The Origins of Video Art - Christian Cieri

The article “The Origins of Video Art” was truly informative in the way that video was treated when it first became considered an “art” especially describing how technology has helped to advance video-art since it began. As I read the article, however, what really stuck out to me was how far this technology has come. In the article, the author makes reference to different points in the history of video-art, and also the new technological improvements that aided in its expansion. But all of these improvements and technological milestones seem so insignificant to what we are able to use in today’s society. With smart phones (and even some simpler cell phones) almost everybody has some type of portable camera, and depending on the phone, the quality can be near HD. Cell phones are lightweight and don’t even require film to record on, and can even usually be used for editing as well. Then there are modern cameras, with all different kinds of features and editing options available while filming.

However, with all these advancements, one might wonder why exactly video-art doesn’t gain as much attention as it once did, at least to an average person. And the answer lies in these advancements; with the ability to record almost everything in HD, the “charm” of grainy and black and white film has become lost to us. With the advent of the big Hollywood blockbusters now invading the space of film, movies and such are no longer as special and rare.

Still, I don’t consider video-art to be completely lost. In fact, I believe one thing has saved it; the internet. Everywhere you look on the internet, video-art is being produced by artists who don’t need to pay for it to be published. Most artists need only to create a YouTube account and upload a video, and their video-art can live on forever. A clip I found online that I believe is an example of this is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5-SmngOoaQ. In the clip, a woman is pouring pain on her face, but it is shown in reverse. The internet has given her a space to create this art, and is one of many videos of performance art and video-art that the internet has to offer.