1Alords and Images, Images and Words Audio-Visual Rituals Is Really a Collec- the Lusty Her Goes On

34 The Soho Weekly News. November 4, 1976 1Alords and Images, Images and Words Audio-Visual Rituals is really a collec- The lusty her goes on. however, and a tion of 13 one-minute sub-programs . rose soxm goes hack to arrows and all is featuring Gusella from the vertical center well again. of his eyes to just below his chest, fully Discrete words are an important part of solarized. He is performing with his arms Gusella's performances. and whether he certain repetitive movements, accom- says Them, sings them, or wears them. panied by a syncopated synthetic score they often combine well with his singular and occasional special effects. On his ,erase of rhythm and his masterful use of chest he wears a word. either tied or print- thevideospace dust behind the,creen. ed on his shirt. Each sub-program is characterized by a different word, different arm movements, and a different rhythm. The words are ordinary- tooth, school. needle . sundae, etc. The arm movements are seemingly unrelated to the words. and are always directed to the camera. making good use of the space between the body and the lens, giving it a Audio-Visual Rituals by real sense ofdepth. The rhythm of the arm Emest Gusella movements is reflected in the accompany- uK sans. Fifteen of these is a lot to watch, but the ones labeled puwW, rash Uavldson G'kliotti and angelare compelling. In Modswe Entat seeGusella, from the chest Gusella up and waning a cap, standing Ed Ennhwiller motionless in front ofa wall. On comes a humorously Anthology Film Archives banal synthesized rhythm surd blues NamJune Paik number, and soon we hear Gusella's voice Trbtue to JohnCage growing "words" at the beginningofeach Chtmnd 13 (Now. 3.11 p.m.) corny musical phrase . Gusella bows; and we see that he has "words" written on a Not all significant video art is perpetrat- piece of white paper ed pasted to the top of in the super-cool post-modern idiom, his cap, and "words" written Enwt Gusef's vertically on processed-image video the wail behind him. He straightens up. performances borrow from French Dada holding another sheet of paper with and surrealist poetry sources, and some of "word," on it under them o f his chin, which he are unusual ferocity . pushes toward the lens. rifling Last weekend the screen Anthology Film Archives with it. presented nine short tapes by Gusella in a program entitled Black Theresee is a wipe to anothercamera where dr White. All were we characterized in that they Gusella from the side. where he has featured the "words'- written often grotesquely processed image of on white paper hanging from his shoulders. He turns around, and Gusefla himself, performing in various has ways to synthetic be another one pinned to his back. The and vocal sound tracks imrye is wiped ofhisown devising . ' back-and forth front one canters to the other Some of these tapes are blatantly art- in time to the corny music. creating a syncopated montage of historical. such as Of The Rose and bowing RRRRRose Selavey . wiping. turning around. and . Others, such as pushing pieces Vampire Video and the titles, have an of paper with words like ele- '.wards." "thigh ." "honk ment of unnecessary facetiousness. The ." and -icky'. of written ~1,1 them into the lens. The effect is best them. however, suggest an original of a poetic mind. a detenr=ned maniacal children's program which sense of purports to rhythm, and bizarre but powerful imagery. teach spelling while actually leavingdeep pockets ofirrationality in our In Wolf-Zooming the camera is focused psyches. and centered on Gusella's slightly ir- The last regular front teeth. surrounded by piece. the one that I liked the hest. was .i mmi-v. moustache and beard. By Guselln. his close-up pulling on the hoe synthesized ends of a strip of masking tape passed into that of an amiable. though possibly dangerous. around the zoom ring of the lens, he snaps cat-like ex- the zoom rapidly back and forth, building traterrestrial. grunts along to this gmwly up to a quality of rhythm that we synthesizer bass line, played in one of will soon those identify as typical. At a certain point we rhythms that we now realize he is a master of. realize that the subject is the zoom itself "Arrows. arrows. grunt punt. arrows" .k rather than the images on either end. The soon degenerates into -a am is rrne is result is an exciting tape that is actually a a rose," and Gusella's art- little terrifying . historicalsources are, of course, laid hare.

Edward Lucie-Smith

FROM ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM TO SUPERREALISM.

WILLIAM MORROW AND COMPANY INC. New York 1977

F . 448 451 F

The question we have to ask ourselves is "-Synthetic images created with rebuilt sur-: whether conduct of this kind has any validity in plus World War I airplane parts. the context of the industrial and technological "-Shot with two cameras attached under each society we know. It can be argued that thefaux naif armpit and one between my legs. behaviour and apparent frivolity of the Zen -A group therapy encounter between the philosopher have age-old roots in the culture of Neo-Nazi Anarchists and the Bowery Satanists. China and Japan. Zen is at once a refinement and "-An underground sex-opera starring all my an exaggeration of something which has always beautiful friends. existed. But the modern artist cannot make his -A presentation about the 3rd coming of the gestures meaningful simply by claiming that they Punjab of Mysore to bless his freebies in America. are so. What he does has to mesh with the world "-Product with future marketing potential" around him. (Art-Rite, No. 7, p. I I). Some artists have triedto achieve this through a This baleful passionate catalogue at least gives a good engagement with the things which notion of all the things video has tried to be. They, seem to them to typify the times. In the Seventies range from "alternative" one politics masquerading as of the most active fields of avant-garde art to a prettier and more complex version of the experimentation has been video. Video Art, as it old-fashioned kaleidoscope has come . The perils and plea- to be called, already covers a very broad sures oftechnically experimental video can best be spectrum. The best definition of what artists have tried to do with the sampled in the work of the Korean artist Nam medium is supplied by Ernest . June Paik. Gusella's list of negatives. In reply tu"a question- The Paik-Abe Syntbesi!~er (Plate 364) naire from the magazine Art-Rite he said : "My delivers a flood of astonishing images which video is not: eventually become boring because they have no stability and therefore no point of rest for eye or "-Accompanied by a `pink sludge' rock and mind. Further adventures, such as Paik's col- roll soundtrack. laboration with the cellist Charlotte Moorman, "-Documentation of a conceptual perfor- who sometimes plays her adapted instrument mance in which I jump out of a 13th story window bare-breasted (Plate 365), suggest a desperate to test the laws ofchance. search for novelty at any price. VIDEO ART in video after seeing the work of Nam June Paik and the Vasulkas. Because of his passion for music, he bought an Victor Ancona audio synthesizer and began making abstract images using sound. He did this for four years. He experimented with mirrors, flipflopped images, inexpensive prismatic lenses and other devices in order to get and control the images he wanted . ERNEST GUSELLA : Realizing the world through the Pleasing Artists and the Pubic Alike self has been the subject of many an artist's work in the past, but today's literal video image tends to make When video artist Ernest Gusella Gusella feels that the past ten years some artists' work seem narcisstic and lectured. at New York's Donnell Li- have brought a heavy intellectual ap- boring to viewers. Not so with brary last December, he showed 22 proach to the arts where artists start Gusella. While using himself as the tapes ranging in length from ten out with a philosophical premise and subject, Gusella's tapes are a blend of seconds to five minutes. He chose the hang their art on it. "It's weak think- synthesized human imagery and program with care, mindful of his ing," he claims. "Conceptual artists synthesized sound, a combination audience made up of a small coterie go through the motion of collecting that bombards our eyes and ears with of artist friends and the general data which can be interesting . . . perfect precision and arouses our public attracted by Donnell's sometimes. Rarely is the data new." emotions and intellect. publicity efforts . What characterizes a Like Nam June Paik, Gusella's in- Gusella's background is a mixture Gusella tape is the perfect blending volvement with music makes him of freedom and rigidity. His struggle of audio and visual elements into a conscious of the element of time in to achieve Socratic moderation harmonic whole. Gusella's music and video. "I've been trying to make my moves him from free-wheeling ex- imagers combine into powerful work shorter and shorter. It becomes plorations to honest, deep and videotapes. intense Blandness is--not one of a problem about how to end a work preparation. He rejects the Gusella's attributes. after building an emotional slick, fashionable, successful ap- peak proach On the program was his "Of the within myself as I work. Four or five taken by many of his colleagues in Rose," a five-minute poetic paean to minutes are enough for any the art world. surrealism with just a hint of shmaltz audience." Unlike many video artists, he works to make it a delectable art and literary alone and requires no collaborators spoof. "Hand in Head, Head in Ernest Arthur Gusella, to produce a finished product. After a 36, a gestation Hand" is a three-minute interlude permanent resident of the United period, he enters his studio and works based on a surrealist theme repleat States, was born in the Canadian spontaneously, confront- ing himself and his with poetic overtones. "Wolf Zoom- town of Calgary, Alberta. A concert- elaborate ing" shows Gusella's face violinist cousin sparked his interest in electronic sight and sound equip- rhythmically and ferociously zoom- music He mastered the violin ment without a script . He lets himself at an go, ing in and out. Gusella considers "Ar- early age, and later could play any allowing one idea to lead him to another. rows," his lengthy five-minute tape, a instrument at will. His interest in And what looks spon- cubist spoof. music and the visual arts taneous in the finished product has did not coin- taken GuseUa's mastery of the medium is cide with the "respectable" him weeks to set up. His career he trained best exemplified by his "Audio-Visual was expected to follow . However, visual sensibility and the man- he ner in which Rituals;" a series of one-minute color studied medicine at the University of he orchestrates the tapes in which you see his Alberta, and biochemistry at the electronic gear to do his bidding results in substantive synthesized mid-body fill the screen University of Idaho where he videotapes that are a delight to the eye as he moves his arms to a different received a B.A. Rejected by a number and mind. rhythmic beat for each segment. of medical schools, Ernest Gusella is a serious artist who- His he gave up the es- doesn't use of a unrelated word on his chest tablishment route and attended take himself or his world too the seriously. . creates a focal point of realism play- Alberta College of Art. After three He. deals in juxtaposed ing against semiabstract, fast-moving years, New York finally lured him. ideas and objects not unlike the work He of the images. attended the Art Students League, surrealists. He presents us with a familiar world with Ernest Gusella makes a distinction studying with Will Bamett, then went new visual insights derived from his intellect between his work and what every- cross country to the San Francisco Art and body else is doing in video. Working Institute where he copped expressed through a visual medium a gold he controls on the premise that-the predominant medal for undergraduate painting superbly. He insists that humor and serious art aspect of 20th-century art is based on followed by a graduate fellowship . can co-exist. Today Gusella's videotapes response to material as opposed to Gusella returned to New York are sought after both in the United States making material do something else, "where the intensity, the action, the he uses the electronic and in Europe. This spring, his pend- medium as the scene was at." He supported himself ing jubject of his art. His idiosyncratic on commercial exhibitions, one-man shows and ap- art assignments and lectures include proach results in tapes of high teaching in various such sites as New schools and York, Paris, Basel, technical quality interwoven with his colleges while painting Liege, Brussels, hard-edge, Ghent, and Amsterdam. And own reactions to humor, music and abstract, shaped, canvasses. these global shows bear testimony his philosophy. In 1970, Gusella became interested to popularity and talent as a video artist.

