Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4

anyMeta 4.19.3 - Atom module 0.3.2 2012-02-16T16:49:31+01:00 http://www.mediamatic.net/feed/atom/18133/en Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18137 2009-04-24T12:28:19+02:00 In this issue

We again offer two video tapes; Karnak of the Dutch artist Frits Maats and Forever Young/Echoes of Death van Lydia Schouten. Frits Maats's tape has a strong relation with his paintings. Marie Adéle Rajandream reviews the installation Maats made at the Kijkhuis in The Hague in which the relationship between video and painting also was central theme.

Lydia Schouten made her tape in commission of Dutch television (The Humanist Association). With reference to this production we discuss some of the operative criticism on media art in the Netherlands. We are well-pleased about the orders we recieved for the video tapes of Nan Hoover and Koen Theys that we offered in the last issue of Mediamatic, and that we now can offer again for the last time. We found we underestimated the problems of distributing tapes. About half of the selling price is used for copying costs and forwarding charges. Therefore the prices are fixed from now on at f 200,-. For longer productions the price can be higher (Theys). In this way it will be possible for the artist to get the same amount of money for selling a tape at home format as for hiring one out to a public presentation. Furthermore in this issue, we have contributions of the artists Peter Boyd Maclean, René Reitzema, Wim Liebrand and Jan Paul Cloo. The contribution of the last one, called, Licht van Beweging (Light of Motion) needs some explanation. Cloo, who works as a photographer, is experimenting for some time with double printings of photos which he attaches to the television screen. The television is tuned to a regular station, the contrast is put at a maximum, the colour at a minimum and the sound is turned off. One can admire the work in a darkened room. It is beautiful to see how a random television program modulates the picture and causes the balance to swing from one component to the other. The changes in expression are so dramatic that one is supposing for a while that one is looking at a video tape. So, don't decorate your wall, wrap up your TV! Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 In dit nummer

Bieden we weer twee tapes aan; Karnak van Frits Maats en Forever Young/Echoes of Death van Lydia Schouten. Frits Maats' Karnak is een video die een zeer sterke verbinding heeft met zijn schilderwerk. Marie Adéle Rajandream bespreekt de installatie die hij in het Kijkhuis in Den Haag maakte. Ook daarin stond de relatie video - schilderen centraal.

Lydia Schouten maakte haar tape in opdracht van de Nederlandse televisie (HV). Naar aanleiding van deze productie gaan we in op de in Nederland vigerende kritiek op de mediakunst. Tot onze tevredenheid zijn er inderdaad bestellingen binnengekomen voor de video's van Nan Hoover en Koen Theys die we in het vorige nummer aanboden en die nu voor de laatste keer te bestellen zijn. We zijn echter tot de onrdekking gekomen dat we ons de distriburie iets te simpel hadden voorgesteld. Ongeveer de helft van de verkoopprijs ging op aan copiëerkosten en verzendkosten. Daarom zijn de prijzen van nu afvastgesteld op f 200,-. Voor langere producties (Theys) kan een hogere prijs gelden. Z0 krijgt de kunstenaar inderdaad ongeveer hetzelfde bedrag bij verkoop van een home-format copie als bij verhuur voor openbare vertoning. Verder hebben we deze keer pagina's van de kunstenaars Peter Boyd Maclean, René Reitzema, Wim Liebrand en Jan Paul Cloo. Met name Licht van Beweging, de los ingestoken bijdrage van Jan Paul Cloo, vraagt om enige toelichting. Cloo, die als fotograaf werkt, experimenteert al enige tijd met dubbeldrukken die hij voor een televisiescherm monteert. De televisie wordt op een normale zender afgestemd, contrast maximaal en de kleur minimaal geregeld, en geluid afgezet. Het werk kan dan in een verduisterde ruimte bekeken worden. Het is schitterend om te zien hoe een toevallig voorbijkomend televisieprogramma de balans in de dubbeldrukken wisselend naar de ene en naar de andere kant laat overhellen. De expressie-veranderingen zijn zo dramatisch dat men gedurende langere tijd in de veronderstelling verkeert naar een tape te kijken. Het is dus niet de bedoeling dat U zijn bijdrage aan de muur hangt. U moet uw TV er mee inpakken. - d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18141 2009-04-24T12:29:37+02:00 Letter to the Editor

Dear Mediamatic, I'm really glad to hear about your plans of distributing artists video tapes in home formats; it was about time that someone began to take seriously such an important possibility.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about the fears and criticisms on behalf of those that think that your initiative might jeopardize the so-called Museum U-matic Market. (What market I wonder; sporadic handouts from very few museums that in spite of their lack of interest can no longer deny the existence of video art?). Artists involved with electronic media should realize that a museum is only one of the many avenues (and probably the least important) of persuing their careers. It is obvious that such technicalities as the protection of prices and markets can easily be dealt with in the same way that Art Lending Services outline their marketing policies. Good luck with your venture. Best regards, Raúl Marroquin Amsterdam Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Raul Marroquin http://www.mediamatic.net/id/4570 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18277 2009-04-24T12:31:43+02:00 Installations Video à Bruxelles

