– Lyricism in Patterns of Light A basic understanding of it must be provi- 1. Video Feedback – ded before explaining what fascinates me, Discovery of Light Patterns I have been interested in optic seriality, repe- An Essay by Barbara Doser the opportunities it offers, and where it is ultimately taking me. titions and variations since my childhood. At the same time this will answer the ques- Noticing and observing abstract forms and tion I am asked constantly concerning what structures in motion, whether in overgrown Introduction kind of software is used to produce my gardens or the chaos in the skies, has never 1. Video Feedback – Discovery of Light Patterns moving images. My works have nothing to failed to delight me. 2. The Video-Feedback System and Its “Functional Strategy” do with computer animation as such. They 3. The Video-Feedback System as a Pattern Generator are generated by means of a video camera In 1993, while trying out my fi rst video 4. Processing Video-Feedback Material camera, I discovered the phenomenon of •Analyses in Terms of Time and Space and connected monitor, the former directed video feedback for myself. The camera, con- •Generation of Mutations at the latter. This produces a feedback pro- nected to the television set, was by chance •Generation of Patterns with Feedback Patterns cess that autogenerates abstract forms and fi lming its screen, and in this way a world of 5. Combining Moving Images and Sound structures in motion. For this reason, I also autogenerated abstract moving images that 6. Stills as Snapshots: Paintings and Printed Works term the video-feedback system a “pattern are dependent of devices themselves was 7. Digression – Video Feedback at the Birth of generator”. In this essay I examine my inter- revealed to me. •Early Use of Video Technology est in analyzing the resulting video-feed- •Video Feedback in Art during the 1960s and ’70s back material in terms of time and space I then began to work and experiment with •Artistic Experiments at TV Studios and developing it further both formally and this technology, though without refl ecting on •The Video-Feedback System as a Tool in Video Art conceptually so that “mutations” and “pat- its historical development in art. My fasci- •The History of Video as Technological History terns” are created. nation for the torrent of forms and the vast •Video-Feedback Aesthetic without Video Feedback Furthermore, I describe the role assigned potential of complex moving structures they •Video Feedback as a Contemporary Visual Event to sound, and then address the question offered, some of which were too fast for the 8. Conclusion of why still images of my art in the human eye to fully perceive, led to series of experiments. The intention was to cre- sense of snapshots are so important. When ate and manipulate the randomly generated adapted as paintings and printed works, Introduction moving images and control them according they represent an essential element of my An artwork must stand alone and have an viewer’s refl ections concerning the work in to my ideas. work with moving images. independent effect. It should not require question. The idea behind a work of art may An enormous pool of data comprising video- an introductory description or explanation, be altered for the recipient, possibly produ- feedback material has continued to grow as as that infl uences an individual’s reception cing an Aha! effect that should be given a In a digression I examine video feedback in and therefore the viewer’s personal enjoy- backseat to the initial impression; unfortu- the early years of video art in the US, in the ment of discovery, even depriving them of nately, this is not normally the case. There late 1960s. This section focuses on artists’ the chance to form their own opinion. In is a wide variety of reasons why this hap- work and events into the 1970s that are this case, and most others also: “The fi rst pens, but they involve the members of the relevant to my work in terms of thematic impression is the deepest.” audience as individuals and will not be dealt historical context. When the artist provides some sort of expla- with here. Noteworthy is the fact that, also in the US, nation, it is irrelevant with regard to the qua- abstract animation fi lm in the 1950s and lity of the work itself. Information relating to For this reason I do not provide descriptions ’60s produced visual results that in a way the artwork, regarding technique or histor- of my artworks, experimental art videos, anticipated the aesthetics of video feed- ical context in particular, can limit the vie- video and spatial installations, or paintings back. wer’s understanding to this context alone. and printed works in the following essay. A concluding jump into the present calls An artist’s interpretation of his or her work They must stand alone. attention to the fact that video feedback provides insight into the underlying thought I fi rstly explain the video-feedback tech- continues to exist and fascinate as a visu- process, which, of course, infl uences the nique, as it represents the basis of my work. al event. Video camera pointed at the monitor it is connected to

20 a result, the source of footage for my visuals that is manipulated in a vast variety of dif- ferent ways. I see abstract video-feedback forms in moti- on as a technical phenomenon with an orga- nic and only seemingly natural character and appearance. When observing feed- back processes I have a sense of witnessing something evolutionary, elementary taking place in a kind of temporal distension or compression, as both an analogy and con- The camera is rotated and zoomed toward the vanishing point trast to nature, and characterized by a lyri- does not reproduce any kind of reality, as it 2. The Video-Feedback System and Its and immediately sends its picture back to cism that moves me. is itself reality. “Functional Strategy” that same monitor. By means of the auto- This gives rise to my interest in analytical- The aesthetic of video-feedback images The video-feedback system involves a closed matic repetition of this process – the feed- ly observing and investigating the autogene- results from the method used to generate cycle between video camera and monitor in back process – these pictures are repro- rated formal and structural variety of video them at the event horizon of chaos. Pro- which information is “fed back” into itself. duced in superimpositions upon them- feedback. When doing so I remain in the duced are forms born of a plane or an ima- This can also be done using a cellphone selves. Successively smaller images of the abstract and non-representational fi eld. My ginary space that develop, evolve, rotate and with an integrated video camera connec- monitor are visible in a kind of tunnel lea- intention is to investigate motion as form and are renewed before disappearing. Forms in ted to a notebook computer. The important ding to the vanishing point. form as motion, analyze and comprehend motion and motion as form, chaotic cos- thing is that the electronic recording device This can be compared to the effect pro- the two in terms of time and space. This pro- moses full of spatial complexity and dynam- is pointed at the playback device to which duced by two mirrors set up directly across duces more than simply special insights into ic behavior. it is connected. Light, and not only ambient from each other, as in halls of mirrors. the dynamic processes in which structure is As they have no concrete content, their light, plays an important role. When the camera is rotated, the monitor is created, processes generated by feedback reception enjoys unlimited latitude that Video feedback can be regarded as the visu- fi lmed and shown rotating in the same way. between camera and monitor in connection leads to the construction of cognitive “rea- al equivalent of electronic audio feedback. The next image that is captured and sent to with light; at the same time fascinating new lities” beyond conventional perception and Both are systems of fed-back information in the monitor is superimposed at the same visual subcosmoses are created. views – subjective mutations as correlates which a portion of the output signal is retur- angle as that of the camera’s rotation, over- When played back or reproduced, an elec- in the viewer’s mind. ned to the system’s input directly or in modi- lapping a portion of the previous image, an tronic moving image represents immaterial fi ed form, and input and output continuous- afterimage of which is still visible, and so light that exists for only a moment, a visu- The video-feedback system has in my opin- ly amplify each other.1 on. The effect produced is one of succes- al event playing out in an electronic visual ion both lyric and creative potential, and it The video camera fi lms the monitor it is sive partial additions in the direction of the space. Video feedback, on the other hand, also possesses potential infi nity. directed at, which is blank at that moment, rotation.