Victor Ancona it Videography's roving February 1978 videoart correspondent

Volume 4 Number 7 EARNOVEMBER 1978 MAGAZINE (sot including my time) I've seBhg then for $10 a . as been and as signed United edition. It's a lot of fen. the airs has gotten THE USE OF MUSIC late a couple d.nelsons art .Laws-"Raced As Art" toodeg the IN VIDEO ART U.S. far the sat two years. An Interview with Ernest Gusella by Larry Kucharz

L.R : Hors it musk or sound used by Mdse err~ E.G.: In a wsristy atways-uwsitlr bolt, bawsesr people are be. gh ig to pay sae atgdden to sound, as mess sae-ets GPs up far L.IG : What is your parcels: background in art and musk? the dlateiutia Ofsilo tape artists are bagleig to p4 man afentb to the quaky at the sound. Swssesr, my si guoation to E.G.. A. wddd is the wdsound urmule on a 106 work Caasds, I trd a cousin wire pl4W first vLl(e d and is that a lot of it is stolen with the sysphay. Breamdlwr pres to tthe 6ady, nod cry fen doodad reek and ether reads, it violates the aetistis natoed tetao" is mode, I beer 0euwbing the vWdeat the 0110 d iateg:fty etmho work, ant t. sad= apysl& peahdea. I bd that dz. I centtead unig the thin I was 13, at-whdch than I gne it up k is batlar to mdr a mad track yoneseit, no matter bow priWtfw, farrsdr and roll. I took Ladoa C4anorvaeory at Music acsevery than to *off ..wean else's set. It's aadog bow may people year until the ties I quit. They would send aaasdosr everto re11ard their week ono arigdmaL when it heavily rdr en am haft and and Cardsis csed" asps is disk-wading. drew,, ate., I rsoeA" ado's mph eotbde. Faetamtdy. ado0etbts mist with a sea dthe pelt whara I euly ussdod a couple dyears dpine stab to Moldy dovuiopd asthetie. Irdar athese poopdeare caeeesod, a and got my degree. Ofensures sit was eapeetad by my somber teacher mark is eerbiaed to provide sound for theirtape, our they made that I would be a gnat violiulst, however and it thoo sslva lice I do. Many at the video artists I know the insuunaoof Elvis and have qs. Buddy HoUy proved to be a seregar hjAkaao. Neadta to my, they thoniaas, t~-reeos+daa, miaau, ate. bad that send is at her" haw sever fargiva me. Aft I stopped the vWla. I picbd up the aispeetat athe isap. guitar, senepboee, whatever inteusted me. Insofar aart is coneaesd, after a couple dyeas dpre-used stab in Idaho. I derided that what I rally wanted was to be aartist. So, I atNedod the College Alberta andof Art for three years, the Art Students League for one year, I ended up is San Fradseo during the summers of love, whoa I obtained a B.F.A. and M.F.A. Pram the S.F. Art Ireis IM. The Are bkdo wen a very wail-endowed. isreeat oehod, and we bad lsetses by San Steve Raidr, L.K : What is your reaction to the contemporary music scene? John Cage and people fro.the Francisco Tape Center. Ion fact my. mil-at graduate paiodeg BW Whey who d0vented talc we. did E.G.: Well, ayou knew. the cover for RWeh's alas "It's Gave Levy, we met in a mrde aaeapodtion and Bata", se modewas dways clans of Cage. Fddsa. Brown, in Boffdo. I around. Is fiat, several teaches students Eon the school quit hand the grad,,,ate madeand students in the clam to be mare reactionary than the taochsrs, at to play is reek groups lib Big Brother. the Mystery Trend, ate. a lot lee avat-garde Which minds me, Jani Mkchsi was a is their attitudes towards music than and student at the net sohod I money artists I know. Iamfa a lib Glass. went to in Canada, all the Eaoah reba lib the Bon". pmw Reich, see., who bow gotten a let dAlodioe through the net seas, I fad that tbwir Claptan, Tie Who. Bed= Ferry Run. they all canes oat of et school. week is isteesdog and a So there is a wboda tradition at and akeradivo to the bhad-ia university Wdftimg back forth between we soar-ad they as aoaeets, and main. tip aAadas. oassbdar, eW.- howevee. moat dthe people who are fippd out oven the musk we son-maddens who knew aothdeg shout made. I think that the rank and rolLbef at Gloo's nude and is what grabs then. pesenapy, I Sod Rosy mmdt. Ew sae English avunt-Smds raeksea lib Frd Friech sore intsresd g. Most punk took is a bee. Sae film-mater triads are heavily brts'sode Eras other akurs and every than I walk into their loft, I Sod syodf aokhW "Who is toot playing!" Same Abica cad Awe mmde loads lib the iatrt avert-gads .n; our awtanepaeoey mosdo--ad wham LX : Didn't you maAw a record yourself lost yeor? j k's guessed toe, a lot:d the Sole sale is highly foemd. Piss. what bothers a about it, it and seal low Monk our the Swtegb E.G.: Yeah-I always wrbis do k, slam I had a lour. Sites. chond recorder wkh myna and a couple dsyathgahnas, I Sgand why of sow. Bawdy, I did k fat fun adsy fr'rds. U'$ -1anly reek red roll, andit'da kind dcomment a the at weed, um songs lib "Andy Waeho4 I Wave Be a Star is the Art Whirl", ate. It'd been very popular and I've sold a fw espies in art bask anew is and the U.S. Eueepo. I'm sW trying to break even Smadahly an it, but I'm workingand as another err. If you shop goad, do tb net work yomsolL get the preewg ets. done out" ofN.Y.. an aim run bsods hddy ehomply. 3611 daun alas asat s0around ilea