This March, an exhibition of video installations was held in Brussels. At Raffinerie Du Plan K. The place alone was worth a visit. A former sugar factory in Rue de Manchester in the city's 'English' district. Plan K describes itself as a multi-media performance group. It has been housed in the old sugar factory since 1979 and regularly opens its doors to kindred art forms. Video art is one such form. The artist Marie Delier was given two floors to organize an exhibition of video installations. Seven works were specially made for the space by a number of artists from Belgium and other countries.

<h2>Jacques Louis Nyst</h2> Les Chemins de Fer Three monitors standing around the edges of a small hole in a concrete ceiling. All three monitors showed the image of an iron, rosette-shaped ventilation grill, There was the sound of a musical box as an invisible hand/force opened the grill. At the same time, the light from our side of the grill (inside) shifted outside. Pale daylight shone in through the openings and a few branches were visible. When the grill closed, the musical box stopped and the artificial light shone on our side once more. The bright paintwork became visible again. Some seconds later it opened again and everything was repeated. This resulted in a pleasing rhythm of opening/closing, breathing in/breathing out, day/night, inside/outside, dead/alive, speaking/remaining silent, out/at home. Beautiful, with a poetic lightness. But after a short time, the sound of the musical box became unbearable and it was impossible to enjoy the still beautiful image anymore. <h2>Marie Delier</h2> Femmes Voilees Approaching Marie Delier's installation you were caught in the gaze of three veiled women standing around a music stand and a stool. There was some music on the stand, next to it the instrument of a clarinettist who could have returned at any moment. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18281/en/marie-delier-femmes-voilees"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/617/18281-268-400.jpg" height="400" width="268" alt="" title="Marie Delier 'Femmes Voilees'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Marie Delier 'Femmes Voilees' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18281/en/marie-delier-femmes-voilees">Marie Delier 'Femmes Voilees'</a> Three pairs of eyes were looking at you. You felt uncomfortable, stared at. The same feeling as entering a cafe on your own or visiting a reception. Everyone seems to be watching you. You couldn't lose that feeling even when you realized that they were not real women looking at you but images on a monitor. You were an intruder. Now and then you could hear fumbling clarinet music. The three women were talking. Each one had unmistakably her own voice although their mouths were not visible behind their veils. They murmured in unintelligible French. It didn't look like a conversation, it was even uncertain whether they could hear each other. The women's gazes, which were made more intense by their veils, and the voices passing you created a great distance between you and the women, despite the eye contact. Their clear presence was at the same time their absence. They were images you couldn't respond to. Letters in bottles. You were being looked at but looking back didn't help. The empty stool with the clarinet and music stand also added to this lonely feeling. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18282/en/marie-delier-femmes-voilees"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/723/18282-400-223.jpg" height="223" width="400" alt="" title="Marie Delier 'Femmes Voilees'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Marie Delier 'Femmes Voilees' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18282/en/marie-delier-femmes-voilees">Marie Delier 'Femmes Voilees'</a> The clarinet music with its attributes so very present, emphasized the performer's absence. During the exhibition's opening, the musician was present. He played the clarinet sitting on the stool and read the music from the score. But as soon as more than three or four people came to listen, he put the clarinet on the ground and disappeared. When the spectators moved on, he returned until... and so on and so forth. The tension between presence and the unattainable, between reality and longing, looking and seeing, distance and closeness gives Marie Delier's installation a melancholy beauty. <h2>Gerald Minkoff/ Muriel Olesen</h2> Caryatides in situ ou Samson fait la différence, Dalton s'en balance <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18290/en/gerald-minkoff-muriel-olesen"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/853/18290-400-173.jpg" height="173" width="400" alt="" title="Gerald