Left: The camera is rotated and zoomed toward the vanishing point, and brightness and contrast on camera and monitor are altered. Middle: spatial dislocation within a defi ned circular area: chaos, camera angle of approximately 60°, zoom >1, the forms develop from the center outward. Right: detail of the center as an analysis in terms of space

1 This should be regarded as the defi nitive defi nition of video feedback, and it is the only one relevant to my work. “Closed circuit” is often incorrectly equated with video feedback by art historians. In most closed-circuit installations a video came- ra is connected to a monitor showing what the camera sees in realtime. Recognized internationally as a new video-art technique since the late 1960s, this involves the viewer, who is at the same time an actor, in processes of self-refl ection. In another context the term video feedback is also used in the fi elds of psychotherapy and coaching as an instrument for self-refl ection. Video material is analyzed live or after an event.

21 Left: Graph showing how images change during the video-feed- back process. V represents the angle at which the camera is nifi cant parameters for manipulation when rotated on its horizontal axis.2 the images are generated. Selection of the amount of zoom and the When the video-feedback system is mani- degree of the camera’s rotation has a signi- pulated in some way or a change is made, fi cant effect on the nature of the video such as when the camera is zoomed toward feedback. At a zoom of 1 (1:1) the picture the vanishing point, which is light, the sys- remains static, and when the camera is tem descends into chaos. A vast number rotated, a spiral rotation that then stops in of points of light are created, and in the a point of light is produced. course of the feedback process – from one Zooming toward the point of light, in other image to the next – they overlap partial- words increasing the zoom, makes the ly or adjacent points merge. This phenom- system descend into chaos. Chaotic forms enon is produced, fi rstly, by the amount of and structures are generated, from their time the points are illuminated on the mon- center to their edges, and their rotation fol- itor, the beginning and ending of which is lows that of the camera. Chaotic behavior fl uid and which involves successive images is produced because the slightest chan- (afterimages), and secondly, by the impreci- ge in the initial conditions results in non- sion and fuzziness involved in the process periodic and seemingly irregular behavior. of recording, propagation of the signal, and In the video-feedback system the mecha- reproduction of the images. nisms of self-propagation through feedback As the feedback process progresses, are responsible for the exponential increase abstract dynamic forms and structures of in differences compared to the initial con- light are autogenerated, producing visual ditions. cosmoses within electronic devices. The speed of repetition in the video-feed- back system (capture of the picture and My experiments since 1993 have been made reproduction on the monitor) is determined with a Hi8 video camera (later replaced by by the refresh rate. In the PAL system 50 MiniDV) connected to a CRT monitor. To cap- half-frames (interlaced mode) or 25 full fra- ture the images in black-and-white, I run the mes (deinterlaced mode/progressive scan signal through an image processor, which mode) are recorded, sent and received per allows me to easily control brightness, con- second. trast and focus sharpening at the same time. The setting is a semi-dark room. External 3. The Video-Feedback System sources of light and refl ections on the moni- as a Pattern Generator tor are avoided. The relative positions of In 1984 mathematician and physicist James camera and monitor (distance and angle), P. Crutchfi eld described the video-feedback ambient light and the angle at which the system as a “space-time simulator”. camera is rotated on its axis (up to 360 Studying this simulator’s dynamics facili- degrees) play an important role for composi- tates understanding of a number of other tion and control of the image. matters relating to dynamic system theory, The camera’s functions, such as zoom, iterative image processing, cellular automa- focus, brightness and contrast, and bright- ta and biological morphogenesis.3 Relevant ness, contrast, focus sharpening, color and scientifi c disciplines have since confi rmed vertical hold on the monitor, represent sig- Crutchfi eld’s claim.

22 The fact that the video-feedback system also orthogonality.9 Kraft uses the term rhythm represents a pattern generator is a product “as opposed to meter or rate” to desig- of the system’s “functional strategy” and the nate the repetition of similar elements. This fact that the autogenerated images po ssess involves a dynamic process that plays out in all the characteristics of a pattern. the fi eld of tension between order and cha- This is illustrated by Kerstin Kraft’s defi ni- os. In contrast, the metric repetition of some- tion of pattern, formed after comprehensive thing identical is symmetric and static.10 evaluation of relevant results produced in a The dimension determines the structure, variety of scientifi c disciplines. and the dimensional structure “provides for the viewer a living system that observes oth- “A pattern consists of the smallest units to er living systems – patterns as the products be isolated, which are then assembled into of human action”. The dimension is depen- a potentially infi nite whole according to the dent on the viewer’s perspective.7 principle of repetition. (…) According to this defi nition, the pattern is not bound to either In the video-feedback system, images a specifi c material, location, discipline or (motifs) are repeated in the process taking time, meaning that it is not only itself infi nite place between camera and monitor, and as a pattern, the number of its occurrences they are displayed as overlapping in part, is infi nite also.“4 which alters them in successive images. In other words, a defi nite principle of repetition The structural elements of a pattern are is involved. For example, it can be described repetition, symmetry, rhythm and dimen- as follows when the camera is rotated: The sion, whereby symmetry and rhythm serve repetition is spatially and temporally cyclical. as principles of repetition for the purpose of The symmetry or movement in space is rota- differentiation.5 tional. The movement’s direction is circular. Left: Video-Feedback, camera angle of approximately 90°. Right: Detail from the picture’s center, an interlaced half-frame of even and “Rhythm and symmetry produce patterns The rhythm represents a dynamic process, odd lines (1/50 sec each) results in 1/25 sec. Down left: Even half-frame (1/50 sec). down right: Odd half-frame, (1/50 sec). in that they repeat something, and the spe- as similar elements are repeated. This crea- cifi c nature of the repetition is decisive.”6 tes a fi eld of tension between order and involves the effi cient cause, is dynamic, ded as a creator of time, space, form and As systems they are able to describe time- chaos. and amounts to, so to speak, the “‘evolu- pattern. In his research the French archeolo- space relationships.7 Thus, repetition con- tion’ of a bodily movement”.8 The essence gist, paleontologist and expert on prehistoric stitutes the pattern, is its key characteristic Once the video-feedback system has been of repetition in the video-feedback system, art emphasizes the dynamics of rhythm and and the source of its potential infi nity. Repe- defi ned as a pattern generator, one can accor ding to Deleuze’s conceptual model, is its creative power. He also regards rhythm tition is either spatial: serial, cyclical (circu- assume that all scientifi c theories relating determined by its effi cient cause, it is dyna- lar) or oscillatory; or temporal: periodic (the to patterns will contain analogies, as in the mic and represents, so to speak, the “‘evo- 2 The illustrations are by Michael Cramer Andersen, http:// repetition reoccurs after a certain amount examples provided below. lution’ of a bodily movement” – when regar- www.videofeedback.dk/vf/vf_simul.html (accessed Novem- ber 16, 2009) of time). ded as an evolutionary autorefl exive deve- 3 James P. Crutchfi eld, “Space–Time Dynamics in Video Feed- Symmetry refers to the nature of the move- In his 1968 book “Difference and Repe- lopment of symbolic messages and an alle- back,” Physica (1984), http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/ PDF_Eigenwelt/pdf/191-207.pdf (accessed No vem ber 16, ment in space. There are bilateral symme- tition” French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gorical sign or action. 