L.K.: What an some of tAe dec&owic tsckniqueg ugad in aidsso? L.K.: What about punk rock? Aren't a lot of artists starting punk rock bands? E.G.: I personally began using an E.M.S, syntboier to 19'7 to generate Lissajous patterns on as oscilloscope, whirl were tbsa video-taped E.G.: That's true. As I said, sins artiste have always fait an . MA sound created the image, with ohm waves. square. dthky for music, ramps, etc. an it's a natural development. I think it's a fun thing creating Sarsebs-lilos patterns the vldss omens. Other for most people, however, I video artists such all know that there are artists that have the Vasdlsas (wbo started the Siteian), and stopped everything far music. Alto, in N aloatrosic surd to minas their .Y., Eau has gotten in- tapes, and to mueipdaf thehoop volved is producing same groups like Talldng Seat i acre picas, using seen esstsm-idle . Punk is youth- user. in 1974. a Ist et id rebellion, but I think that it also reflects a reaction to the sterile, video artists who won bnw* hats systimi began baiidVe vWss mioimaWm that we've soonlot the past five years. In the visual cyaith~iss wits vdtap canted duseless .spears ofthe Wage- arts, artists mbecoming less doctrinaire and more eeiecds.-prob. calls. aumos switching. rte. I par=sity could act handle financing ahly an attempt personal this type of oyster i to open tags up. My attitude is that no at that ttrs, se I got involved ipahm~, area is too aboard to ezplas. using the equipoent I had. Shoes and still male, art that can betalam I've boa dig a kind of Dadaist may- Peeta'os_saa fa the past touryears. I've bedoing_thiap_lib rea- R pedals, delay, ache and engaging i things Mm Cubist 4a chanting, repetitive statements and otba things that are band as Dada:Futurist tradition. This past yea I obtained a vide sya- tbodor with vdtsp soured es away aspect dthe oyster, and I have bass using osnMe6sr to'rhgger cider, esro+a switehirg, keying. etc. The angloser vim designed the systes has another module (which I don't have an yet). which will csosploinly blerfsee L.R: What about the system with as audio the use of words in tke visual arts? What about syntboobcr. That module has tier ow test sowed mad pleats? gseneos. esvodope tsilowms. ate.. which would allow prettyeerpdaa amdog central of the video fosege by musb. I reertybWk a E.G.: The envelop fiwa to " introduction cc words lute the visual aft is aold thing Wow idae offsate by vubs all nerd. The -larss4 the Vrdhas and'other iidee stouts wbe Ftit=1Lts, Pop Art-words have dwogs been hafts. bon bas building esrpatsr dspud aaiotraat dom mis. A systss to centred do video drag WE adidb i let of oatsoporary peedsmse ors *mnmusic using wards-one is Ark= Schloss, their systems once, this systss get faily uder camel. who chants and stems oft the siphabst ad shat wends. In the pest five yore many bin introducing and painters have wads, bath as formal nsmative dements, theirpaintings into . Is my piece "Arrows b Wards", weds are and as intact sounds, and point structund dtiee (cablot) as aboard counter- to the visual Astons!. H y'ou n foalabout eke dlfyeronon between sound and L.K. Hum is nrueie being used in conjunction min otherrart forms? S.G.: Seed stsiiwsme an being a let some esrp8eated, tUmp you Viand E.G.: Alot dpsetoemero yen ae sin and ehanp ityon dm%*Wm what ~. But nee d aily aig.aeei ad road, ad rod le all er+sod simultaneous i lustdlatia pieces. Again. It's a sleandoa you i spas-it's . L9m Mo3.is whoa resins who have 040, "To a blind arm. sere or On musical truss, sand on another everything is hole herd to rill OWNS element i their 4'as rodas it's oaesrrdno i ."'t's work. Vita Acanci, Josspb Boo". I.ai Anderson are a few aamoe tiw it's bud to masse what is pd or bed surd-whon ddntsetdss is that o~ to mind. In same err, orb is the subject dthe pier, commiig. Wben rood b iother it's need used as edsert to visud idass. the problem situations, on Just another material to treats a b s more dt effect. Alas. may performers are utilliduff sound in narrative picas or far its abstract qualities.

THE ITHACA TIMES " APRIL' 19-25', I9TS Ithaca Video Festival: Vital BroadcastBy S.K. UST I4SU). from Crlifornia to Louisiana to New In discussing their medium. video people York City. Selections will be shown on WXXI refer to "narrowcast," "cablecast" and. of ,n Rochester (PBS) and. on cable. in course, "broadcast" to describe some ways Manhattan. Applications numbered 223 and in which programs are dispersed to the rryuired three days of viewing by the judges airwaves. there to reach the theoretical it.iunilla and her husband. Philip Mallory viewer in "Vtdeoland." The term "broad- Jones. IVP's co-directors; John Hanhardt of cast" in particular also refers to a sweeping New York's Whitney Museum; and Richard hand motion for distributing seed far and Summons of the Everson Museum in wide. to furrows of ploughed earth or flocks Syracuse) to narrow down to the final twenty ofhungry fowl. ("Broadcasting to the hens' tapes which will be shown. calls up a fond vision of Arthur Godfrey --Not everything entered is good. of crooning to the Rhode Island Reds.) Fertile course." Gunilla remarked, "but a lot that is minds and hungry, if unsuspecting, artgoers very good wasn't selected because of the 41/, will have the opportunity to receive good hour limit in running time. A half hour is the seed from April 24-30 when the Fifth Annual longest any single entry can be." She Ithaca Video Festival premieres at Cornell's described the criteria for choosing the tapes Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. .u. in part, "better than competent . more The Festival has grown steadily until, this than beautiful." and went on to explain that, year, it has achieved a certain maturity of in the field of video. where previously artists style and authority of content. noticeable were struggling to overcome the limitations even over the fine body of work which was of their equipment. equipment is now presented last year. "For the first Festival, getting steadily better and better so that we had forty entrants." noted Gundla good work is abundant. For the Festival. the Mallory Jones. one of the directors of the aim has been to identify superior work. Ithaca Video Project (IVP) which sponsors Ernest Gusella ,represented last year by a the Festival, "and we chose seven tapes. We strange, humorous, grating tape culled showed it one place, one night. in Willard Deviated Septum, is back once more, Straight Hall." somewhat calmed down. with Iris, a related This year the Festival will tour to sixteen piece but so pared down as to be almost museums. libraries and cultural centers childlike and, in its simplicity, just that besides the Johnson (through January. beautiful.

Selected tapes from the festival are VIDEO ART to he broadcast by WXXI-TV . Roches- ter . N.Y .. and cablecast as part of the Victor Ancona Artists Television Network's Soho Television program on ititanhattan Cable, New York City . As a result of viewing the festival package . ABC News has compiled a short segment on video art for airing nationally . Institutions scheduling the festival ITHACA VIDEO : receive a prestige package to offer their constituency at the ridiculously Margin Notes on A Moveable Feast low price of $50 . the sponsors placing no restrictions of any kind regarding Video festivals are fun. Unless chusetts, Ohio, and Colorado. time . place. manner or number of restrictions are placed on entries, festi- While there is a large concentration showings . What a curatorial bargain! vals give the public an opportunity to of videographers in New York, the The festival will continue its 17-loca- get a quick overview of video as pro- disproportionate number of winners tiort tour as follows: McKissick Mu- duced by independents working in from that state may be due to the lack seurn, Columbia . S.C. . September every genre-from computer-genera- of national promotion penetration . 1-30: Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, ted pieces to documentaries and the fact that it is the sponsor's home La. . October 15-21 : New York fictionalized work. base. or the generous support of video Library Association, Syracuse. N.Y ., The only restriction placed on en- independents by the New York State October 17-19: Northwest Film Study tries to the Fifth Annual Ithaca Video Council on the Arts . Since the Na- Center, Portland, Ore. . November 1-7 : University Festival was that tapes be no longer tional Endowment for the Arts is also a Community Video. Minne- than 30 minutes . supporter of the festival, it is hoped apolis, Minn . . November 1-12 : Mu- seum "We can't make our festival package that next year's entries will reflect a of Contemporary Art . Chicago . ton long for museums, libraries and broader national interest in indepen- III. . November 10-December 30 ; Long ;.rlleries ." said Gunilla Mallory Jones dent video. Beach Museum of Art . Long Beach, Ca. . December 1-31 : and Philip Mallory Jones, co-directors Phil Jones believes that concepts are The Kitchen of Ithaca Video Projects, sponsors of developing in many more directions . Center . New York . N.Y .. January 5-31, 1980. the festival since its inception . than before . "Ambitions and inten- "We have seen a vast improvement tions of the artist are changing," he Herewith are my fleeting impres- sions of in both content and technique since said . "Of course . technique has im- the individual entries as our first festival," said Gunilla. "There proved tremendously over the years. seen within a concentrated period of used to be a leaning toward documen- Artists are beginning to understand time. In such an instance. tapes com- pete with h :t that has changed because the medium-its potential as well as one another both negatively +" equipment has become more its limitations ." Despite the improved and positively . and one does not have the available to independents . A lot of sophistication, Gunilla Jones feels luxury of restudying a tape in is v- , good documentarians make tapes that very strongly that there is still a half- isolation . A large close of vitltvt .ttun,t are longer than the half-hour limita- inch black and white portapak genre excuse if I change my mind several of the entries-bttt not tion we set for submissions . These are out there. and will be happy when "it is all! tapes that are more television-ori- represented in our festivals ." Ernest . is lla - Facial Trr+atmrjntA ented than they used to be, which is With the purchase of more and ant= really not what we are looking for ." more cameras by owners of home That art could also be fun is always I see little difference between a tv- video cassette recorders, I predict that apparent in Gusella's tapes. This time, oriented work and a work shown on tv. a relatively large body of work will with the help of his videographer-wife T'ne quality of the work should be the emerge from those who never con- romiyc Sasaki, Gusella offers us two criterion . There was a time when artists sidered themselves "artists ." but who short subjects . While not taking him- decried the strictures of time placed nevertheless have the time . inclina- "( .If too seriously . he manages to pro- on them by broadcasters . Global tion, and innate or learned skills to cluce tapes of great interest to those Village, New York, puts on a festival experiment and create works of equal who view them . The maker achieved a exclusively for documentarians who value to many of today's practitioners fabulous fluidity in Iris, in which we produce work of any length, whether whose claim to video art stems from see his wife rubbing her eyes manipu- or not planned for broadcast . their competence in some other lated to become the rhythmic opening Ithaca's panel of judges, composed medium of expression . and closing of an iris lens . Superim- of John Hanhardt, Film and Video According to its sponsors . the dis- posed images change their speed as Curator. Whitney Museum of Ameri- tinguishing features of the Ithaca one visual meshes with the next. In can Art, Richard Simmons, Curator, Video Festival are that it does not Fat ial rreatments Gusella again uses Film and Video, Everson Museum of favor a particular genre, it travels closes-ups of Tomiyo to show us his Art, and Gunilla and Philip Jones, sat widely, it is highly selective . and it virtuosity with the medium . I consider through three days of screenings deals solely with video (not film) pro- Facial Treatments a laudible exercise . during which they selected 20 tapes duced by independents . Besides the Iris a visual gem . from 223 entries from all over the exposure accorded the winning vid- United States . Twelve of the winners eographers, each gets a small fee and is were from New York State. three from paid additionally if tapes are chosen to California, and one each from Massa- be broadcast or cablecast . Ithaca Video Projects makes every attempt Victor Ancona covers the work of to show and help sell tapes submitted independent videographers. but not accepted for showing . sErTEMBER 1979 Tapes by 1979-80 Award Recipients In Video, Creative Artists Public Service Program in New York State John Minkowsky THE EXQUISITE CORPSE overlapping . The merging of images in Buffalo, New York Emea Gweila the viewer's mind creates a diverse, disorienting and enter- Ernest Gusella, whose recent taining array of visual relationships, tape, The Exquisite Corpse, con- such as the superimposition of the cludes this program, has been performer's head in his mouth, or working In video since 1970 and has fingers as multiple, insect-like limbs created a unique body of work. on his torso. Gusella develops performances for In a conversation with the .artist, the video camera, which usually In- he has said that he considers The corporate video special effects such Exquisite Corpse not only a formal as keying, superimposition, work, but also a work with strong colorization or, In the case of The 'social/religious overtones'. These Exquisite Corps* rapid, real-time are manifested in the symbolic switching between two cameras. evocativeness of the artist's pale, Gusella Is self-consciously an art- emaciated figure - suggestive at world eclectic, his references ex- once of Christ and ascetic holy men tending from art-rock of the mo- of Eastern religions, of Primitive ment back to modern art Man and, for Gusella, of victims of movements of the past seventy-five abnormal births, especially as. years. His -Dude Dehnding a Store. regards the grotesque Illusory Case," punning on Marcel reconstructions of the human form. Duchamp's famous painting, is Cubistic Video. He describes this In its playfulness, the suggestive tapm nature of Its imagery, and its coupling of man and machine as colla- "Beginning with Dadaist and borative entity, The Exquisite Conceptual performances In front Corpse Is a work of which Gusella's of the camera, Images are historical predecessors in art would manipulated with video and audio have approved. synthesizers and other electronic tools. The result is % fornlcatia funk, % New York punk, A. Euro- pean bunk, %. Canadian skunk."