Minkoff, Muriel Olesen" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Gerald Minkoff, Muriel Olesen - Mediamatic.net" href="/18290/en/gerald-minkoff-muriel-olesen">Gerald Minkoff, Muriel Olesen</a> A broad, deep warehouse space. The low ceiling supported by cast-iron pillars. The only lighting was created by spotlights which cast a red glow across the pillars in the center. The golden coating on the underside of the pillars was just visible in the monochrome light. In the space, there was a column of four monitors to both the left and the right. A fifth column was lying on its side next to each column. These ensembles stood with their screens facing each other. On the monitors was a static blue-green abstract image. The blue-green color had a very special vibrating, intangible quality. The images seemed like echoes on the retina in their contrast with the red light that filled the space. The monitors didn't seem to project any light despite the low light level in the space, rather the green glow remained within the equipment. In front of the space to the left and in the back to the right was a small chipboard house on a swing. Lenses protruded from door openings in the houses. The houses looked out towards the pillars. On closer inspection, the monitor images appeared to have originated from these houses. Two closed circuits with electronically modified colors. The blue-green images gave the hall sort of imernal bulges, electronic entrails. In the video, it had, as it were, turned itself inside out. Through that, it had become even more inaccessible, intangible in its red glow. The concrete space and the video image had been reversed. Meanwhile, there were points of contact between the two worlds: the houses completely motionless on their swings. We thought of giving the swings a little push but didn't risk it. That would have completely destroyed the space. Back in Groningen, we read in the catalogue that that was exactly what we supposed to do. Perhaps we would have dared to do it had we been color blind. <h2>Antoni Muntads</h2> Derrière les Mots Le Gout de l'aventure Le succès sauvage ècoutez l'image Pour le plaisir des yeux Muntadas was responsible for the commercial breaks. He positioned video monitors and slide projectors at the transition points between different spaces, between different installations. Each set of equipment presented a slogan borrowed from advertising, Right at the back of the exhibition was a monitor on which a number of these texts alternated with each other. Enlarged to fill the screen, the keywords of each slogan were repeated. Ray Conniff music underlined the hollowness of the image. The circulated texts were blown up beyond their power by their museum-like presentation and isolation from their original context. They gained a monumental beauty which they could not support. They attempted Münchhausen-style to pull themselves out of the swamp of triviality by their own wigs, each time to sink back in again. Unfortunately, the last monitor was much less dramatic. The succession of various texts and the instantly banal music made Muntadas' statement too one-dimensional. It lost its allure and became moralist in flavour. The horse that Von Münchhausen gripped between his thighs here seemed to be a squeaky little toy. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18298/en/antoni-muntadas-derriere-les-mots"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/519/18298-400-159.jpg" height="159" width="400" alt="" title="Antoni Muntadas 'Derriere les Mots'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Antoni Muntadas 'Derriere les Mots' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18298/en/antoni-muntadas-derriere-les-mots">Antoni Muntadas 'Derriere les Mots'</a> <h2>Bernard Queeckers</h2> Un Question de Sens dans tous les Sens du Terme <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18344/en/bernard-queeckers-un-question-de-sens-dans-tous"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/807/18344-400-256.jpg" height="256" width="400" alt="" title="Bernard Queeckers 'Un Question de Sens dans tous les Sens du Terme'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Bernard Queeckers 'Un Question de Sens dans tous les Sens du Terme' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18344/en/bernard-queeckers-un-question-de-sens-dans-tous">Bernard Queeckers 'Un Question de Sens dans tous les Sens du Terme'</a> Un = a Question = question, matter, torture de = of, about, until, to, out, on Sens = sense, the senses, feeling, meaning, attitude, view, persuasion, orientation, understanding dans = in, out, over, during, with, by, under taus = all, entire, all together les = the du = see: de Terme = term, expression, word, limit, goal, outcome <h2>Carlos da Ponte</h2> Sans Titre <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18345/en/carlos-da-ponte-sans-titre"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/194/18345-400-215.jpg" height="215" width="400" alt="" title="Carlos da Ponte 'Sans Titre'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Carlos