2009) tries (mirror refl ections), translational sym- writes of “repetitive structures” rather than The feedback process makes the “diffe rence” 4 Kerstin Kraft, “Muster ohne Wert. Zur Funktionalisierung und Marginalisierung des Musters,” (dissertation, Universi- metries (shifts), rotational symmetries, and “patterns.” In it he focuses on the essence between motif and its repetition immanent. ty of Bochum, 2001), 10, http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/do what are termed ornamental and crystal- of repetition, which is illustrated through It manifests itself as the rhythm of an ongo- kserv?idn=965565424&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&fi lena me=965565424.pdf (accessed November 16, 2009) lographic symmetries, which extend over analysis of its causality, and differentiates ing dynamic process that plays out in the 5 Ibid., 56 planes and through space.8 The direction between two types of repetition. One invol- fi eld of tension between order and chaos. 6 Ibid., 53-55 7 Ibid., 34 of movement is circular or linear, which pro- ves the abstract overall effect, is static According to André Leroi-Gourhan’s theory 8 Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, trans. Paul Patton duces the spiral and helical form and the and the result of the work. The other type the video-feedback system must be regar- (London: Athlone, 1994), 20

23 – the repetition of similar elements – as a ple manipulating the playback speed to the dynamic process that simultaneously cre- point of standstill. ates and generates something. Action and Analyses in terms of space are made by gesture are the focus when this happens: focusing on portions of the picture or selec- Rhythms are the creators of time and space, ting them from a feedback video. Such ana-

at least for the individual. “Space and time lyses must take into account the fact that Odd and even half-frames superimposed semitransparently (1/25 second in length). Superimposing white fi elds over black fi elds produ- ces gray. White superimposed over white and black over black remains white or black. This provides an example of what happens to the do not enter lived experience until they in the PAL system and interlacing, used for half-frames in progressive-scan mode. They are assembled or merged and lengthened to 1/25 second. are materialized within a rhythmic frame. television and video technology in Europe Rhythms are also the creators of forms.”9 until the introduction of digital television, a second of video consists of 50 half-frames – 25 odd and 25 even interlacing half-fra- 4. Processing Video-Feedback Material mes of 1/50 second each – that are dis- When I consciously direct the video-feed- played successively. back system, which is self-contained and The full-frame rate (25 frames per second) Sorted odd half-frames (1/25 second in length) autonomous, it adds motion to autogenerat- is halved vertically, and on CRT monitors the ed abstract forms. afterimage of a previous frame’s odd lines When an AV processor is added to the gene- are dis played in full after transmis sion of ration process, the resulting video-feedback the succeeding even lines, thus producing material is black and white. The non-colors a complete image. This method is based black and white are signifi cant, as the visual on the assumption that the contents of Sorted even half-frames (1/25 second in length) material’s forms and structures are highligh- adjacent lines (even and odd within 1/25 ted by the stark contrast without the distur- second) are nearly identical. If they are not, bing impact of color. Color or a combination as is the case with video feedback, fl icke- of colors can be added later to accentuate ring is produced. In progressive scanning, or emotionalize forms and their motion. which is used for digital television, the fra- When working with video-feedback material me is created line by line in full resolution Semitransparent superimposition with the following frame my main interest is analyzing it in terms of and 25 times per second. time and space. The material produced in this way is altered further to create “muta- • Generation of Mutations tions” that can ultimately be transformed Material created through analyses of time into “patterns”. All these processing strate- and space is normally employed as the gies are applied to produce what could be source material for generating mutations, termed “snapshots”: individual or series of done preferably by reducing or compres- Semitransparent superimposition with the following even half-frame stills. sing visual structures within the frame. For Inexpensive consumer software tools are example, reduction involves isolating the used to process the material. A conventio- even and odd half-frames, which are then nal PC and the Adobe Premiere video edi- rearranged systematically so as to create ting program are used for realization of my permutations. conceptual and formal ideas. Another possible reduction method involves Odd and even half-frames superimposed semitransparently, grey and black fi elds get the same color reducing forms to their outlines or selecting • Analyses in Terms of Time and Space solely a detail of the images. One of my primary goals is obtaining insight Visual structures are compressed by means into the complexity of the video-feedback of systematic or unsystematic layering of material. To this end I employ methods that individual frames with others that precede enable analyses in terms of time, for exam- or follow them. When the images are tinted Outlines of the superimposed half-frames

24 and superimposed semitransparently, forms one hand, on a line of logic which is, in a • PARALLEL MEDIA – are added to or sub tracted from the picture sense, fi xed regarding the technology used, Barbara Doser and Hofstetter Kurt to produce new color nuances and with and on the other as the result of a primal Video works, such as those I have produced them new forms and therefore new motion human desire for synesthesia. together with Hofstetter Kurt under the title as form. PARALLEL MEDIA since 1998, “focus the In my work the question of the “necessity” interweaving and simultaneous interference • Generation of Patterns with Feedback Patterns of and relationship between sound and at the limits of perception”, as Hofstetter Video-feedback material has already been image in a conceptual and aesthetic regard Kurt describes it. The point of departure defi ned as a pattern, and repetition makes is posed repeatedly. My main interest does is the specifi c method of generating sound it a pattern of a pattern. Repetition repre- not involve the linking of sound and image. and image. In the case of video feedback, sents a kind of pattern itself; this is its most I am interested in the “power of the auditory” visual events are reproduced upon them- important characteristic and the source of as applied to the optical in experimental selves as a result of parallelism and cycles. When audio material is generated, Hofstet- its potential infi nity. The only element that form. My intention is to employ experimental Below: Serial repetition in a detail, arranged in a matrix. 