed in the early 1990s of very small video projectors that could be built into sculptures and structures as well as improvements in image brightness so that images could be placed on surfaces other than a flat screen.
David Hall
David Hall (video artist)
David Hall is a British video artist, whose pioneering work did much to establish video as an art form.-Life and work:David Hall attended Leicester College of Art and the Royal College of Art. During the 1960s he worked as a sculptor and showed his work internationally...
and Tony Sinden exhibited the first multi-screen installation in Britain, 60 TV Sets, at Gallery House London in 1972. Subsequently British video installation developed a distinctive pattern following the seminal international Video Show at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1975, and later thanks in part to the existence of regular festivals in Liverpool and Hull and public galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford that routinely showcased the work. Sam Taylor-Wood
Sam Taylor-Wood
Samantha "Sam" Taylor-Wood OBE , born Samantha Taylor, is an English filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. Her directorial feature film debut came in 2009 with Nowhere Boy, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer John Lennon...
's early installation pieces are good examples where specially filmed elements are shown as a series of serial projections.
Iranian born Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat شیرین نشاط is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York. She is known primarily for her work in film, video and photography.-Background:Neshat's parents were upper middle-class...
combines cinematic sensibility to her video installations.
Artists working with video installation
- Vito AcconciVito AcconciVito Hannibal Acconci is a Bronx, New York-born, Brooklyn-based designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist.-Education:...
- Gustavo AguerreGustavo AguerreGustavo Aguerre, born 1953 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, artist, photographer, curator, writer, theatre designer. After leaving Argentina he moved to Germany studying at the Munich Art Academy between 1974 and 1976....
- Doug AitkenDoug Aitken-Early life and career:Doug Aitken was born in Redondo Beach, California in 1968. In 1987, he initially studied magazine illustration with Philip Hays at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena before graduating in Fine Arts in 1991. He moved to New York in 1994 where he had his first solo...
- Marsia Alexander-ClarkeMarsia Alexander-Clarke-Personal life and education:Marsia Alexander-Clarke was born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1939 and moved to the United States to attend high school in 1952, eventually becoming a United States citizen. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts at Park College, and studied at the Art Students League of New York...
- Kutlug AtamanKutlug AtamanKutluğ Ataman is a filmmaker and contemporary artist. He lives in Istanbul.-Life and career:Kutluğ Ataman received his school education in Istanbul before doing his university studies in the US. His interest in film started an early age, and led him to do film studies at UCLA where he graduated...
- Matthew BarneyMatthew BarneyMatthew Barney is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works were sculptural installations combined with performance and video...
- Sylvie BélangerSylvie BélangerSylvie Bélanger is an interdisciplinary artist using sound, video, photography and installation. Bélanger received an MFA from York University, a BFA from Concordia University and a Baccalauréat in Philosophy of Religion from Université de Montréal. She lives and works in Toronto and is an...
- Janet CardiffJanet CardiffJanet Cardiff is a Canadian installation artist. Born in Brussels, Ontario in 1957 Cardiff studied at Queen's University where she graduated in 1980. She also studied at the University of Alberta and graduated in 1983. She works in collaboration with her partner George Bures Miller. Cardiff and...
& George Bures MillerGeorge Bures MillerGeorge Bures Miller is a Canadian artist noted for his collaborative works with wife Janet Cardiff. Miller and Cardiff represented Canada at the 2001 Venice Biennale... - Bruce CharlesworthBruce CharlesworthBruce Charlesworth is a visual artist known primarily for his photographic, video and multimedia works. He is considered one of the pioneers of post-modern staged photography and an innovator in video installation and interactivity. He received his BA in Art from the University of Northern Iowa ...
- Jordi ColomerJordi ColomerJordi Colomer is a Spanish artist. He lives and works in Paris and Barcelona. Colomer has worked in the media of sculpture, video, and installation art.-Biography:...
- Chris CunninghamChris CunninghamChris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....
- Heiko DaxlHeiko DaxlHeiko Daxl is a German media artist, exhibition curator and design / art collector. He lives and works in Berlin and Zagreb.- Life :...