da Ponte 'Sans Titre' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18345/en/carlos-da-ponte-sans-titre">Carlos da Ponte 'Sans Titre'</a> The explosion of the American space shuttle on 28 January 1986 is the ultimate Eighties media disaster. The images circled the world at least as quickly as those of Kennedy's murder. Whereas the disaster in the Sixties had the quality of a short thriller in the Nouvelle Vague style, the Eighties disaster had the format of a visually perfect 30 seconds commercial. The President's murder returned in video art over the following decade. Ant Farm even made a complete remake (The Eternal Frame 1975). Within just one year, the rocket's explosion has already appeared in the work of a number of media artists (two in this issue). It would be interesting to organize an exhibition in 1990 of art videos that deal with that image. Carlos da Ponte also used it in his extremely aesthetic installation for Plan K: a large monitor surrounded by four small ones created a cross shape. Both explosion and cross were component parts of a mosaic of sometimes distinguishable, sometimes overlapping signs. Not simply in the semiotic sense but more directly as means of construction employed within the work. There were images of a baby on the central monitor, blankly looking in or past the lens, Tabula Rasa. The infant was lying on unused squared graph paper suggesting neutrality. The four small monitors were placed with their bases against the large screen so that they create a point-symmetrical image that encircled the baby like a wreath. Using this device, Da Ponte enacted a subtle game: moving a white surface over the image resulted in a movement in four directions in the installation, the wreath image rotated. The suggestion of movement was varied and alternated with stationary images, large figures resulting from the fourfold multiplication of the small image. The arrangement became a hypnotizing semaphore, a vibrating signal. Periodically, the signaling device supplied a different image; the skyline of a city, the most complicated, multi-level sign system that continuously surrounds and besieges us, and the exploding space-shuttle, the most simple ominous sign created by the Eighties. The third non-geometric image was that of a man who nodded his head manically as he wanted, in vain, to shake off all images. He appeared briefly, afterwards the cross hurtled past once more. A crackle was projected over the monitors and the wall behind them. Like a cosmos, a sea of time. This script in time forms a contrast with the young baby on the middle monitor. At the same time, through his pristine quality, the child was still part of the infinite. The wreath sign simply fixed it in time and space. <h2>Koen Theys</h2> Sirenes <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18346/en/koen-theys-sirenes"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/171/18346-400-314.jpg" height="314" width="400" alt="" title="Koen Theys 'Sirenes'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Koen Theys 'Sirenes' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18346/en/koen-theys-sirenes">Koen Theys 'Sirenes'</a> When Odysseus was sailing to Circe, he had to pass the island where the Sirens lived. These half woman/half bird creatures were endowed with bewitching voices. They would entice passing sailors who were then smashed against the rocks. Odysseus had been warned of the danger. He stopped up the ears of the crew with wax and he had himself tied to the mast of his ship. Thus, he succeeded in being the only man to hear the Siren's song without paying for it with his life. Myth and morality seem to have inspired Koen Theys to make this installation. In a high, square space, a carpet and the sound of applause invited the visitor to walk up the stairs and onto a podium. The podium was surrounded by three walls. There was a monitor at eye-level on each wall showing an audience applauding. The image on the monitor of he middle wall was the wrong way up. Visually, this related to five rows of folding chairs that were attached upside down to the ceiling. The audience on the monitor looked at whoever came up the stairs. As an extension of the stairs, there was a rectangular pool full of water set into the podium. A ball floated on the water. If you got too carried away by the applause and felt as if your head was in the clouds there was a real chance of not looking where you were going and of falling in the pool. Like a toy ball in the hands of the audience. But if you remained alert to enticement then you would see a button on the left-hand wall. If you pressed it, an outboard motor was turned on which had its exhaust pipe in the pool. This caused a wash. It was as if a boat was speeding in the direction of the empty chairs. Just in time (the artist) escaped from the enticement of applause. Translation: Annie Wright Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Jans Possel http://www.mediamatic.net/id/8179 Willem Velthoven http://www.mediamatic.net/id/874 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18411 2009-04-24T12:32:45+02:00 Are you being served? A gap in the video art market.