10 The ori g i nal ly circular motion has become linear. still requires defi nition is the principle of rep- sound for the purpose of manipulating visual ter Kurt employs the “Möbius Sounds” he developed, which are also based on paral- etition characterizing the pattern’s nature perception and suggesting content which is lelism and cycles. During creation of these and appearance. intended to result in interactivity among the The simplest way to do this is selecting a experimental videos, reciprocally infl uential, recipient’s sensory organs. video image as a motif and arranging it seri- synergetic development of the visual and Depending on the specifi c moving images ally in a matrix. This produces a “pattern of music composition results. The intention is used, one could speak of synesthetic opto- moving images” that undergoes transforma- to create synesthetic units that open up the acoustic or audiovisual units. In spite of tion. It develops both temporally – image by viewers’ imagination. any synesthetic effects their order must be image – in a dynamic process, just like the taken into consideration, as the relative sig- source material, and at the same time spa- nifi cance of sound and image plays a role. tially along a single plane in the form of repe- 6. Stills as Snapshots -- tition. The seriality of the horizontal lines In combination with the title, sound often Paintings and Printed Works and vertical columns creates new forms in serves to provide for the viewer information Another method I employ when working with motion and motion as form. If, for exam- about the chosen content (abstract images video-feedback material involves isolating ple, solely a detail of a light form moving in are involved). single images or stills. The medium of video a circle is selected as a motif and arranged is then abandoned, and work switches to serially in a matrix, the circular motion will Synesthesia created in the recipient’s mind the genres of painting and printing. become linear. Once again, new forms in can be found with works containing forms Stills represent snapshots that illustrate a motion and motion as form will be created. that are created and move in an extremely video work’s dynamic processes and result In all the processing methods described chaotic manner. This is the case whenever from the effort to understand details that above, the original video-feedback material I use potions of the video-feedback image. because of the movement would not be is radically altered in both form and struc- Patterns of auditory accents are employed comprehensible in a video. ture. At the same time it remains video consciously for the purpose of directing the Stills are processed on a computer (cropped, material and is employed in my experimen- viewer’s perception of movement. Metric altered, etc.), interpreted as motifs, and tal art videos, video installations and spatial sound structures facilitate the imagination reproduced in paintings (acrylic on canvas) 9 André Leroi-Gourhan, Gesture and speech, trans. Anna installations, normally with sound added. of rhythms in the forms in motion and or printed works (various techniques). Bostock Berger (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1993), 307 10 “Möbius Sounds” are units emerging at the event horizon motion as form, while the melody and timber When this is done, conventional paintings of time. The sound is generated by two sound tracks run- set emotional parameters. Due to a natural or printed works are in no way intended to ning against each other – i.e. one track mirroring the other in reverse – so that the two tracks being played forwards 5. Combining Moving Images and Sound desire for seeing and hearing that provide serve as antipodean contrasts to audiovi- and backwards sound identical. The beginning is simulta- In accordance with contemporary perception, order, recipients consciously construct sual moving images as forms of expression. neously the end. The “Möbius Sound” is a temporal version of the spatial principle of the Möbius strip, where the upper the synthesis of moving images and sound realities and simultaneously perceive them On the contrary, the intention is to produce surface is identical to the lower surface. (Hofstetter Kurt, is consi dered natural. This is based, on the as being real. results permitting a lasting sensual percep- 2005; translation by Bob Hewis)

25 tion that is not possible with the fl eeting 7. Digression and employed reels weighing 15 kilograms Artistic Experiments at TV Studios. At nature of video. each.12 The videotape recordings made with television studios feedback was avoided at Video Feedback this machine represented a quantum leap all cost, because when uncontrolled it was An essential aspect of my work is discove- at the Beginnings of Video Art for television technology, which until that able to destroy the equipment. Beginning ring and shaping structures, forms, move- time had used fi lm stock. in the mid-1960s artists and technicians ment, color and lyricism in video-feedback “The new does not push aside the old. On Philips sold the fi rst reel-to-reel video record- performed joint experiments at a number of material’s light patterns that are visible in a the contrary, it facilitates the return of the er (black and white) intended for the con- studios. static visual medium. old, because a mere look back leads to sumer market in 1964, followed by Sony in In 1965, for example, Lutz Becker, then a From a wealth of stills – one second of video something that can be called tradition.”11 1965. In the beginning these devices were student at the Film Department of London’s consists of 50 half-frames – I select the Peter Weibel, 2000 used in the fi elds of medicine, business and Slade School of Fine Art, experimented with images that can, as snapshots, either suf- education. For example, Sony’s CV-2000 Vid- feedback together with BBC electronic engi- fi ciently represent the entire event depicted When taking a look at the beginnings of eocorder, which weighed 23 kilograms, was neer A. Ben Palmer at the network’s studio in the video or reveal structures and forms I video feedback in art, I do so with an inter- advertised as a portable, and it had inputs there. Their intention was to fi nd something fi nd fascinating. est in placing my work within a relevant his- for the compatible Sony VCK 2000 Video equivalent to electronic music.17 The video- Series of stills, in other words sequences torical context. Camera Kit, which consisted of a camera, feedback images, which Becker described taken from a video, are chosen so that the Since art historians have failed to set down microphone and tripod, and required an as “sustained oscillations in two dimen- original motion and transformation of forms a record of video feedback’s history, the external electrical power source.13 sions”,18 were then fi lmed, edited and, as in a certain video can be comprehended on following information is based on my own After the fi rst video camera and recorder they were black and white, colored. the basis of examples. research. However, I do not claim that it is sets manufactured by Sony, Philips, Grundig In addition, focusing on details provides complete. and other companies, which were actually In America, where 95 percent of all house- microcosmic insights, though the opposite My interest lies primarily in an artistic relatively easy to carry and ran on batteries, holds had at least one television set in the effect can also be produced, namely the ori- approach to video-feedback technology in were marketed between 1967 and 1969 in early 1960s and TV had been an omnipre- ginal image’s formal context is abandoned the early years of video art. As a result, my America, Japan and Europe, video technolo- sent medium since the 1950s, attempts for different content and a new formal state- focus turned automatically toward the US in gy started to spread quickly. began in the late 1960s to provide artists ment. the 1960s and ‘70s. Artists employed video Sony’s legendary CV-2400 Porta Pak ensem- access to professional TV and video equip- Again, the choice of color is extremely impor- feedback as a means of expression from ble set became available in the US in 1967. ment in offi cial programs. The intention was tant, as it supports my ambition of formu- the very beginning. As video artists who It cost 1250 US dollars, making it expensive to provide for artists working in all genres lating new and specifi c messages beyond do experimental work demonstrate a pro- for most artists.14 However, virtual euphoria opportunities to experiment with the equip- the video source, messages that can stand nounced interest in technology – and this accompanied work with video at that time, ment, develop alternative visual grammars, alone. In a formally aesthetic regard the ori- is unique when compared to the rest of the for which a variety of artistic approaches and design new tools for working with ima- ginal source – video feedback – remains world – there were numerous innovations in were employed. ges. In 1967 experimental workshops were recognizable. the fi elds of image processing and synthe- held in San Francisco at the Public Broad- sis, especially in the course of the 1970s. As • Video Feedback casting System station KQED, which led to a result artists infl uenced the history of this in Art during the 1960s and ’70s the creation in 1969 of the fi rst American A sampling of snapshots selected from my technology in an important way, and also TV lab, the National