The ExquAite Corpse, in fact, refers to a Surrealist technique of the same name in which a number of participants contribute to a collec- tlw Wlsge - sometimes of words, sometimes of a human figure. Unlike his predsceascrs, GusaOa's collaborator in this game of chance is not human; rather, it is the machine, the - video system automatically switching between two camera views of the artist performing simple, effective gestures. This rate of rapid alternation between the two camera is at a threshhold of the persistence of human vision. Thus, the formal strengths of the work derive from the fact That the alternating views am at arcs sears as distinct and ENNEBI GUSELLA Ithaca Video Festival 1980 by Danny Speer

hilip and Gunilla Mallan Some ofthem, one might never P Jones have done it again. grow tired of. It's a shame we Organized their sixth an- only have the option of viewing nual touring video festival, that then innovative and thought- is. Out of 375 entries (there provoking images for two weeks were 225 law year), they, with out of the year. A permanent two other judges, selected the collection would be gratefully four hours of material that will received, but until we get one, travel to twenty-four prestigious don't miss the chance to crpand museums and libraries through- your knowledge of modern art. out the U.S. this year. Attend the show and make your There are twenty pieces by feelings known. It's a grey old video artists. in the show, rang. world, and the Video Festival ing from documentaries to cotn- casts some rarified light upon it puter-manipulated electronic- and us. image works: with humor, pop Among the works which had culture, subjective realities, and a profound effort on this writer's new video techniques well- first viewing were: "?he Exqui- repreernted in between. site Corpse" by Ernest Guseila_ The emergence of video as art a taw-dejour of state-of-the- during the law decade is a,posi- art video editing technique. tive effect of human evolution There's a lot more, and all of through technology. Video it well worth experiencing. points to the art of the future Philip and Gunilla Mallory Jones, with a beam of hope. Now if who themselves recently pro- only some of -the high-quality duced "Slack, White, and Mar- artistic effort demonstrated rind," an awellent videotape each year in the Ithaca Video whose title is self-explanatory, Festival coin find its way to have spun spent hundreds of network television. . Don't hold hoots on their Festival brain- your breach waiting for that, child, and the audience around but by all means, attend the the country will be much the Video Festival at Cornell's richer for it. Ithaca gets first Johnson Museum between April crack, though. This is a must- 2 and 16. Museum hours are attend event. Tuesday through Sunday, 10 The Grapeviine a.m. to 5 p.m. The tapes will run continuously, and while April 1-7, 1980 four hours may be a long time to sit still, one can always attend in bits and pieces. This is recom- for second viewings of . an the pieces , will aiwayi provide additional insights.

FIRST PERSON SINGULAR Pratt Museum

By SUSAN GRACE GALASSI

FIRST PERSON SINGULAR Here, as throughout most of the century, indirect, symbolic, and ironic modes of depiction of the self are favor- ed over straightforward stud- MAGAZINE MAY 1980 ies of one's physiognomy. The combination of work in painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, photography, and video allows one to compare the ways artists working in different media have dealt with their own images and to see the im- pact of work in one area on another. The most significant contributions to autobiogra- phical art during the "me" decade appear to be in photography and video, where technical innovations and the emphasis on performance have led to the creation of startling new images through fantastic distortions and me- tamorpoosis. In his pioneering work with an SX-70 Polaroid camera, Lucas Samaras ma- nipulates the wet photo emul- sion so that only fragments of realistic depiction are left within a distorted image. Here the artist, draped in a green cloth, seems to be transforming before our eyes. In ~= Gusels videotape, Exquisite Corpse, images of blown-up fragments of the head and body alternate with small pictures of the body in a pulsat- ing rhythm. What emerges is a bizarre scene in which he ap- pears to be devouring himself, an idea also seen in some of Samaras' work. In painting and sculpture, one finds simi- lar representations of the self in a state of flux and change, and as in photography, serial images are often used. Rob- ert Beauchamp's lush, expres- sionist oil studies of his face exemplify this, as do Marisol's deeply disturbing life masks In clay which have been squeezed and distorted, bear- ing the imprint of her hand and objects such as keys and cans, some of which are em- bedded in the surface. All of these works in different media suggest a sense of self per vaded and shaped by internal and external forces.

Sri_{Jeut&cLc ZeJul Mituvoch, 8. Jul! 1981 MLJNCHNER KULTURBERICHTE

entstandonen Farbfilm, wirkt iiberraschend, wie hier mit einer bestimmten Collagetechnik immer . wieder repetierter Bilder and Tone, von denen Aus Land der manche die Funktion strukturierender Leitmoti- dem besseren ve ubernehrnen, sehr 6iel mehr von der Mentali- tat dieses west-6stlichen Volkes and seines Le- bens sichtbax wird als in einem mit Fakten ope- Moglichkeiten rierenden herk5mmlichen Fernsehfilm. Ferne Video-Kunst aus New York in der St5dtischt:n Galerie and Niihe der, Autorin zum Land, manche eher ,episedenhaften Eindracke ubertragen sick mit seltener Unmittelbarkeit: ein Kiibelwagen fihrt Nahirlich hat die Kathodenstrahlenr6hre (TV) $a, Ausschnitt, Oberblendung manipulierten, in eine Kurve, dahinter ein paar Bauersfrauen. nicht die Leinwand ersetzt Und noch immer ar- ganz pers6nlichen Realit5tssicht Das Bild kehrt mehrmals wieder. Doch schon beiten nur wenige Kunstler so selbstverstiindlich Steina and Woody 1asulka, hlitbegrunder der beim zweiten, beim .dritten Mal fiihrt man den mit Kondensator, Widerstiinden and Halbleitern Kitchen (einer New Yorker Aktionsraums, vor- Schwindel der Bewegung . Wenn eine West- w-ie mit Pinsat Violinen and Abfall. Nam June nehmlich fiir Video and Performance), gehen in kunst-Postkarte kalauerte: "ein Mann steigt auf Paiks !Manifest von 1965 blieb also die Utopie el- ihrer'kfu:stlerisch eher biederen, an Computer- einen Berg, veil so viele Frauen im Tal Kunst ries Pioniers der Video-Kunst Umgekehrt liit1t graphik erinnernden EinWhrung ,,Artifacts" machen", mull er dieser Entdeckung halter wc:_'_ rich ihre K:ise in Europa sicher nicht der vehe- (1981) - fur jeden Laien verstindlich - vom Zei- unten bleiben. menten Rackkehr zur Malerei unterschieben. lenraster als Grundlage der clektronischen Bil- Die Filme vom Miterfinder der Videosynthezi- Was die eu:opaischen Video-Kunstler entmutigt, des aus. Gary Hill, ein von ihnen entdeckter, ge- sers Nam June Paik "Tribute to John Cage" (1972) ist der Mangel an but ausger':isteten Studios, wie rade dreiDig Jahre alter Kunstler, dagegen fiihrt and "Global Groove" (1913) an den Anfang der sic in Amerika fast jede Universit

