Origins of Video Art Then and Now

It is amazing how much the medium of video has evolved over the years. In the article, “The Origins of Video Art,” it describes how as more technology advances and became available to people, more and more artistic and individualist types of video came about. This was video art. What is amazing about the newer technologies is that they can be used to manipulate moving pictures and create something completely different than the ordinary films or TV shows. However, this could lead to many archival issues in the future. The article touches on the problems with storing and archiving older forms of video, and how large amounts of footage have been lost. With new editing, changing, and artistic software to create video art, there comes new modes of playing the videos. Soon there will be newer and different ways of creating and playing videos and the cycle continues. In the digital age, storing information, including videos, is only temporary, and likely much of this art will be lost to the ages if not archived properly. Which may be a very difficult task, indeed.

This time has not yet come however, and we can still enjoy the works of video artists, including the work of Paik. The article discusses his piece of cutting people’s ties and clothing, as well as his television piece. Television can be thought of as an art form, in that it is a creation that evokes emotion and tells a story. However, video art is more about using the actual medium of video to produce something aesthetic or of value. Both television and film use video as a means of telling a story, but the video is not the focus, which is what Paik was trying to express. He wanted to make the machine that played video, not only show the art to the world, but be the art itself. Which is, in essence, what video art is. Although they may use the same equipment, they are basically different media. This distinction is important because it gives us the knowledge to judge, critique, and feel differently depending on the type of media presented, TV or video art.

I thought these two videos were great modern examples of video art and how they can both be very different, yet still beautiful and somewhat haunting.