Center for Experiments experimental art videos represents the the birth of media art. “Feedback patterning [is] perhaps the in Television (NCET). Financial support was main portion of this catalogue. They are pat- pu rest line of video art.”15 Robert Arn, 1973 provided by the National Endowment for the terns of light patterns and were conceived • Early Use of Video Technology Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation.19 as templates for paintings or printed works. The landmark year is 1956. Video techno- Artist Robert Arn wrote that video feedback For this reason I also term this catalogue a logy was an offshoot of television technolo- is the “entrance into that very specialized Joanne Kyger, writer and poet, created the vid- pattern book. The background and descrip- gy, and the fi rst video recorder intended for branch of video called image synthesis, in eo work entitled “Descartes” in 1967-1968 tions of the technical aspects of production use by broadcasting professionals, made by which the images are not records, but cre- with the aid of other NCET artists. Feedback and processing is for the viewer irrelevant , was presented that year at the NAB ations achieved by manipulating the basic generated with a television camera and with regard to artistic quality; these images (National Association of Broad casters) con- electronic forces at work in video cameras monitor was used in a wide variety of ways, must stand alone. vention in Chicago. It weighed 400 kilograms and displays.”16 becoming the “central visual metaphor sym-

26 bolizing the mind’s turn toward itself in Car- In his work Paik did not concentrate on indi- New York artists such as Steina Vasulka 17 http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/artistsfilm/programme1/ 20 calcabstract.htm (accessed November 16, 2009) tesian philosophy”. vidual optical effects such as video feed- were highly impressed and inspired by “Ein- 18 Three fi lms were made in 1967 and 1968: “Experiment A naturalistic portrait of a woman was dena- back. Everything technically possible was stine”: 5”, “Cosmos” and “Horizon.” Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema, (New York, 1970), 336, http://www.vasulka.org/ turalized by means of feedback and oth- employed and combined, which was man- “I went in there and saw Einstein [...] bla- Kitchen/PDF_ExpandedCinema/book.pdf (accessed No - er effects, transforming the electronically ifested in “Paik/Abe Video Synthesizer” sting out, and it quite blew my mind.”28 vem ber 16, 2009) 19 http://www.rdlx.com/ncet/intro.html (accessed November manipulated image into something between (1969-1970). 16, 2009) representation and symbol. Important to further development, and Woody and Steina Vasulka discovered the 20 For an excerpt from the video, see Joanne Kyger, http:// www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/california_video/index.html not only in New York’s art scene, was the medium of video for themselves in 1969 (accessed November 16, 2009) The date that video feedback was fi rst used legendary exhibition “TV as a Creative Medi- and began to generate feedback loops. 21 Johanna Gill, “Video: State of the Art,” (part 1 of 3), http:// for artistic expression cannot be determined um” at the Howard Wise Gallery, held from www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/people/ptext. php3?id=34&page=1 (accessed November 16, 2009) 24 precisely. Woody Vasulka writes on this: May 17 to June 14, 1969. Woody Vasulka: 22 Seth Feldmann in catalogue for Media Study/Buffalo (Buf- The extent to which artists at the time saw “When I fi rst saw video feedback, I knew I falo, 1974), http://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/ pdf/feldmanexprmntl5catalog_2522.pdf (accessed Novem- “Everybody believed deeply that he had their work as being closely related to tele- had seen the cave fi re. It had nothing to do ber 16, 2009) invented feedback. Feedback was invented vision, from which video technology deve- with anything, just a perpetuation of some 23 On October 4, 1965 (this date is often mentioned in con- 29 nection with the birth of video art) screened simultaneously not by fi ve people, like elec- loped, is refl ected in a comment Eric Siegel kind of energy.“ video footage of the Pope’s New York visit at “Cafe Au GoGo“; tricity, but by fi ve thousand.“21 made during an interview with Jud Yalkut: Although experiments with various types of he had shot it earlier that same day. In other words, he had at the time access to video equipment, though it was not a Since a small number of people would see video material, including video feedback, portable unit that could be used for fi lming from a moving • The Video-Feedback System the exhibition and therefore no one would were no longer anything new, its conside- taxi, as is commonly believed. In 1965 battery-powered as a Tool in Video Art cameras and recorders were not yet available, not even in know that “television art” already exists, it rable attraction remained, as described by Germany or Japan, where Paik could have obtained them. The development of video art was for the will have little effect on people’s view of the Steina Vasulka: The footage must have been shot from a location where an most part concentrated in the US, and was electrical outlet was available. Unfortunately, the tape has medium. The only way to change this fact “Our discovery was a discovery because we not survived. Cf. Tom Sherman, Syracuse University, New characterized by a particularly strong tech- would be getting examples of it on the net- discovered it. We didn’t know all those peo- York, 2007, http://marotzki.blogspot.com/2007/01/video- nical orientation. Art historian and critic works. Siegel claimed that network program- ple had discovered it before us. It was just art-ber-nam-june-paik.html (accessed November 16, 2009) 24 For more detailed information see http://www.eai.org/kine- Seth Feldmann, in his 1974 catalogue for ming of “television artists” should be broad- like feedback: pointing the camera at the TV tic/ch1/creative/fi lm_video.html (accessed November 16, Media Study/Buffalo in New York, described cast throughout the country.25 set and seeing feedback was an invention 2009) 25 Jud Yalkut, interview with Eric Siegel, http://eai.org/eai/ the situation by arguing that there was no that was invented over and over again. As user_fi les/supporting_documents/Siegel.pdf (accessed No- initial development apart from convention- At this exhibition Eric Siegel presented his late as 1972, people were inventing feed- vem ber 16, 2009) 26 26 An excerpt from this video can be seen at http://www.vdb. al television images: “Early video art presen- 1968 video “Einstine” (6 min) , consi dered back, thinking they had just caught the fi re org/smackn.acgi$tapedetail?EINSTINE (accessed Novem- ted what was always there – only more so. one of the classics of video art. This work of the gods.”30 ber 16, 2009) His installation entitled “Psychedelevision in Color” com- Video feedback introduced far more com- demonstrates not only the use of video prised three parts, “Einstine” (1968, 6 min), “Symphony of plex ramifi cations.”22 feedback to produce psychedelic effects, the Planets” (1969, 10 min) and “Tomorrow Never Knows” After its birth as what was once the most 11 Roland Berg, interview with Peter Weibel in Der Tages- (1968, 3 min). but also early image processing, specifi cal- spiegel/Online Archiv, December 1, 2000, http://noma- 27 Since video images were still black and white at the time, basic and unforgivable of all technical errors, ly electronic colorizing. Interestingly enough, denderzeit.transmitter-x.org/index.php?www2/katalog.ph colorizing was one of the fi rst elements of processing. video feedback had become the basis for p?kid=69&s=&selwert=~rFrame (accessed November 16, “Siegel‘s fi rst colorizer was a crude device that allowed for Siegel developed the equipment, a camera 2009) little control. Furthermore, the image could not be recorded exploring “video image synthesis”. and colorizer,27 himself. Thanks to his previ- 12 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetaufzeichnung directly, but had to be rescanned with a color camera – an ous experience with the fi eld of electro nics, (accessed November 16, 2009) expensive proposition at that time. Consequently, no tape 13 Philips’ EL3400 VTR reel-to-reel video recorder sold for exists from the original installation, but Siegel later remade he was not forced to use the technology then 7000 Deutsche marks, the Sony CV-2000 for 730 US dol- Einstein [sic] and several other tapes (...).” Lucinda Furlong, Nam June Paik, in many respects a key fi gure available on the market, and so enjoyed lars, and Sony’s VCK 2000 Video Camera Kit for 350 US “Notes Toward a History of Image-Processed Video: Eric Sie- dollars. http://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/ gel, Stephen Beck, Dan Sandin, Steve Rutt, Bill and Loui- in the history of video art, must have come opportunities envied by other artists. tools/ttool.php3?id=52&page=1 (accessed November 16, se Etra”, Afterimage, vol. 11, no. 1 and 2 (1983), http:// into contact with video feedback at a rela- Similarly to Joanne Kyger’s “Descartes”, 2009) www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/people/ptext. 