VOL. XXVII No. 28 THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF NEW YORK JULY 13, 1982 75C

44 Less claustrophobicailly precise, Toronto Both L.A. tapes suffer from erratic artistSusan Britton's 54-minute Up Down performances. but not all narratives re- Strange (1981) raises the new wave quo- quire ll actors. The Magnetic Tapes (1981), tient by including a femme gunslinger, a an ongoing project by Australian sinister artist Jill A Work airport, and an inexplicable mug- Scott, uses tiny props in miniature pro- ging in its fractured narrative. There's an sceniums to illustrate or counterpoint vari- anunble emptiness to the tape that com- ous dreamlike anecdotes-a methodology pares favorably to the compacted, jew- pitched between the fey fantasies of Rita eWke fes:idiousnew of New Yorkers Myers and the puppet povera of Tony and Some Bawls and Geller, until Britton decides to Oursler. Oursler, actually, is represented go playfully decoostmctive and introduce in "New Imagery" with his 23-minute an extended rehearsal of a noirish radio Grand Mal (1981). The tape, whose cast Script includes painted hands. parts of faces, and Connecticut Papoose: A M loev live worms, was described here earlier this or the Middle an 1981) a 55-ute year as a kind of primitive Ernie Kovacs Plays tape rrnest Gusell is playful from the version of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligart. word go. owever'o'r all his munchkin voices, fatuous Muzak interludes, de- ranged Dylanquotations, and militant surrealist slogans, Gusella has ambitions to By J. Hoberman pull offthe satofI-Hear-America-Singing -Psychodrama that Vito Acconci ac- "New Imagery," the rubric attacbed to complisbad in The Red Tapes. The prob- the videoshow currently at the Museum of lem is that Connecticut Papoose is less Modern Art, is something of a misnomer. funny than ally, move stoned than in. The 11 tapes hue haw little to do with teiligent.-Guesila's but stance is &kind of image synthssisim processed video, or curdled counterculturism-at one pointhe special effects. What links them is a con- givesus astrobe self-portrait accompanied cern for the thing current crit-jargon calls by a droning rock song so smirkingly "narradvity." Narrative is a hot issue in noble-sevage it would have embarrassed avant-garde film as well. but while mov- the Fugs. Atthevery West, though,Gusella iemakers like constructionsJames Banning oa Yvonne has a talent for canny,eye-grabbing. Far Rainer favor based on ex- more than the other tapes, Connecticut tended tableaux (the big screen. en- Papoose is just a succession of routines.- comma the severing ofdead), the video a quality notunsuited to the random-spec . narratives hue are more tator aspect of gallery video. characterised by quick cuts and parallel Two tapes from Los Angeles-John editing, as though inspired by the home- Arvanites's American Male (1982) and viewer's itchy-fingered option ofswitching Bruce and Norman Yonomoto's An Impo- the dials. tent Metaphor (1981)-are relatively Ed Bowes 30-minute How toFly (1980) straightforward in their storytelling. The presents moments from a small plait pi- half-hour Arvamtss ta7s, which begins lot's first day at work interspersed with a pith a quotation from Charles Olson and plethora of punkish gags involving juxtaposes the musings ofthe artist's alter cochroscha and rats, achieving a further ego with those of his French mistress, is a discombobulation through the use ofman- pretentious, essentially humorless exposi- nered sing-song dialogue. Similarly, Mat- tion of modern romance visualized as an thew Geller's 20-minute Wind/alb, or New Amtrak ride to the San Diego Zoo. An Thoughts on Thinking (1982) features Impotent Metaphor is more naive and (at Bowes as a lo main-scarfing raconteur 40 minutes) more ploddingly sincere, but whoa ill-fated pursuit of a hot television it's also more interesting in its attempt to set is crosscut with a discussion on com- fashion an artworld soap opera with pro. puter theory and a is= musician's recollec- tagonists displaying greater passion for tion of his most aobarraring cwt their "concepts" than their relationships. . ERNEST GUSELLA (Born 1941, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada ; Lives in New York, New York) 1983' Art Plunks (1979, color, 4:00) Scals Flop (1979, b/w, 1:30) VIDEO/TV: Ernest Gusella is a parodist, a punster and a self- conscious artworld eclectic. His references extend from chic-rock and pop music of the moment, to contemporary trends in conceptual and performance art, to the modern historical movements of HUMOR/COMEDY Surrealism and Dadaism. An example: his Dude Humor has played an increasingly import nt role in the visual arts In recent years. Defending a Stare Case, punning on the title of The powerful resurgence of comedic styles is related to the development of new Marcel Duchamp's famous painting, is a rare in- media and expressive forms, especially those of video and performance art. stance of Cubistic Video, and Gusella facetiously VIDEO/TV:HUMOR/COMEDY characterizes this, and other of his tapes In the is a touring exhibition of videotapes created by Media following manner: Study/Buffalo to explore the forms and functions of contemporary Art Comedy. An eight-hour showcase of nearly 100 tapes by four dozen video and performance ar- "Beginning with Dadaist and Conceptual performances tists, VIDEO/TV:HUMOR/COMEDY is organized around specific in front of the camera, Images are manipulated with themes that consider video and audio synthesizers and other electronic tools. the new relationships between Art and Entertainment that experimental com- The result Is A fornicalia funk, Y. New York punk, A edy has helped to bring about. The exhibition has been conceived and curated by European bunk and A Canadian skunk.". John Minkowsky of Media Study/Buffalo, who will be present to introduce each In addition to his ext&.sive body of video works, program, and has been made possible with support from the National Endowment Gusella has released two albums on Earwax Records for the Arts' Film/Video Touring Program. The exhibition, which has already been - Japanese Twins and White Man (1977) and The presented at the Southwest Alternate Media Project (S .W.A.M.P.) in Houston, Tex- ; Lone Arranger Wddtes Again (1980). In both cases, as Video Free America in San Francisco, California ; the Mandeville Gallery at the he played aN the Instruments, performed all the University of California at San Diego; and the Northwest Film Study Center in Portland, Oregon, will tour to an additional 10 sites throughout North America in 1983.

vocals and wrote all the songs, which Include such for visual and verbal puns, both in his choice of props gems-in-the-rough as "Andalusian Dog," "Andy and in the title of the piece itself . Warhol," "Marcel Duchamp," "The Bride Stripped Bare," and "Star in the Art Whirl." Ernest Gusella received his B.A. in Biochemistry at "Body Art Disco," a tune from Gusella's second the University of Idaho and his M.F.A. at the San album, spoofs the violent preoccupations of some In- Francisco Art Institute, where he was awarded a gold famous 'conceptual body artists,' and Art Punks Is medal for undergraduate painting. He began his work Gusella's version of the same song for video. Using a in video in 1970. Gusella has had solo exhibitions in visual equivalent of audio multi-tracking - a video Belgium, France, England, Germany and Holland, technique which has since become popular in the and his work has been included in group shows production of numerous Rock Promos - Gusella throughout Europe and the U.S., and in Mexico and plays all the parts of a one-man pop band while sing- Canada . In addition, he has recorded two record ing about an artist engaged In various forms of self- albums for the Earwax label - Japanese Twins and mutilation for the sake of raving reviews from the art White Man and The Lone Arranger Writhes Again - establishment, and fame, and money. both of which were post-produced during his artist-in- In Scale Flop, Gusella renders a familiar octave of residencies at ZBS Media in Fort Edward, N.Y. Ernest Gusella, as depicted on the cover of his notes, with a few comic interludes and diversions . A Gusella is the recipient of a 1982 album, The Lone Arranger Writhes Again Guggenheim simple ditty, it is illustrative of the artist's predilection Fellowship in Video.

