*» Video m Spaces: Eight Installations < i i III *.V—4 & '* . The Museum of Modern Art i *' Video Spaces The Museum of Modern Art Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York 1 Video Spaces: Eight Installations by Barbara London Published on the occasion of the exhibition Video Spaces: Eight Installations, organized by Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Video, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 22-September 12, 1995. This exhibition is supported in part by grants from The Japan Foundation, individual members of The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and the Canadian Consulate General, New York. Transportation assistance has been provided in part by Japan Airlines. Copyright © 1995 by The Museumof Modern Art, New York Certain illustrations are covered by claims to copyright cited in the Photograph Credits. All rights reserved. Library of CongressCatalogue Card Number 94-073386 ISBN0-87070-646-2 (MoMA/T&H) ISBN0-8109-6146-6 (Abrams) Produced by the Department of Publications The Museum of ModernArt, New York Osa Brown, Director of Publications Edited by Alexandra Bonfante-Warrenand Barbara Ross Geiger Designed by Emsworth Design, NewYork Production by Marc Sapir Published by The Museumof ModernArt Printed by Meridian Printing, East Greenwich, 11 West 53 Street, New York, New York 10019 Rhode Island Bound by MuellerTrade Bindery, Middletown, Distributed in the United States and Canada Connecticut by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, A Times Mirror Company Distributed outside the United States and Canada by Thames and Hudson, Ltd., London Printed in the United States Cover:Background, Tony Oursler,System for Dramatic Feedback, 1994. Insets, photographic details of other installations in the exhibition. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction by Samuel R. Delany "Video Spaces" by Barbara London "3 Judith Barry/Brad Miskell Stan Douglas Teiji Furuhashi Gary Hill Chris Marker Marcel Odenbach Tony Oursler Bill Viola Photograph Credits 78 Bibliography 79 Acknowledgments In recent years video has merged with such Peggy Gale, Mona Hatoum, Ralph Hocking, fields as architecture, sculpture, and perfor Mary Milton, Nam June Paik, Tom Wolf, and mance to create a dynamic new art form: video Henry Zemel. installation. Video Spaces: Eight Installations is A collegial team within the Museum has the first exhibition at The Museum of Modern made Video Spaces possible. Sally Berger, work Art to feature some of the world's most recog ing with the Video Program's committed group nized innovators in this area. of interns, perceptively and efficiently oversaw The organization of this exhibition has myriad details, including the compilation of been a stimulating and rewarding experience, biographical material for the catalogue. Daniel enriched by the wit of the artists themselves. Vecchitto and John L. Wielk helped secure I would like to thank Judith Barry and Brad funding for the exhibition. James S. Snyder Miskell, Stan Douglas, Teiji Furuhashi, Gary and Eleni Cocordas coordinated complex logis Hill, Chris Marker, Marcel Odenbach, Tony tics, and Jerome Neuner devised the innovative Oursler, and Bill Viola, who have been involved installation design, which was carried out by in every phase of the project. Not only is their Peter Omlor and the exhibition production work visually and conceptually insightful but staff. Projectionist Charles Kalinowski capably they are congenial collaborators as well. guided us through the complex technical The contributions of numerous colleagues aspects of the individual installations. Nancy have insured the project's success. While I am Henriksson of the Registrar's office oversaw unable to acknowledge all of them here, I want shipping arrangements, and Elizabeth Tweedy to mention several key people. The exhibition Streibert brilliantly conceived the tour. I appre has been generously supported by the ciate the assistance of Daniel Starr and Eumie Museum's Video Advisory Committee and mem Imm, of the Museum Library, and of Jessica bers of the Contemporary Arts Council, which Schwartz and Samantha Graham, who have have graciously given their time, expertise, enthusiastically publicized the exhibition. and financial assistance. I especially thank The Department of Publications was Margot Ernst, Barbara Foshay-Miller, Joyce and responsible for the production of the cata George Moss, Patricia Orden, Barbara Pine, and logue; I want to thank Osa Brown, Nancy Barbara Wise. The assistance of colleagues at Kranz, and Harriet Schoenholz Bee, as well as The Japan Foundation and the Canadian Con editors Alexandra Bonfante-Warren and Barbara sulate in New York has also been greatly appre Ross Geiger for their clarity, and Marc Sapir for ciated. skillfully finding "electronic" solutions to the The artists' dealers and their staffs were production process. For the innovative book exceptionally helpful: Nicole Klagsbrun, Janelle design, I am indebted to Tony Drobinski, who Reiring and Helen Weiner of Metro Pictures, once again rose to the challenge of portraying Jim Cohan of Anthony D'Offay Gallery, Donald video art on the printed page; to Devika Young, and David Zwirner. I also want to thank Khanna; and to Jody Hanson, who supervised Susanne Ghez of the Renaissance Society, the design of both the catalogue and the Yukiko Shikata and Kazunao Abe of Canon installation graphics. ARTLAB,Sherri Geldin and Bill Horrigan of the I particularly want to thank Richard E. Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, Edith Oldenburg, Director Emeritus; Glenn D. Lowry, Kramer of the Pacific film Archive, James Director Designate; Mary Lea Bandy and Lau Quandt of the Cinematheque Ontario, Carlota rence Kardish, of the Department of Film and Alvarez Basso of the Museo Nacional Centro de Video; Kirk Varnedoe and Robert Storr, of the Arte Reina Sofia, Rolf Lauter of the Museum Department of Painting and Sculpture; and fur Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt-am-Main), Kira Riva Castleman, of the Department of Prints Perov and Dianna Pescar of Bill Viola Studios, and Illustrated Books. Their dedication to this and Lori Zippay and Stephen Vitiello of Elec project transformed an idea into reality. tronic Arts Intermix. For their input of various kinds, I want to recognize Paola Antonelli, Deirdre Boyle, Sheryl Conkelton, John Coplans, —B.L. Introduction by Samuel R. Delany I began reading science fiction well back CordwainerSmith, AlfredBester, Theodore in elementary school, toward the start of Sturgeon, Joanna Russ, and ThomasM. the 1950s. An experienceI connect with Disch. Secondis the visual form—com that early reading is a visit to The mercial comicsand films—in which any Museumof Modernart in the seventh or concern for clear observation of the world eighth grade. The piece in the Museum is lost to the overwhelmingfear of plac that struck me most forcefullyas a child ing any intellectual strain on the audi (a child who had been reading science ence. Fromtime to time the visual form fiction stories for a year or two) was does produce an interesting surface—for ThomasWilfred's Vertical Sequence, Op. example,in comic-bookillustrator Alex 137 (1941), one of a series of works he Raymond'sFlash Gordonseries, or in called Lumiacompositions. filmmakerGeorge Lucas's Star Warstril VerticalSequence stood in the middle ogy. What keeps this surface from amass of one of the side galleries—a small box, ing any substantial conceptual weight is on one side of which was a translucent its producers'fear of the audience's glass screen. On this surface, propelledby response should that surface ever display hidden mirrors, lenses, lights, and any identifiable ideas. mechanicalmotors within the box, colors The popular notions connected with swirled, drifted, vanished, and reappeared science fiction—the special effects of "sci in syrupy, attenuated slow motion. Verti fi"—come almost entirely from this sec cal Sequencewas the piece I and my ond form. The worth and significanceof classmatestalked about after we left the the field come entirely from the first, Museum,the piece we urged all our even when the occasionalreader, excited friends to see. It wasn't quite a painting. by ideas generated by the written form, It didn't hang on a wall. Thoughit stood applies them in interesting ways to some free in the center of a room, it wasn't a of the visual surfaces produced by the sculpture: the part you paid attention to second. It is worth noting, then, that the comprisedimages on a flat surface. For a young people who were excited by Verti long time VerticalSequence had its own cal Sequencewere science fiction readers, small, darkened gallery—like a contem not viewers. (The real descendants of Wil porary installation. Although clearly the fred's Lumiacompositions are the "light movementon the screen was created by shows"that accompaniedrock concerts mechanicalmeans (if you put your ear throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Though against it, you could just make out the many of these are now computerized— whirrr of rotors), rather than electronic and video has certainly made its inroads circuitry, it seemed—at least to the here as well—most of the effects, like child's eye—to have something to do those of VerticalSequence, are still largely with television, which had only recently created using mechanicalmeans.) become widely available. In John Varley'sfine science fiction Sciencefiction has always come to us story ThePhantom Kansas (1976), in two forms. The first and more signifi weather sculptors create marvelous cant is the written form, which ranges weather "symphonies,"using computers, from the swashbucklingadventures of dry ice, and explosionsto create torna "Doc"Smith and the semiliterate Colonel does, lightning bolts, and cloud forma S. P. Meek,to the sophisticated and ver tions that move back and forth across the bally rich work of Stanley G. Weinbaum, sun over the course of a few hours or 10 even days. In this story of a murder vic way up out of necessity, so that nothing tim brought back to life to seek out her is missed.