Response to The Origins of Video Art

After reading "The Origins of Video Art," I perused the internet to find examples of the artists' work who are mentioned in the article. In my search, I came across the work of Marcel Duchamp. The piece I found is entitled "Anemic Cinema" and is from 1926. Duchamp's is an abstract piece that plays with visual representation. After I watched Duchamp's piece, I then moved to an example of the Fluxus movement. In searching for an example of the Fluxus movement, I stumbled upon Wolf Vostell's "Sun in Your Head." Created almost 40 years after Duchamp's film, "Sun in Your Head" also plays with the idea of visual representation but in completely different manner. "The Origins of Video Art" then cites an argument stated by John Hanhart that suggests the development of technology is what allowed Vostell to display visual representation in a new way. With this claim in mind, one can watch Duchamp's piece followed by Vostell's and understand the impact technology had on Vostell's ability to create innovative works. After all, Vostell's film simply seems to build on Duchamp's via the use of collage which "overlapped medias," a technique that was not available during Duchamp's production.

But video art is not necessarily my forte. I can more easily understand the development of film and its parallel to the progression of technology through film's use of special effects. In 1977, George Lucas's Star Wars premiered and ultimately revolutionized the utilization of special effects. The more recently released Avatar furthers the notion that technology impacts the way in which film is captured; Avatar, as did Star Wars, once again redefined how special effects and, more generally, technology could be used in the film medium. Here is part of a documentary that explains the special effects used in Star Wars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjqk2NwlOqw&ntz=1. This article from Empire also discusses the milestones special effects has encounter during its development.