- Malaka DewapriyaMalaka Dewapriya-Biography:Born in Sri Lanka on 30 March 1979, Dewapriya graduated with a B.A. from the University of Colombo in 2005. After graduation, he received a scholarship for Video/Film/New Media at Akademie Schloss Solitude, in Stuttgart, Germany, from 2007 to 2008...
- Fred ForestFred ForestFred Forest is a French new media artist making use of video, photography, the printed press, mail, radio, television, telephone, telematics, and the internet in a wide range of installations, performances, and public interventions that explore both the ramifications and potential of media space...
- Ingeborg FüleppIngeborg FüleppIngeborg Fülepp, born in is a Croatian artist, university teacher, curator and film editor.- Life :She studied film editing and film analysis at the Academy for Theatre, Film and Television at the University of Zagreb and later education, video and interactive media with Carol Chomsky, and Howard...
- Douglas GordonDouglas GordonDouglas Gordon is a Scottish artist; he won the Turner Prize in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale...
- Dan GrahamDan GrahamDan Graham , is a conceptual artist now working out of New York City. He is an influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both a practitioner of conceptual art and an art critic and theorist. His art career began in 1964 when he moved to New York and opened the John Daniels Gallery....
- David HallDavid Hall (video artist)David Hall is a British video artist, whose pioneering work did much to establish video as an art form.-Life and work:David Hall attended Leicester College of Art and the Royal College of Art. During the 1960s he worked as a sculptor and showed his work internationally...
- Gary HillGary HillGary Hill is an American artist who lives and works in Seattle, Washington.One of the pioneers of video art, Gary Hill has exhibited his video and video installations worldwide . He is represented by Donald Young Gallery of Chicago.An anthology on the work of Gary Hill by Robert C...
- Pierre HuyghePierre HuyghePierre Huyghe is a French artist who works in a variety of media from film and video to public interventions. He won the Hugo Boss Prize from the Guggenheim Museum in 2002.-Biography:...
- Runa IslamRuna IslamRuna Islam is a Bangladesh born artist based in London, and was a nominee for the 2008 Turner Prize. Islam is principally known for her film works.-Background:...
- Joan JonasJoan JonasBorn in 1936 in New York City, Joan Jonas is a pioneer of video and performance art and one of the most important female artists to emerge in the late 1960s and early 1970s.She began her career in New York City as a sculptor...
- Mike Kelley
- Lennie LeeLennie LeeLennie Lee is a South African conceptual artist who lives and works in London.-Life and career:Lennie Lee is a British artist born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He moved to the UK in 1960. He was educated at Dulwich college in London before winning a scholarship to study philosophy at Christ...
- Anthony McCallAnthony McCallAnthony McCall is a British-born American Avant-Garde artist, specializing in cinema/projected film.thumb|Anthony McCall at Gallery Zander , Cologne...
- Antoni MuntadasAntoni MuntadasAntoni Muntadas is a multidisciplinary, media artist, sometimes also referred to as Antonio Muntadas or, simply, Muntadas. Since 1971, he lives and works in New York. Muntadas was a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT,1977–1984, and is currently Visiting Professor with...
- Bruce NaumanBruce NaumanBruce Nauman is a contemporary American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives in Galisteo, New Mexico....
- Tony OurslerTony OurslerTony Oursler is a multimedia and installation artist.- Tapes, Installations: 1977-1989:Tony Oursler is known for his fractured-narrative handmade video tapes including The Loner, 1980 and EVOL 1984. These works involve elaborate sound tracks, painted sets, stop-action animation and optical special...
- Nam June PaikNam June PaikNam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....
- Slobodan PajicSlobodan PajicSlobodan Pajic is a visual artist who uses a variety of media in his plastic research. He began very early to work with new technologies to create unique abstract and graphic forms, employing a series of chance techniques at the limits of technology, which he transforms into video films, graphics,...
- Philippe ParrenoPhilippe ParrenoPhilippe Parreno is an Algerian artist and filmmaker, born in Oran, and currently living in Paris, France. Parreno's work primarily revolves around the interrogation of the nature of an image, as well as the modes of its exhibition.-Life and work:...
- Sophy RickettSophy RickettSophy Rickett is a visual artist, working with photography and video/sound installation.-Career:Between 1990 and 1993, Rickett studied for a BA in Photography at London College of Communication, London...