14 Ibid. Its successor, the 1969 AV-3400 Porta Pak, had a por- php3?id=31&page=1 (accessed November 16, 2009) tively early date, whether at a TV studio or “Einstine” was based on a naturalistic por- table recording und playback system and cost 1495 US dol- 28 Lucinda Furlong, “Notes Towards History of Image-Pro- with his own video equipment, after 1965. trait, of Einstein in this case, which was lars. cessed Video,” Steina and Woody Vasulka, Afterimage, 15 Robert Arn, “The form and sense of video”, artscanada (December 1983), http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/essa- He showed some of the fi rst video footage denaturalized by means of video-feedback (October 1973), 20, http://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/ ys_furlong/K_Furlong.html (accessed November 16, 2009) containing it at the Cafe Au GoGo in New effects for the purpose of symbolically visua- history/pdf/arnformsense_110.pdf (accessed November 29 Ibid. 23 16, 2009) 30 Ibid. York, a historic event. lizing levels of consciousness. 16 Ibid., 21

27 “Elements” (1971), in which variations of • The History of Video as Technological History synthesizer (mixer, keyer and colorizer) was Weaver, which generated abstract pat- video feedback were altered by means of a The examples of artistic works described intended for live performances. It was able terns in realtime and was used for the fi rst keyer and colorizer, and “Key Snow” (1971) above illustrate the fact that there has nev- to mix images from seven different exter- time in a live performance at the San Fran- were their two works in the 1971 exhibi tion er been a concentrated interest in the phe- nal sources simultaneously and manipulate cisco Museum of Modern Art in 1974.42 “New American Filmmakers Series: Video- nomenon of video feedback as an auto- their form and color. Paik considered this In 1975 Stephen Beck named the three show” at New York’s Whitney Museum of nomous autogenerative system which can innovation as “major step making video an most impor tant technical innovations to American Art. The artists described their produce complex abstract forms and struc- artistic medium.” The video synthesizer was ap pear since 1969: works as “electronic image and sound com- tures, or in working with it analytically. intended “to be played in real time – like a 1. Camera image processors: This includes positions”, also stating: On the contrary, image processing and syn- piano. From a purely artistic viewpoint that the colorizer, keyer, quantizer and mixer, “They resemble something you remember thesis has been the focus since the very is highly interesting – a truly new thing that which are used to manipulate video images. from dreams or pieces of organic nature, beginning, and video feedback became an has no precedent. You simply play and then 2. Direct Video Synthesizers: These devices but they never were real objects, they have element of this. The main interest lies in see the effect.”38 generate synthetic moving images without all been made artifi cially from various fre- manipulating video images during the cre- Using this video synthesizer together with images taken with a camera and arrange quencies, from sounds, from inaudible pit- ation process and presenting the results at the Paik/Abe Scan Modulator (also known them into compositions. ches and their beats.”31 a live performance or generating synthetic as the “Wobbulator”) made possible Nam 3. Scan modulation/re-scan types: These moving images with electronic equipment, in June Paik’s video style, a combination of devices display video images taken with a connection with or as they interact with the video feedback, magnetic scan modulation camera on an oscilloscope or TV screen for Skip Sweeney32 began working with video generation of sound, live in this case also. and non-linear mixing with subsequent key- manipulation, stretching, squeezing, rota- feedback in 1968 and is best known for his ing and colorizing.39 ting, refl ecting, etc. A second camera then “shimmering, interweaving video manda- Seth Feldmann has the following to say: records them. This system also works with- las”.33 Compared to other artists, Sweeney’s “The most characteristic and certainly the The ways in which complex technology has out an input camera, in which case images interest in video feedback involved more most widely known works of American video been employed in experimental video work are produced through manipulation of the than its potential for autogenerating form art have been produced on increasingly since 1970 is illustrated by Stephen Beck’s raster with a playback device to produce and structure, which must be controlled for sophisticated image generating, editing “Conception” (1972). Live images are com- waves or curves that can then be fi lmed and it to be useful as an instrument for live per- and colorizing devices that have grown out bined with feedback and oscillator patterns, processed further with camera image pro- formances.34 He claimed that he would “just of the attempt to build on the initial feed- and electronic keying and colorization were cessors (see 1.).43 as soon be a video rock-and-roll musician”. back experience. American video art is also employed. Sweeney’s contemporaries regarded him as do min ated by this technical orientation, but Beck described “Cycles” (1975) as “A cine- The interrelationships in play during this a master of video feedback, and for him it the rate at which the artists invent new tools matic collaboration by Belson and Beck com- period of video art’s unique development was “a religion – a wave to ride”.35 to replace old ones give their work a cer- bining video synthesis with traditional che- in the US were extre mely complex. First- Like many others, he was not satisfi ed with tain concep tual character. One must consi- mical fi lm processes.”40 In this work Beck’s ly, television was already at that time an merely generating and controlling video der the initial idea for a totally new kind of “video loom (video weaver)” was employed extremely powerful medium. Artists had to feedback. To complement settings made on image as itself a work of art.”37 to mix live images and fi lm with video feed- provide in many ways a counterpoint when camera and monitor, he installed a mirror back and oscillator patterns, resulting in a video technology was introduced. The inten- or glass sheets at various angles or altered “visual symphony” accompanied by organ tion of working with TV as a mass medium the device’s voltage to increase the range of In the 1970s a wealth of image processors and choral music.41 was not only ideological, but also involved possibilities for working with the image, also and video synthesizers were developed in questioning its visual grammar, revolutio- using a keyer and colorizer. close collaboration between artists and Stephen Beck was one of the artists who, nizing it and at the same time establishing His ambition was to use video feedback technicians. The intention was to realize like Eric Siegel, was able to develop his a fi eld independent of it. In the beginning all during a live performance, such as in specifi c artistic visions. As a result, the his- own equipment due to his knowledge of video was black and white, and colorizers the “video jam sessions” at Video Free tory of video is also technological history. electro nics. In 1969 he constructed his fi rst were developed immediately, followed by America. One of the fi rst video synthesizers was Direct Video Synthesizer, which was used keyers and mixers. The invention of synthe- The video “Illuminating Sweeney” (1975) con- developed by Nam June Paik together with prima rily during live performances such as sizers for electronic generation of synthetic sists of video feedback altered with a Moog Japanese electronics engineer Shuya Abe the “Illuminated Music” series 1972-73. moving images should be considered the Audio Synthesizer and a Vidium Colorizer. 36 in 1969-1970. At fi rst, the Paik/Abe Video- In 1973 this was joined by the Beck Video next logical step. In the audio fi eld the pro-