4RFfRINT FROM : HIATus MAGAZINE, MfN0EV1U,E PfRT C141.tAY, UNIVERSITY of CAI,IFORNIR I SAN DIt0- LA Sou.H JRNURWY 1983 The Good humor Men "Video/MHumor/Comedy" exhibit-at Mandeville my Roan No ding togeneaal categories. 1W most popular glasses and Warn amt, playing his drum in "Aft rusks." a video pafamanc of these programs is the one on ticks. all over the city -- on telephone ploce by grnest auuseha, the degaerate- Muslal/Comedy. Most of the worksareshort, booths, on gates and doors and signposts, looking leader of a three-plece band ex- from about two to eight minutes, so this t and on the sidewalks and streets, He goes plains In a catchy little tune that hewill do an especially good program for sampling a along, drumming out intricate rhythms aVtNlno For a good rrvlew. me will jump variety of video artists. without ever missing a bei.`-, until he finally put oftwdfth story windows, awl through The first piece on the program, "aultdr goes bopping off into the sunset - a Cool, broke glass, drown or generally maim hh>t- Piece" by Plc Morton, Is two and a hW upbeat performance if there ever was one. aaH: just as long as he can see his name In minutes ofa man smashing himselfova the Some pieces had good mush "Selections print. ausdia may not do all those things head with a guitar. When the Instrumbtt tom 380" by Julia Heyward, for example, a himself, but nadlredor/performaofvideo finally breaks, he then begins hacking at the Twinart's "Instant This, Instant That," (Music comedy, he certainly deserves the good far little pieces, until he's left gnawing on, A byTaste Tests) which showsa setof identical fleas his pieces are Hilarious. single string. "Ear to the around" by Kit twins going through a dayof"push a button. The sane care he said of thensi of thee: Fitzgeraid and John Sanborn takes a more processed food, turn a dial, Instant mood" JdWt at the ManderUk Art (cell". :'Vfdw/ positive approach to music: It features. a and putting Sugar Twin In their identical winunwr/Comedy:' maw being shown until modishly dressed ram complete with tinted Instant coffees. Followers ofnouveau music January 30. Time are almost eight and a may be familiar with the Residents. a San hail hours worth ofvideo humor or ized Francisco group who contribute four by Joke Minkowski for MediaStudy~Aa1o. Francisco group who contibute four with support -from the Iletional Endow "Minute Movies"i "Moisture," "Perfect meat for the Arts. The selection ranges Love," "The Act of Being Polite," and "The tam slapstick to sophisticated comedy, Simple Song." In laurle Anderson's "law form ofFthawall to downright bizarre. guage Is a Virus." a punk-looking , person And though individual performances with a dubbed-in baritone voice prom- might not appeal to evayone,.anyview Ises some "Difficult Music": "So sit bolt a who stays for an hour or so will find upright in that straight-backed chairl something genuinely fanny. Button up that top buttonl" Then the The eight-plus hours of tapes are di- voice delivers such profound lines as vided Into separate programs, accor- please turn to page 4 Kunst and Video : internat. Entwicklung u. Kunstler / Bettina Gruber ; Maria Vedder. - K61n : DuMont, 1983 . (DuMont-Dokumente) Ernest Gusella ISBN 3-7701-1497-3 Dollar-pro-Stunde-Digital-Zauber-Zoom-Technik zur Schau. Es werden Kunstler and Freunde in Rollen eingesetzt, die dem Dada-Repertoir entsprungen scheinen; dabei wird Beim Betrachten der von Kunstlern gestalteten Videobander ist es Kritikern von Anfang nur wenig gesprochen, doch ein Maximum an Musik muf3 dr6hnen - manchmal Hard- an aufgefallen, daB eine beachtliche Anzahl von Kunstlern sich auf die Darstellung des Rock, meistens Intensiv and stimmungsgeladen, aber immer sonderbar auoerirdisch and Kunstlers selbst konzentriert haben. Diese Arbeiten m6gen autobiographische Daten fremdartig. Es ist schwierig, irgendeine Beziehung zu einer der auf diesen Bandern enthalten oder einen asthetischen Standpunkt aufzeigen, aberdie offensichtliche Lassig- projizierten Persbnlichkeiten zu gewinnen . Diese Arbeiten vermitteln weder Warme noch keit and Amateurhaftigkeit des Ausganges hinterlaf3t immer wieder einen st6renden and menschliche Emotionen; da lacht oder lachelt keiner, and wenn doch, dann spr6de and unbefriedigenden Eindruck beim Publikum, das an professionellere and traditionellere schuchtern . Und es ist interessant, daft Werbe-Produzenten and Rock-Music-Promoter Kunstarten wie Fernsehen and Film gew6hnt ist. these Art des Angangs sofort fur ihre Zwecke vereinnahmt haben and damit den bizarren Fur dieses Phanomen gibt es eine Reihe von Erklarungen. Jeder Art von selbst- Kreislauf von Beeinflussung and Abweisung weitertreiben. bezogener Kunst liegt eine Untersuchung uber Existenz and Eigenarten von Geist and Was immer die Zukunft auch bringen mag - offensichtlich geben die Direktheit and die Dingen zugrunde . Materialcharakteristiken, physische Aktivitaten and Aspekte der Phan- reflektiven Qualitaten von Video auch weiterhin einen Rahmen for kunstlerische Analysen tasie spielen bei der Bestimmung der eigenen Beziehung zum Rest der Welt eine and Bemuhungen ab - and es ist ebenfalls sicher, daf3 die Video-Kunst schon jetzt einige signifikante Rolle. Video entstand-zu einem gewissen Grad von DADA, dem Futurismus Nuancen mehr zur Bedeutung des Wortes ,Narzismus,, addiert hat. and den Happenings der60erJahre beeinfluBt-als ein gesundes Kind, schreiend and um sich tretend, zugellos, narzistisch, in einigen Fallen bekennerhaft, aber keineswegs einverstanden mit dem Status Quo. Nam June Paik, anerkannter Urvater der Videokunst, begann in den 60er Jahren als Neo-Dada-Fluxus-Performer in Deutschland. Und es ist keineswegs Zufall, daB seine A divitaten auch in seine Video-Kunst mit eingingen and Einfluf3 auf zwei Generationen von Video-Kunstlern hatten . Als kunstlerisches Werkzeug ist Video ideal fur denjenigen Kunstler, der alleine in seinem Studio arbeitet: Er kann das greifbarste Objekt (sich selbst) erforschen and gleichzeitig mit dem experimentieren, was alles m6glich ist. Dieser Vorgang beeinfluBt zwangslaufig die Arbeit selbst, da vorgefaBte Ideen fur direktere Belange and Ideen beiseite geschoben werden. Wahrend der »Ich-Dekade« in den 70er Jahren glaubten viele Kunstler, dab Authentizitat - gleichgultig, wie obskur oder langweilig - wunschens- werter sei als vorfabrizierte Realitaten mit uberkommenen dramatischen Formen gewich- tig zu machen . Aber jetzt, Mitte der 80er Jahre, ist these Einstellung der einer neuen Generation - ,genahrt mit Fernseh-Commercials,, - gewichen . Beim ersten Eindruck wirken these neuen Bander schneller. Entweder im grof3en and ganzen unbearbeitet oder technisch anspruchsvoll, zeigen she ein neues Bewu3tsein der M6glichkeit, Kunst als Unterhaltung zu betrachten (wobei she vielleicht mit einem Auge auf den erbliihenden Kabel-Fernseh-Markt oder den sich immer wieder entziehenden -Better der Video- Kunst«, die Video-Bildplatte, schielen). Diese -New Wave ,, oder ,New Mood«-Stucke reflektieren erlebte Langeweile mit dem Minimalismus and der Vereinfachung der Prozef3-Kunst and haben ihren Stellenwert als Elemente der popularen Kultur (dieses Phanomen ist ubrigens uberall in der Kunst-Welt zu beobachten). Diese Bander sind keine Teile des Lebens- Bilder explodieren and verschwinden, bevor she aufgenommen Wolf Zooming; aus No Commercial Potential; 1976-1978 werden k6nnen. Wechsel erfolgen schnell - and wenn man es am wenigsten erwartet, Die Kamera ist auf Ernest Gusellas leicht unregelma8ige Vorderzahne gerichtet, die von Schurrbart and Bart rasen she ohne jede Synchronisation mit der Musik vorbei . Einige Bander sind grob and umgeben sind . Um den Zoomring des Kameraobiektives ist ein Band mit zwei losen Enden befestigt. Gusella zieht abwechselnd an beiden Enden, so dar3 der Zoom schnell vor- and zuriickf&hrt, was einen schnellen optischen roh wie die neueste , East Village Punk«-Musik, andere wiederum stellen die feinste 500- Rhythmus erzeugt.