On the first page of the previous issue of Mediamatic, the editors served the reader an appetizing Breakfast by Floris van Dijck. I myself would have preferred the wares displayed, such as cheeses, grapes, apples, hazelnuts, prunes, walnuts, a crusty bread roll, and a glass of cool white wine, to have been served at lunch time. And perhaps Floris might have agreed, who knows? Yet this would not solve a more important problem. It is quite possible that this reproduction in a magazine for media art and hardware design represents something different from mere food. The meal seems to be a metaphor for video art: the senses are stimulated in a pleasant way, but the object is unfortunately out of reach for the hungry consumer, at a time when, in view of the technical possibilities, video tapes could be on display more frequently and at a lower cost than Floris' little banquet.

<h2>Definition of the problem</h2> In the Netherlands it is possible to watch television from early in the morning till late at night. One-third of Dutch households possesses a video player; a predecessor of the art video, the avant-garde film from the beginning of this century, is already three quarters of a century old, video art has existed for more than a generation, it is taught at art colleges, artists specialize in video art, and that video art really is a serious form of art, has even the director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Wim Beeren, recognized. 1 And yet video an is rarely to be seen. In the following article we shall see which factors interfere with the accessibility of video art. This will be followed by a description of the current video an marker. Based on this analysis of problems and market, we shall discuss in which way an impulse towards a better accessibility of video could be achieved. This accessibility is determined, among other things, by the product, its price, and its distribution. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18415/en/are-you-being-served"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/157/18415-273-400.jpg" height="400" width="273" alt="" title="'Are you being served'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - 'Are you being served' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18415/en/are-you-being-served">'Are you being served'</a> <h2>The product</h2> For many people there has always been a hierarchy in the visual ans, with the art of painting in a leading position. This tradition is evident from the high prices paintings fetch and from the number of exhibitions of paintings. Because of this tradition, video art, a relatively young art form, is accorded a much lower status from the start. Tradition and the visual arts market still dictate that a work of art which is unique, is of a higher value than a work which is not. Apparently, the prints, photographs and films that appear in editions have not been able to influence this tradition. And yet the art of printing has existed for centuries, not only as an aid in painting, but also as an independent art form. Photography and film, art forms also belonging to the visual arts, are old as well. Although people have become used to them, they are often still considered less interesting forms of art. Art videos also suffer from being a mass product. In addition, the visual presence of technology in a work of art still evokes more suspicion in some people than a painter's instruments. Video has also been accused of being dull, abstract, not very entertaining, and too serious. The association with subcultural phenomena is sometimes an impediment for a better acquaintance with video art. Apart from its nature, video art may also suffer from its form: paintings can be exhibited permanently; by contrast, this is more difficult to realize with video. Many art video images have been recorded on professional systems, not available to the average private person renting a tape. Another technical problem is that in public presentations video makes a rather poor impression, compared with the high quality of film images. And finally, people who are unacquainted with video are unaware of the difference between art videos and videos from the video shop. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18416/en/are-you-being-served"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/770/18416-258-400.jpg" height="400" width="258" alt="" title="'Are you being served?'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - 'Are you being served?' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18416/en/are-you-being-served">'Are you being served?'</a> <h2>The price</h2> For watching, renting or selling video art, a price must be paid and money must be received. For private persons the often low entrance fee of a public presentation is no problem. Renting videos -compared to the video shop or the library- on the other hand, is less attractive, because of the high prices. <h2>Distribution</h2> Several indicators determining the quality of the distribution of video art can be distinguished, such as the number of places for presentation, frequency of the presentations, the presentation itself, the accessibility of video collections and possibilities for renting and selling. Suppliers of video tapes feel that the number of places where videos can be shown is rather limited in The Netherlands. Fortunately for the video viewers, the decision of the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Cultural Affairs (advised by the Arts Council) to restrict the grants for the presentation of video art to one single institution, has not led to a defeatist but to a militant attitude. At the same time the