The Body, the Image, and the Space- i n- Between

*Installation- temporary occupation of space

*the art collapses when an installation is not installed

*Video installation can be seen as part of a larger shift in art forms toward "liveness" in a field that included happenings, performance, conceptual art, body art, earth works and the larger category of installation art.  

Two types of video installation art can be differentiated by tense 

*Closed-circuit video plays with "presence."
*The recorded-video art installation, can be compared to the spectator wandering about on a stage 

Different degrees to which installation work occupies three-dimensional space
*the video wall, the 
*kinetic painting, 
*the relief, 
*the sculpture
*the installation.  

"The development of video installation as an art form and the discovery of its parameters can begin, as in John Hanhardt's work on Wolf Vostell and Nam June Paik, with the use of the television set itself as sculptural object."  p.160

Charlotte Moorman's TV Bra for Living Sculpture, 1969

Video Installation

Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway, 1995

No Worries

When aliens attack

Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and Electronic Cultural Production

I found this article to be interesting in particular because the stance it took on how plagiarism is viewed. The author acknowledged that plagiarism is often viewed in a negative light, but that it is actually a necessity:

“Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement. Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author’s phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces it with the right idea.”

The author notes that a plagiarist sees all objects as equal and that, usable and reusable. While we in fact do not own words and no words belong to us, I might disagree that the way in which we arrange words is particular to an individual and therefore using these same words, in the same order, and justifying them as your own seems to be problematic. Hypertext is a method of storing data through a computer program that lets a user to create and link fields of information at will and to retrieve the data nonsequentially. In this way, credit can be paid to the original creator. I think the main thing to consider when speaking about plagiarism is the difference between appropriation and plagiarism. Appropriation borrows from other people’s ideas or concepts but essentially creates new meaning. Language and works of art are inherit with the author’s personality imposed upon. In addition, I think the question of inspiration comes in to play. How far are we allowed to replicate a work of art before inspiration is trumped by exactness? What does it mean to take inspiration from something?

 

While the author may contest, “what is the point of saving language when there is no longer anything to say”, I would refute by saying there are still a million ways in which to say it.

Source: http://www.adamncompany.com/inspiration-vs-appropriation/

 

Life Feed: Webcams, Art, and People

Video as an expressive tool has been used since its introduction into the creative world. Being such, it is no surprise that there are varying interpretations as to what video should record. Advances in technology allow for modernized versions such as webcams to be used by millions in the privacy of their own home. to others, such as Jennifer Ringley, a webcam is a tool not to be used in privacy, but rather to publicly document everyday life. Additionally, Rosalind Krauss called video "the aesthetics of narcissism." In this context, video acts as a mirror and indicator of self presence. A monologue begins between the video and user and creates a story that only the author can truly translate.

I am a performance artist(s)