122 123

Organized by the Walter Phillips Gallery, subcultures of enthusiasts for whom "video The Second Link The Banff Centre School of Fine Arts with art" has nothing to do with the issues of the the generous assistance of The Canada post-modernist fine arts tradition. These Viewpoints on Video in the Council and the Government of Canada are encouraging signs, but the best is yet to Eighties come. Truly revolutionary developments loom large on the horizon of video's future. Television in its present form represents It has become apparent that two grand A Medium Matures : Video exactly the opposite. Its goal is the themes - one technological, the other and the Cinematic production of standard observers through cultural - will shape the medium in the communication understood as a domain of 80's; and as we approach the millennium a Enterprise stabilized dependency relations that third force, more political in nature, will Gene Youngblood maintain constant the cognitive domains of propel video toward its historical destiny as the population . Thus, the notion that video the central instrument in the social art "bebngs on television" is both a construction of reality. contradiction of terms and a confusion of Let us begin by disabusing ourselves of By far the important For Personal vision is not public vision; most development, on myths. instance, the idea of video art. I issues- which the other two depend, is the there is thing. In the first art is not the stuff of mass communication. submit no such imminent merging of video with computer place, art is always independent of the The issue, of course, is specialized electronic publishing - that heroic technology. Among other things, this will medium through which it is practised. The abolish the distinction between professional domain in which something is deemed to be promise of the Video Revolution implying an vision whose and amateur insofar as that's determined art has nothing to do with how it was by the tools to which we have access as produced. In the second place, the structures have yet to be realized. This begs the political question, but the critique of the autonomous individuals, and this in turn boundaries of video art are circumscribed will precipitate a New Renaissance in the by a much larger history - that of the mass media was already definitive and complete by the early seventies, and today audio-visual arts. By the end of the decade, cinematic enterprise in all its diversity - video will replace film as the universal which contains video and defines its there is really nothing new to be said. We know that mercenaries have invaded the medium of cinematic practice ; as a result, possibilities. Although video is usually the critical discourse presently struggling identified with the fine arts tradition, its language, that they occupy every image, every word. We know that the only with issues of "video art" will merge with proper context is the tradition of personal that of the cinematic enterprise, forcing a cinema, outside of which its achievements alternative to their perceptual imperialism is continuous and pervasive access to radical reconstruction of the theory of cannot be assessed on any level more cinema . serious than that of artworks fashion or counter-definitions of reality (the ultimate "sensibility". Video is a cinematic medium political meaning of video art) but those long dreamed-of channels still do not exist. The third great force to shape the future of and the production of meaning through its video will be that long-heralded mythical unique properties is cinematic practice by transformation of culture and consciousness definition, regardless of the artist's cultural These reflections oblige us to known as the Communications Revolution, allegiances. We can legitimately speak of acknowledge that video art remains, after which, for at least a generation, has seemed cinematic art and visual art, although they eighteen years, both technologically and perpetually about to happen. It is not are not the same. But the term 'ideo", culturally immature. Technologically unreasonable to expect that by the which we will certainly continue to use, because as a cinematic medium it is still mid-1990's we shall at last find ourselves refers only craft, an industrial rather than to not to the object of personal tool; on the threshold of a genuine revolution in cinematic desire that actually claims our culturally because it is still primarily communications, which will occur only identified attention. What we really mean by "video with a single special-interest after the computer-video revolution that is art" is personal cinema practised group, the art works, whose academic and making it possible. A communications electronically. commercial venues constitute its only revolution is not about technology ; it's about market. A tool may legitimately be possible relations among people. It implies Another myth is that video has anything to described as mature only insofar as it is an inversion of existing social relations, Mo with television as we know it today. It is easy to use, accessible to everyone, whereby today's hierarchical mass culture apparent that video art is not television art. offering high quality at low cost and would disperse into autonomous Yet the myth persists that video is somehow characterized by a pluralistic rather than self-constituting "reality- synonymous in either singular practice, serving with television a a multitude of communities"-social groups of politically significant partisan or adversary way - either that the contradictory values . To paraphrase Susan magnitude, defined not by geography but Sontag, mars; of success in video is to be video, like photography, is not an by consciousness, ideology, and desire. It televised, or that its value lies in offering an art form the way painting and poetry are; seems to me that wide-spread use of ai emative to, or critique of, television. and if photography lends itself most strongly personal tools for simulation (computers) to the notion which Although we may find these arguments of art says that art is and conversation (two-way video) make transparent, their purchase on video's obsolete, then vid±o surely stands as the the rise of such communities all but paragon public image is so complete that they of that posture. It is truly a inevitable; and as their constituents we deserve . In first case, wa "medium" in the envirorxnentai attention the sense, like could produce models of possible realities need only remember that art and language, like water, and I will have (cinema) and also control the cultural cross reached cultural maturity communication are hu iamentally at only when its contexts in which those models were purposes. Art is a process o exploration ambient and pluralistic status is taken for published and perceived. I believe this is and inquiry. Its subject is human potential granted. Only then will video art truly not only essential for human flourish. possible but for aesthetic perception. It asks: How can dignity and survival . The continuous we be different? What is other? In a basic simulation of alternative realities within sense, then, art is always non- To be sure, video does seem posed on autonomous reality-communities would communicative: it is about personal vision the brink of realizing its potential. It is constitute a New Renaissance in which the and autonomy; its aim is to produce becoming ever more flexible as a artist-designer might address the profound non-standard observers. cinematic medium, and there are entire social and political challenges of our time. Artistic Trends other, a fusion of the two would seem to conversations on a massive scale are possess unparalleled potential for essential for human dignity and survival . emotional and intellectual discourse Two artistic and trends directly related to the poetic expression. To my knowledge the merging of video and computer technology only North will American artist who even comes Simulation and Desire characterize video art through the end close to satisfying these criteria of this is Ernest century. The new techniques will be Gusella in New York, whose surrealistic, extremely instrumental in What is important to realize is that in our meeting the operatic songs and poems are beginning challenge of a post-structuralist cinema conversations we create the realities we will to define a new trajectory for the dialog of talk about by talking which seeks to integrate tv-o traditions about them, thus we image and sound. In any case, I am become an autonomous reality-community . previously regarded as incompatible: first, convinced that the the "electronic opera" will To be conscious observers we need cinematic tradition (including surrealist develop into a lasting and mythopoeic cultural tradition language (verbal or visual). To have traditions of avant-garde through the integration of video personal cinema, whether and language we need each other. The actor/dialog- computer technology. individual based or purely formalistic) with its observer, standing alone, is an impossibility. There emphasis on illusion, spectacle, and is only the external reference through metaphoric observer-community or reality-community or whose allegorical narrative; and secondiy, the Communication constituents can talk about things versus Conversation (like art, science, religion) post-modernist tradition in the fine arts, because they characterized by minimalism, self- create the things they talk about by talking As video merges with the computer, and about them. reference, and a rigorous, didactic thus with As constituents of autonomous user-controlled telecommunication reality-communities investigation of the structures and networks, a communications revolution we shall hold materials of the medium, with continuously before ourselves altemative particular would seem all but inevitable, bringing with models of emphasis on deconstruction of it the rise of those possible realities. We shall learn autonomous to desire the realities representational schemes. reality-communities I mentioned earlier - we simulate by simulating the realities we desire, communities defined not by geography but specifying, For several years now the post-structuralist by through our control of both consciousness, ideology, and desire. medium and message, movements in all the arts have sought to Paradoxically, the migration context and to autonomous content - what is real reconcile these two histories, and a powerful reality-communities will not be achieved and what is not, what is right and wrong, good and synthesis seems to have emerged: rich in through communication. Communication bad, poetic resonance, romantic, what is related to what, and how. This is the even (from the Latin 'a shared space") is profound spectacular in form, it nevertheless interaction significance of the computer- retains in a common context ("to weave video revolution a poignant awareness of together") which and the cinema, understood its own makes communication as simulation, not fiction construction. In painting today it possible and determines the meaning . The purpose of is of all fiction is to mirror the world and represented by the New Image movement that is said. The control of context is the amuse the observer, the purpose of simulation is to - Clement, Salle, Fischl, Longo and the control of language is the control of reality. create rest; in music it is Bowie To new a world and transform the observer . and Byme and the create realities, therefore, we must As video art merges New Wave; in theatre, create new contexts, new with the computer, Robert Wilson, domains of transforming Meredith Monk and Laurie Anderson; consensus. That cannot be done through cinema into simulation, we in shall gather in contemporary cinema it is Godard (still) communication. You cannot step out of autonomous reality- and Straub-Huillet, Hans-Jurgen the context that defines communities and conspire to abolish once Syberberg communication by and for all the and Manoel de Oliveira and, in quite a communicating: it will lead only to trivial ancient dichotomies between art and life, different way, Fassbinder. As yet, video art permutations within the same consensus, destiny and desire. can claim no personality of this stature repeatedly validating the same reality. except perhaps Bill Viola; but it is video Rather, we need a creative conversation 0 1983 by the Walter Phillips Gallery nevertheless that will ultimately articulate a (from the Latin 'to turn around together") post-structuralist cinema far more radical that might lead to new consensus and and robust than that which theatrical hence to new realities, but which is not cinema has given us so far -precisely due itself a process of communication. 'Do you to the plasticity and interactivity of mean this or this?' 'No, I mean thus and cinematic image-events made possible by such . . ." During this nontrivial process we the computer. gradually approximate the possibility of communication, which will follow as a The second trend, which could be necessary trivial consequence once we regarded as a subcategory of the first, is have constructed a new consensus and what is currently being called 'isual woven together a new context. music" or "music image". I prefer the term Communication, as a domain of stabilized "opera" or operatic cinema. In any case let non-creative relations, can occur only after me quickly distinguish it from movie the ,crRative (but non-communicative) conversation musicals on the one hand and rock video that makes it possible - on the other. Whereas these are trivial oomrtturricaton is always non-aeatve and illustrations of popular music, the practice I creativity is always non-communicative. have in mind would constitute an organic Conversation, the prerequisite for all fusion of image and sound into a single creativity, requires a two-way channel of unity, created by a single artist who writes interaction. That does not guarantee and performs the music as well as creativity, but without it there will be no conceiving and executing the images that conversation and no creativity at all. That is are inseparable from it. Considering the why the worst thing we can say about the awesome cultural forces represented by the mass media is that they can only cinema on the one hand and music on the communicate - at a time when creative

La Biennnle di Venezia Ctmtune di Bologna Provincia di Bologna Regione Emilia Romagna Moetra ittterr't ;~ """ Settore Cinema (lei cinema lihcw c Spettacolo Televisivo Porrctta I crmc 1'immagine elettronica