continuation of these organizations and therefore of the distribution of video art has become less secure. The number of museums presenting video art is small as well. The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has been a positive exception for quite a few years already. Presentations of video art are organized there from time to time and The Luminous Image (1984) attracted a great deal of attention. Yet most other museums hardly ever present video art. Commercial art galleries, like museums and the authorities, are not very interested in video art. The number of galleries that regularly present and sell video art is small. Dutch television, conspicuous for the absence of cultural programs, hardly pays attention to video art. The frequency of presentations of video art in the video institutions is not especially low, but a higher frequency would make it possible to drop in and see a video. It would not be difficult to improve the presentation of video art. For instance, by a coherent selection of videos, comfortable seats, a good location, in quiet surroundings, with information about what is being shown, and how the spectators can select videos themselves. Museum collections of video art are not very accessible, yet watching tapes ought to be as easy as leafing through books. It is certainly possible to rent and sell video art, but an increase in the number of sellers (e.g. galleries) would still have a beneficial effect, because it would enhance the acceptance of video art by a potentially interested public. <h2>The market for video art</h2> The market for presentation, rental and sale of video art is part of a visual arts market that has existed for centuries. Characteristic for this market is that in most cases each work of art can be clearly distinguished from other works of art (copies of a video are here seen as one and the same work of art). In other words, there is a great differentiation in products on the video market. In addition, videos can be copied, as has already been mentioned above, and belong to the market segment of reproducible works of art, just like prints. Finally, art video as a category is relatively young, about twenty-five years old. Compared with other art forms, the price of video art is low. This price is not determined by production costs, but by what the consumer is willing to pay for it, and what the producer would like to get for it. Producers are usually specialized video artists. Their number will increase rapidly in the future, as video is now incorporated in the syllabus on art schools in Holland. Although most people are accustomed to daily television productions, which demand an entirely different attitude of the viewer, and although video art is held in lower esteem than other art forms, interest in video art is increasing. Based on these characteristics, we can draw a tentative conclusion about the stage of the development of the video market. Taking into account the number of presentations, and of rented and sold videos in a given period, we can distinguish the following stages (for simplicity's sake): introduction, growth, maturation, saturation, and decay. The introduction phase is probably almost finished at this time: video art has recovered from its teething troubles, has had its first real successes as regards contents, and is distributed internationally. Video art has gained respect, says video artist Nan Hoover. The Netherlands do not lag behind in this development, according to some video. distributors and artists. On the contrary, more and more opportunities arise, interest is growing, and relatively speaking, more video art is produced in The Netherlands than for instance in the United States and Canada. The next phase, growing up, seem about to dawn: supply will increase more rapidly, and so will demand, and the technical possibilities and the quality of video players and recorders will be further improved. In addition, growth seems to be stable in The Netherlands, because in spite of restrictive measures by the Ministry of WVC, most productions and presentations continue. Also, the interest in video as a medium for visual art has increased more rapidly than has been the case with photography and film. Even though many art historians still feel rather uncomfortable when faced with this 'new' art form, this attitude seems to be changing, as amongst others the issue of Mediamatic proves. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18418/en/are-you-being-served"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/909/18418-276-400.jpg" height="400" width="276" alt="" title="'Are you being served?'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - 'Are you being served?' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18418/en/are-you-being-served">'Are you being served?'</a> <h2>Orientation towards the public</h2> Video art has outgrown the first stage in its development, and appears to have a potential for the future. It would be useful therefore, to pay some attention, not only to the video product itself, but also to the potentially interested part of the public. This would benefit all those involved with video art, especially in view of the current market philosophy of possible sponsors, such as governments and business firms. The importance of an orientation aimed at the public for the achievement of their objects, has been recognized in the past by museums and business firms. Since the beginning of this century, when their collections acquired an interesting and respectable size, Dutch museums have begun to interest themselves not only in their works of art, but also in their public. Their activities have shifted steadily, although in an unstructured and marginal fashion, from being merely directed at the object, to a more public-orientated attitude, especially since 1945. 