28 duction of synthetic sound was by that time Common to all these fi lms is that they are ma, as he saw it, is the dynamic movement 37 Seth Feldmann in catalogue for Media Study/Buffalo (Buf- falo, 1974), http://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/ already in full swing. Furthermore, the infl u- abstract animated 16mm works, and they of form and color and their relationship to pdf/feldmanexprmntl5catalog_2522.pdf (accessed Novem- ence of the visual music tradition must be anticipated the visual aesthetic of video sound. The sound, which he often created ber 16, 2009) 38 http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/werke/video-synthesizer/ mentioned in this context, as it led to rein- feedback in the form of graphic structural himself with homemade electronic equip- (accessed November 16, 2009) terpretations in the form of audiovisual live patterns or mandalas. The similarity is not ment, is conceived so that “you don’t know 39 See http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_Eigenwelt/ performances during which complex combi- coincidental. Their creators worked with if you’re seeing it or hearing it.”48 pdf/126-129.pdf (accessed November 16, 2009) 40 http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/VMMay1show.htm nations of va rious electronic devices were light and the movement of abstract forms (accessed November 16, 2009) employed. similar to the images generated with the “Lapis” by James Whitney, on the other 41 Seth Feldmann in catalogue for Media Study/Buffalo (Buffalo, 1974). As it was embedded in the Zeitgeist articu- vi deo- feedback system between camera hand, was originally conceived as a silent 42 http://www.stevebeck.tv (accessed November 16, 2009) lated through interweavings of psychedelic, and monitor.44 fi lm and was created on a mechanical ana- 43 Stephen Beck, Image Processing and Video Synthesis. Elec- tronic Videographic Techniques, in Eigenwelt der Apparate- welt (1975) 161-164, http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/ PDF_Eigenwelt/pdf/161-164.pdf (accessed No vember 16, 2009) 44 Belson and James Whitney each became familiar with and were infl uenced by Oskar Fischinger and his work without the other’s knowledge, and they both adhered to the tradi- tion of visual music. William Moritz, Infl uence and Inspira- tion: The Great Tradition of Visual Music, exhibition catalog for KINETICA 2, (Los Angeles: The iotaCenter, 2000), http:// www.iotacenter.org/visualmusic/articles/moritz/influen- severals stills of a video-feedback Jordan Belson, Allures, 1961 James Whitney, Lapis, 1963 – 1966 ceinspiration (accessed November 16, 2009) 45 William Moritz called Jordan Belson one of the last great rock and pop culture, Pop Art and Op Art in By rotating abstract motifs, such as con- logue computer he developed together with masters of California visual music artists. http://www.cen- terforvisualmusic.org/BelsonAJ.htm (accessed November the 1960s and ’70s, the new video techno- centrically arranged dots on layered glass his brother John. It was used to control the 16, 2009). logy was not on ly infl uenced, the creation of plates, elements are superimposed so that movement of glass plates hand-painted with Jordan Belson began his career as a painter and, in the late 1940s, he exhibited large-format paintings at New York’s new things was also encouraged, and as a the motifs overlap in their entirety or are dots, isolated to densely concentrated. The Guggenheim Museum. Belson never stopped painting and result it exercised a reciprocal infl uence on semitransparent as seen by the camera plates were mounted on tables, and seve- drawing, though he is now better known for his abstract the creation of art at the time. doing the fi lming, and they merge, explode ral of them could be rotated simultaneous- fi lms. Ying Tan, who was very familiar with Belson’s paintings and and implode. In other words Belson and the ly. A vertically mounted camera that moved drawings, writes, “To Belson, his fi lms and graphic art mir- The fact is interesting that, in the US of the Whitney brothers also created and direc- separately fi lmed the glass plates’ complex, ror each other: they are all about sacred art, about a spiritu- 49 al quest. His fi lm and graphic art also infl uence each other 1960s, extremely complex equipment was ted abstract forms in motion and motion as mechanically controlled movement. and refl ect each other.” Ying Tan, “The Unknown Art of Jor- developed in the fi eld of abstract anima ted form. Simple dots and lines were assem- dan Belson,” Animation Journal (Spring 99), http://www. fi lm before this fl owering of video techno- bled to form complex structures and com- uoregon.edu/%7Etanying/JBart.html (accessed November 31 Ibid. 16, 2009) logy, and it was employed to produce opti- positional units in a process of synthesis 32 “In 1969, Sweeney was one of the founders of Electric 46 http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/8aa/8aa388.htm (accessed De - cal effects similar to what was seen a few through movement and superimposition Eye, an early media collective concerned with video perfor- cem ber 7, 2009) mances and experiments. Sweeney’s work in video inclu- 47 Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema, (New York, 1970), years later with video-feedback technolo- of the smallest possible formal units. As a ded abstract image-processing and synthesis, autobio- 162 gy. It remains to be determined whether the result, they were transformed into optical graphical documentaries and portraits, and video instal- 48 Ibid., 157-158. His later fi lms, “Re-Entry” (1964), “Pheno- lations for theater including a version of Allen Ginsberg’s mena” (1965), “Samadhi” (1967), “Momentum” (1968), work done by the fi rst artists working with events similar to the autogenerated images ‘Kaddish’ (1977). [...] Sweeney later worked in collaboration etc., also adhere to this principle. The soundtrack of video feedback was infl uenced in any way. found in video feedback. with Joanna Kelly, producing video dance tapes, video art, “Allures” was created jointly with Henry Jacobs. and documentaries.” http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$art 49 Ibid., 210. istdetail?SWEENEYS (accessed November 16, 2009) The raga soundtrack performed by Ravi Shankar was added 45 • Video-Feedback Aesthetic Jordan Belson created his abstract 16mm 33 Ibid. later at the urging of the distributor. However, James Whit- without Video Feedback fi lm “Allures” with images he employed in 34 http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$tapedetail?ILLUMINATI ney believed that the effect of the visual concept emplo- In 1957 James Whitney presented his fi lm (accessed November 16, 2009) yed for “Lapis” would be considerably more intense without the Vortex Concerts: “manipulated projec- 35 Woody Vasulka, http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_ music. For this reason he planned to withdraw the version “Yantra” (7 min, color) to the public and ted light”.46 “(...) It took a year and a half Eigenwelt/pdf/148-149.pdf (accessed November 16, with a soundtrack and release another one which would eit- in 1961 Jordan Belson’s “Allures” (9 min, 2009) her be silent or accompanied by an original composition. to make, pieced together in thousands 36 http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$tapedetail?ILLUMINATI This never happened. co lor) and John Whitney’s “Catalog” (7 min, of different ways.”47 Belson considered (accessed November 16, 2009) The version with the raga soundtrack was released short- color) premiered, followed by James Whit- sound synesthetically linked with an image A detail from this video can be seen at http://videofreeame- ly before Indian music came into vogue after being used by rica.com/site/2008/11/26/illuminating-sweeney-1975/ the Beatles. This was one of the reasons that “Lapis” beca- ney’s “Lapis” (9 min, color) in 1966. extremely important. The essence of cine- (accessed November 16, 2009) me one of the best-known abstract fi lms.