In the early duvs oftelevisiun, the majority uJ'tlu" pro grams were live. They then shared a curnrnun ftuntre: V t0 video the maintaining ofreal time. Is this what gave I'll' iltut aura oftrutlfulness, thatfume qJ' broadcaster qJ' e.-e-

Throughout the evolution uJ' itsformats, this curtriotu Dal video alla TV tion has been always maintained: let'sjust think iJ'the News, of the journalist ((oil the scene)) . Naturally the Capitals, the advertizers, real owners gJ'the media, re- Nuove tendenze cognized this factor and, seeing it as one gJ'its most effective features, largely abused oj'it. How many spots del video nord-americano have we seen, spring on innocent ladies while cooking or doing their laundry, catched, as it were, ., art the New narrative/fiction and docu-drama scene v Qust like in the News), pretending we believed Whispers we caught them in a fragment uj't(real life,), a relevant moment because it will have brought us to understand that e this detergent is better than... u ? di Caterina Boreal Video, contrary to TV, has tried to break the narrative sequence as real time structure . This had been alreudv done by cinema, we ought to sqy that it is itsfist the es scene of montage (editing). But it has been so deeply assimilated into the vision that the associative process behind it has become natu ral, it is not done on a conscious level. Video has cara cterized itselffor its research towards a cun.strurtitm that will not follow real time structure. Scene dislocation, anti-temporal development and R out-ofcontext w: artists' research has concentrated mainly on the displacement of timing (through rcpcvi lion and slow/fast motion devices), andofsound iinut:c relationship (the breaking of the sine). It is when a real w timing is broken that single events tcet their own weight, single images become significant, (is words in the sparing usage ofpoetry. New composition criteria have been created. opposing traditionalformats. The central issue is to present ct W quence of image that will pursue the provoking cal u it rRNI?ST GUSELLA sensation and of a reaction in those who are utchirrs~ What under the sun (and not the delivery of a messagelideology) . It is u 60 min., colore . stereo, 1983 usage of ambiguity as activator factor, to remove tire , audiencefrom the passivity that has been, sofiir. u ccrr " E una visione personale del Messico e della sua scoria. the prende spunto dai resoconti della conquista di Cortex fatti da Ber- trale connotation of the TV medium. nal Diaz. e the trasporta la scoria nel presence. Oltre a quelli di The viewer is pushed to read between the lines. to use Diaz. mi hanno influenzato gli scritti di D.H. Lawrence, Aldous that automatic mental process intrinsic to inter I luxley. Grahnm Green. Malcolm Lowry, Augustin Yanez, Octa personal relationships: the process through which hc vio t Paz ed aim. individual completes the information received, with hi% L'ispirnzione per questo lavoro mi e venuta dal desiderio di appli- care quello the definisco *electronic stream of consciousness, own personal experience. (flusso di coscienza clettronico), the avevo gii utilizzato in prece- The audience, getting into the creative process, finds denza, all'argomento Messico ". and recognizes itself as active partecipating .subject: not a hole to be filled by " In questi ultimi dieci anni mi sono occupato della creazione di un informatiunlentertain nuovo linguaggio poetico attraverso Iimpiego del video. Ho mi- mentleonsumistic excitement. but an alive point inieru rato alla comunicazione di una Gestalt attraverso metafore visive cting with the image that are presented to himlhcr. It i e di udito the utilizzassero il flusso di coscienza. e la tecnologia up to him/her to imagine the cohesion and the tlct "chr elettronica disponibile. Questa Gestalt e ii risultato dell'integra- pment, to create the story and to It zione di osservnzioni make it significurri . fllosofiche . elementi pittorici e sonori. (IFrtl Lo scopo e di indicate una struttura informativa capace di coin- is becoming an interaction between the author volgere to spettatore su una moltepliciti di livelli in continuo movi- another individul, through technology. tnento .. This partecipation could shake a lot of television tiru eture and of its ef icacy. We are still oil a level ctl (it lr Bologna, 25-29 febbraio 1984 Gate tentative, whispers to an expanding audiertce".

Con il patrocinio del Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo

Film Ll"braryQuarterlyVolume . Number I t ,in4 Video: Approaching Indepen - nts These artists have discovered that conventional storytelling is an inefficient way of telling by Michael Gitlin, a story via video . The possibilities of piling on dozens of images and associations in a short time offer a rich vein of communication . The comparison of dreams 1o motion pictures has been made since its first days, yet video perhaps is a better medium in which to make this comparison. Its intimacy makes the force of its juxtapositions greater. The lack of detail Narrative suggests Jungian archetypes rather than Freudian individuals to the viewer and universal resonances come more easily from this personal material in this nit-diunr . Ernest Gusclla makes use of this aspect of video in his tapes. Ills style is tom. and Ills structure straightforward . It consists of one image, or one stylistic device per segment . set to In discussing film as amass medium, one isbasically talking about the classic Hollyw rrinl a song or anecdote . Pictures from around the world inix with puns, songs, bits of ancient narrative film . A1 a very early stage in its history, motion pictures began adapting shale., culture, literary allusions and pop culture . They are planted all together and set 411110 an from books or the stage for the screen . In retrospect it might seem it) have been logical or electronic dreamscape . The narrative strain in lire works is tile journey through a spare inevitable, but as wave after waveofavant-garde filmmakers have reminded us. this is iiiii tile which exists in Gusella's mind and is transferred to the video screen . The enonnous ryas h rd case . It was a coupling ofan accepted and convenient structure for films, a structure that wk's . his allusions is reininiscent ofPalk, but his vision is more idiosyncratic . is not sic %4 tile There tile familiar to the audience . As the decades have gone by, the narrative structures ha%c obscure, and perverse, here . Popular culture mingles with the arcane . Hut tile ,ruse a+l remained, but the images have taken on a life of their own . The figure of the movie star was spacing being transformed by video into a purely inner landscape is sltougly lilt. Countless possibly the first icon tohave meaning outside the framework of its narrative and it remains a visions are juxtaposed to decipher our environment. (iusclla's two nuM rei cot (tires very durable image today. But this is only one instance of a process which had been Connecticut Papoose (1981) and Bending I)iogerre.i 11983) follow this line of diooglit I leek occurring since tile advent of moving images as audiences absorbed more and the culture is the suggestion of the classic narrative and a theme . but again we do not ha%e tlir , Li%sic began to give common meanings to stylistic devices and images . The advent of Icle% i.-ion narrative line to follow . We have to work our way as if Front tile back waders ~,I ,a d% me accelerated the process as it increased the visibility of the moving image and subtly changed civilization to gather evidence for a future pose-inortem . its nature . The television advertisement with its short, staccato lime span and desire to A somewh .r more conservaime narrative . but only slighll). is explored m %koods provide a wealth of marketing information acculturated audiences to watching television - Vasulka's Die Commission (1983) . The wealth of effects capable of being generated b!i and even movies--with less reliance on narrative structure . Today, most children arc more electronic image-processing is used to add resonance to a simple story. It's about the great familiar with the television advertisement as a communication medium than stories eillier nineteenth-century violinist . Nicolo Pa anini 1 la ed b Ernest Gusellal . commissioning read or told to them. This is having a great influence on the programming of television and the composer Hector Berhoz (played y rt Ashley) to create a work. But it's hardly a on movies. There is more movement and less plot . Many of Hollywood's new directors had story al all . It's an imagining of an event that may or may not have happened. And it's theirtraining in television advertisements and oldlinte Hollywood directors bemoan 11te new imagined not through period detail or long exposition, but through sharp characterization inovies lack of dialogue and plot structure . and a visual style that is striking in a way that is pure video. Vasulka works the effects and the Hitt in spiteofthis andthe success of MTV (music video), there is no doubt that the classic narrative together in a provocative way so that the effects are, indeed, noteffects but part and narrative remains supreme in mass media. It and its variations continue to hold a fascination parcel of a complete entity, a finished work . By choosing one of the most eccentric for independent vidcomakers as well . Almost without exception they have eschewed tile character- in musical history. he allows himself a great deal of leeway in recreating him. conventions of the dramatic form which still dominates television and commercial film . Thus . Vasulka has devised a narrative . which like many of the previous tapes. is based on a While television has moved slowly-almost unconsciously-toward new modes of story- succession of iconic images. the main one being the attenuated figure of Paganini who is telling, independents have surged ahead . The nature of telling a story continues to hold further stylized by his graphically surrealistic language which he whispers into his son's ear them; but the question ofhow best toexpress it in terms of video is the locus of their aesthetic in order that the boy can repeat it audibly . The shape of Paganini, his voice. the slowly experimentation . 'Iii this end. there has been considerable ingenuity and innovation. Like moving camera that always photographs him, contribute to create an eerie presence . tile works discussed in the documentary section, there are two opposing trends : one uses a Vasulka's synthesizer allows him to create from within a huge range of images. The static camera with little or no editing ; the other uses constant movement, fragmented synthesized vision is a harbinger of possibility for video narrative . It offers a tremendous sequences, repetition, and many other of the effects available through video synthesis atal range of control as well as a way 1o humanize what otherwise might seem to be very cool and computerized editing . distant electronic images.