- Pipilotti RistPipilotti RistElisabeth Charlotte "Pipilotti" Rist , is a visual artist who works with video, film, and moving images which are often displayed as projections.-Life and career:...
- Don RitterDon RitterDon Ritter is a Canadian installation artist and writer living in Berlin, Germany. He has been active in the field of new media art since the mid-1980s. His work consists primarily of large interactive video and sound installations that audiences control through their body position, body movement...
- Martha RoslerMartha RoslerMartha Rosler is an American artist. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, where she now lives. She graduated from Brooklyn College and the University of California, San Diego . Rosler works in video, photo-text, installation, and performance, as well as writing about art and culture...
- Lorna SimpsonLorna SimpsonLorna Simpson is an African American artist and photographer who made her name in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as Guarded Conditions and Square Deal. Her work often portrays black women combined with text to express contemporary society's relationship with race, ethnicity and sex...
- Michael SmithMichael Smith (performance artist)Michael Smith is an American artist born in Chicago, in 1951. He is an influential figure in performance art, video art, and installation art. In the 1980s, he was perceived as "the quirky Ed Sullivan" of the time.-Mike:...
- Jennifer SteinkampJennifer SteinkampJennifer Steinkamp is an American installation artist who works with video and new media in order to explore ideas about architectural space, motion, and perception....
- SurekhaSurekhaSurekha is a contemporary Indian video artist whose works showcase themes including Indian identity and Womanhood. She has been a full time artist since 1996 and her video works have been shown at galleries outside India since 2001. Her works are known for the mix of video and physical presence,...
(India) - Eve SussmanEve SussmanEve Sussman is a British-born American artist. She was educated at Robert College of Istanbul, University of Canterbury and Bennington College. She resides in Brooklyn, New York, where her company, the Rufus Corporation is based; however, she continuously visits cultural centers around the world,...
- System D-128System D-128System D-128 is a music video and film director, editor, video artist, new media artist and producer.-Early life:...
- Diana ThaterDiana ThaterDiana Thater is an American artist, curator, writer, and educator. She has been a pioneering creator of film, video, and installation art since the early 1990s...
- Steina and Woody VasulkaSteina and Woody VasulkaSteina Vasulka and Woody Vasulka are pioneers of video art, having practiced in the genre since its early days in the late 1960s....
- Bill ViolaBill ViolaBill Viola is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media...
- Minnette VáriMinnette VáriMinnette Vári is a South African artist known primarily for her video installations.Born in Pretoria, Vári studied fine arts at the University of Pretoria where she obtained her masters degree. She lives and works in Johannesburg.-See also:...
- Wolf VostellWolf VostellWolf Vostell was a German painter, sculptor, noise music maker and Happening artist of the second half of the 20th century. Wolf Vostell is considered one of the pioneers of video art, environment-sculptures, Happenings and the Fluxus Movement...
- Gillian WearingGillian WearingGillian Wearing OBE RA is an English conceptual artist, one of the YBAs, and winner of the annual British fine arts award, The Turner Prize, in 1997. On 11 December 2007, Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London....
- Apichatpong WeerasethakulApichatpong WeerasethakulApichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004...
- Robert WegmanRobert WegmanRobert Wegman was a pioneer of the one-stop shopping concept. He was the son of Wegmans Food Markets co-founder Walter Wegman. Until his death in 2006 at age 87, he was the chairperson for Wegmans...
- Roger WelchRoger WelchWilliam Roger Welch is an American conceptual artist, installation artist and video artist.-Biography:Roger Welch was born in Westfield, New Jersey in 1946 and graduated from Westfield High School in 1964....
- Lee WellsLee WellsLee Wells is an artist, independent curator, as well as a technology and art consultant currently living and working New York. He is a co-founder and director of IFAC-arts, and Co-Founder of Perpetual art machine, [PAM]...
- Yeastculture
See also
- Video ArtVideo artVideo art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . 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...
- Perpetual art machinePerpetual art machinePerpetual Art Machine was founded in New York in January 2006 by artists Chris Borkowski, Aaron M. Miller, Raphaele Shirley and Lee Wells in collaboration with Alexis Hubshman, president of the Scope art fair...