CHArt Computers and the History of Art CHArt 2000 Conference Paper Abstracts

VISUAL CULTURE AND THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Gina Cavallo Collins,
Scottsdale Museum, Arizona State University

The Future of Video Art; Is there one?

It is rare for an entire art medium to become obsolete. Most forms have been used for centuries: painting, bronze sculpture, drawing, printmaking, even fresco is still occasionally employed. Video art may be the first "high art" to become what artist and science fiction author Bruce Sterling refers to as "dead media." A product of technology, video is being consumed by new technologies based on computers that promise more flexibility, better preservation and higher quality. The 1990s began the shift and the new millennium will undoubtedly be the critical juncture where video art's future is decided.

The purpose of this paper is to explore this juncture, define the issues surrounding the shift, and identify the artists and scholars who are involved in the future of the medium.

Digital technology is redefining the ubiquitously titled area of video art. Most of the artists placed in this category have fought to disassociate themselves from the stigma of television or even film. Early on, Nam June Paik placed television monitors in the position of Marcel Duchamp's urinal - raising an everyday object to the level of high art. Paik emphasized the machine itself, commenting on television and its place in American society. Later, in the 1980s, Bill Viola moved the medium into the realm of experiential art by slowly breaking away from the television set. His works attempted to bring the viewer into some type of contact with the people on the video, rather than distancing them through the inhuman qualities of the television box.