29 rimental fi lmmakers. The fact that only Skip n scientifi c fi elds too there has been evi- does not stand alone; it represents solely Sweeney used electronic equipment and dence of sustained interest in video feed- the source material for my work as an artist. video technology as he continued to work back. For example, the Optics Group at the A variety of methods are applied with the with these abstract elements,51 employing University of Glasgow’s Department of Phys- intention of producing something new – video feedback as a generator of forms in ics & Astronomy announced in 2001 that analyses of time and space, mutations and audiovisual live performances, is interesting. “the fi rst stationary patterns using patterns, sometimes the medium of video This places Sweeney within the tradition of unmodifi ed video feedback” were generat- is abandoned in that stills are employed visual music similarly to Jordan Belson und ed on the basis of pixels.53 as snapshots in the form of paintings and John Whitney. Belson had already screened The fact that video feedback is a fascinating printed works. his abstract fi lms with those of Whitney and phenomenon even if not intended as art is A signifi cant difference compared to the other artists. This happened between 1957 demonstrated, for example, on the website strategies employed in the 1960s and and 1959 in the Vortex Concerts put on in of Video Free America, the San Francisco ’70s is that no other sources of visual San Francisco, which became well known as media art center founded by Skip Sweeney material are used when I generate video- audiovisual shows.52 and Arthur Ginsberg in 1970. Termed “live feedback material, and for that reason my video feedback,” it is described as being: work maintains the original abstraction. In • Video Feedback “Streamed live from a set of digital video addition, all my fi nished works are products as a Contemporary Visual Event machines in VFA’s studio... this video feed- of my interest in obtaining insight into stills of a video-feedback Beginning in the 1980s computer technology back is an artifi cial living fl ow of electro- the autogenerative processes by which was discovered as a new medium suitable nic light rays... It cannot be controlled... It’s structures are created and analyzing forms in for generating abstract forms. Interest in more like surfi ng waves of light trying to fi nd motion and motion as form. What fascinates the video-feedback technique, which in the delicate balance points within the fl ow... left me is the lyric and creative potential of the 1970s was used primarily as an external alone it changes and can wipe out... set- video-feedback system and the immanent source of images for the newly developed tings will be modifi ed to allow new and diffe- potential infi nity that light patterns produce video synthesizers and image processors, rent looks everyday.“54 in an astounding variety of forms. began to dwindle. To the present day video- Translation Steve Wilder feedback technology is employed in the work of solely a few artists. 9. Conclusion st Since the beginning of the 21 century the In conclusion, it should be noted that the 50 William Moritz on James Whitney’s „Yantra” and “Lapis,” 1977, http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/WMyantra.htm situation with regard to multimedia perfor- interest of artists who in the 1960s and ’70s (accessed November 16, 2009) mance and live acts has been quite diffe- worked with video feedback, the product of 51 Unfortunately, I was unable to fi nd moving images or stills of Skip Sweeney’s work, which were described as “shimme- rent: Video feedback is employed as one information fed back in a process created ring, interweaving video mandalas,” (http://www.vdb.org/ of many different optical effects. Normal- between a video camera and a monitor to smackn.acgi$artistdetail?SWEENEYS (accessed November ly video feedback is either linked to music 16, 2009). Therefore, my current opinion is based solely on which it is connected, dwindled soon after the descriptions of one of the artist’s contemporaries, and I directly in some way, for example providing its discovery. Strategies were immediately have been unable to corroborate them. visuals to accompany music, or generated 52 From 1957 to 1959 Belson was the visual director of the developed to manipulate the material as Vortex Concerts held at San Francisco’s Morrison Planeta- The video artists doing experimental work live by VJs. Software and innumerable elec- it was being created by means of signals rium. At the time the planetarium, thanks to the high-tech in the late 1960s and early ’70s were pre- tronic devices that can be used to simu- equipment it possessed – special projectors for planetari- from external sources of video and sound, ums and a kaleidoscope projector in addition to conventi- sumably familiar with the fi lm work of Bel- late and digitally generate “video feedback” or so the video-feedback system could be onal projectors for still images and moving images – provi- son and the Whitney brothers, particular- without using a camera or monitor have ded unheard-of opportunities for “visual shows” and “light employed to create other video images. This shows”. Belson combined the effects normally seen at pla- ly the version of James Whitney’s “Lapis” been developed. The “classic principle” includes video synthesizers that work with netariums with patterns and abstract fi lm footage. http:// that became one of the most well-known of the video- feedback system – a camera video feedback in addition to many other www.iotacenter.org/ (accessed November 16, 2009) 50 53 J. Courtial, J. Leach, and M. J. Padgett, “Image processing abstract fi lms after 1966/67. aimed at a monitor to which it is connected effects. – in pixellated video feedback“ (2001), http:// The formal aesthetic, astonishingly similar – will exist as long as suitable technologies When refl ecting on the work I do with the www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Optics/play/fractalVideoFeedback/ research.html (accessed November 16, 2009) to structures found in video feedback, may are available. And it will be discovered again video-feedback technique, parallels can be 54 http://videofreeamerica.com/site/ (accessed No vember be considered the formal grammar by expe- and again by fascinated viewers. found. Here too video-feedback material 16, 2009)

30