2 Already at an earlier stage, after the Industrial Revolution, an analogous development has taken place in business firms in The United States and Europe, from an orientation towards a technically perfect production to an orientation towards distribution and potential consumers. An increased interest in the public does not imply that we should attempt to achieve a situation in which every Tom, Dick and Harry are watching video art. On the contrary, this would be a waste of energy. Instead, the object is to allow the organization or person who shows, rents or sells video art to achieve his goal better (more effectively) and with less effort and means (more efficiently). And because each of these organizations or persons, depending on their object, will want to reach one or more segments of the public, it will be useful to get to know these groups better, in order 10 communicate with them more effectively. A closer acquaintance with the public requires market research. A more flexible communication can be achieved by dealing more consciously with the means of communication: product, price, distribution and promotion. That art video itself can be a means of communication does not imply that video should conform to the desires of a certain public; it does imply that a video is offered to those who are potentially interested, and later might become really interested. Translation: Fokke Sluiter Notes 1 Beeren, Wim Video en beeldende kunst in: The luminous image cat. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1984 Blotkamp, Hoos, e.a., Film en beeldende kunst 1900-1930, cat. Central Museum, Utrecht 1979 2 Collette, Pablo, Musea in Nederland en marketing, em onderzoek naar mogelijkheden van een systematische publieksbenadering, doctoraalscriptie, Groningen 1983,20-32 I am grateful to Renè Coelho (Montevideo), Adriaan van der Have (gallery Torch), Nan Hoover (artist) and Rob Perrèe (Time Based Arts) Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Pablo Collette http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18413 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18420 2009-04-24T12:39:16+02:00 Parácas Chimu

This spring, Frits Maats (1949) presented the multimedia-installation Parácas Chimu in the Kijkhuis in The Hague. A logical sequence to his thematic approach to art history, especially to the paintings in his video-work. This was the first time (after a hesitant try-out at the manifestation Schele Cyclopen (Squinteyed Cyclopes) organized by Mediamatic) that Maats achieves an effective combination of paintings and video within a single work of art. This in spite of his confession in an earlier issue of our magazine (The painting as a semi-manifactured article in Mediamatic Vol. 1 No 1), in which he rejected painting as being too restrictive.

<h2>Cyclone</h2> One's first impression on entering Parácas Chimu is a feeling of disorientation. In a brief period of time, one is exposed to a deluge of impressions succeeding each other at high speed. In a dark room are monitors, paintings and sculptures. The monitors form a column, stand in a row, or occupy isolated positions in the room. They are fed by three different tapes played synchronously. Eleven paintings are hung here and there on the black walls. They are conspicuous for there special language of form and their bold colors. The forms of the sculptures suggest that they had just stepped out of the paintings - only very much enlarged. Three geometric mirrors mounted on the walls reflect the colorful spectacle. Sounds of a sound-collage fill the room. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18425/en/parácas-chimu"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/623/18425-400-268.jpg" height="268" width="400" alt="" title="'Parácas Chimu'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - 'Parácas Chimu' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18425/en/parácas-chimu">'Parácas Chimu'</a> <h2>Sedimentation</h2> When the first impressions have been assimilated, one realizes that Parácas Chimu is a very coherent and well-considered work of art. The images of the three tapes, succeeding each other at an incredible speed, are composed of abstract as well as familiar elements. Maats manipulates the visual material in various ways. Recognizable elements such as the image of the dancer, photographic quotations from art history, and images of a control system are used as the building materials for an abstract visual composition, which is achieved by making playful cut-outs, and combining these in new ways. The abstract fragments from Frits Maats' paintings are metamorphosed by means of the same techniques. Two paintings that are present in the room provide the starting point for this process. Sometimes Maats manipulates the image more brusquely, by a rough stroke of the paintbrush. These image manipulations are interspersed with monochrome and geometric fragments of simple design. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18426/en/pirácas-chimu"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/606/18426-400-276.jpg" height="276" width="400" alt="" title="'Pirácas Chimu'" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - 'Pirácas Chimu' - Mediamatic.net" href="/18426/en/pirácas-chimu">'Pirácas Chimu'</a> <h2>Contrasts</h2> The use of color in the tapes agrees well with the colors of the paintings: quiet, earthly colors contrasting with bright, exuberant ones. The name of the installation, Parácas Chimu , is a Peruvian expression referring to the impressionistic and expressionistic colors used by the Indians to paint their clothes. The video images with their varying use of colors and tempo evoke several different moods, from violent or gloomy to serene or light-footed. The sound creates similar effects, but does not always stick to the images; sometimes sound and image are in harmony, then again they contrast with each other. The paintings do not only relate to the medium video within the tapes, but also in other respects. The colored light of the monitors is cast on the paintings directly or by reflection, and is continually transforming them. Colors from pigment and from the screen interact and modulate each other, with surprising effects. In this context the mirrors and a centrally placed sculpture with a reflecting surface suggest works of art capable to change their shape continually. The other sculptures are merely subordinated to the tapes. <h2>Typical forms</h2> An important connecting element is Maats' approach to form, which is in evidence everywhere: in the paintings as well as in the cut-outs from the tapes, and also in the way the pedestals of the monitors, the mirrors and the sculptures have been designed. Clear-cut, geometric, and polished, fluent forms are used as elements of a composition or as decoration. This is also true for the stylized figurative elements that can be found everywhere in Parácas Chimu . <h2>The painting as a semi-manufactured article?</h2> According to Frits Maats, he approaches the medium video as a painter and a sculptor. When he was still exploring the possibilities of the medium in 1982, he made a tape History and Impotence. In this tape, in a very short time, a book on art history was leafed through from the beginnings of art to the present, accompanied by up-tempo music. The question Maats asked himself in this tape was: What can the present-day artist contribute to existing art? Maats has made a contribution to his own art by his approach to video. In tapes like Hridaya (1985) en Karnak (1986), he added the dimension of time to the paintings, and demonstrated the pictorial qualities of video. In Hridaya , he manipulated the painting by means of videographic techniques; the video images were manipulated by means of traditional painting techniques. In the tape, for example, parts of the painting are taken out and reproduced, forming a new image, which is again metamorphosed by a simple stroke of the paintbrush. The approach in Karnak differs from Hridaya, because in Karnak Maats uses not only cut-outs, but also other forms of image manipulation, more suggestive of video-synthesizing. The dancer, who appears frequently on the screen, is like a monochromatic spectre, trailing behind her ever-changing, flowing colors. For the tapes in Parácas Chimu, Maats has used much the same approach as in Hridaya and Karnak. In Parácas Chimu he has not, however, restricted himself to the video tape as a means of making video and painting merge with each other. The room is used as an extra dimension, adding another aspect to the encounter of video art and painting. In Parácas Chimu therefore, the borderlines between the different media have been crossed, and an art form of a wholly different nature has been created. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18427/en/frits-maats-parácas-chimu-1987"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/761/18427-393-400.jpg" height="400" width="393" alt="" title="Frits Maats 'Parácas Chimu', 1987" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Frits Maats 'Parácas Chimu', 1987 - Mediamatic.net" href="/18427/en/frits-maats-parácas-chimu-1987">Frits Maats 'Parácas Chimu', 1987</a> Translation: Fokke Sluiter Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Marie-Adèle Rajandream http://www.mediamatic.net/id/14235 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18533 2009-04-24T12:41:03+02:00 Magyar Video

Saturday 6 June, a special exhibition of the video work of the Hungarian artist Gábor Bódy will be opened in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Simultaneously, his complete film works will be presented by the Film Museum. The video exhibition will be particularly interesting: the Hungarian architect Gábor Bachman designed a special installation which will show Bódy's work synchronously. Gábor Bódy was one of the inspiring forces of the Hungarian video scene. At the moment it is not clear whether further attention will be paid to Hungarian video (Hungary is guest country at this year's Holland Festival). In any case, we asked Vera Bódy to give an outline of the video situation in her native country.

It is somewhat contradictory to write about an international medium such as video on a national level. Nevertheless, I will try to highlight a few specific qualities of Hungarian video art through examples of philosophy and iconography. <h2>Forerunners</h2> At the beginning of the Seventies, film-makers got the chance to work with video who through their contact with the Film Academy in Budapest had access to the experimental film studio of Hungarian television. These works were produced on one-inch equipment. The experimental work of Gábor Bódy is important in terms of the video expansion in Hungary in the Eighties. In particular: Unendliches Bild und Spiegelung (1972), a closed circuit, and Psychocosmos, made with computer and video synthesizer. Tibor Hajas, the leader of the Hungarian avant-garde in the Seventies defined the look of the first period of the video scene with his half-inch 'video-études'. Sadly his work has been lost. The third important instigator is the conceptual and performance artist Miklós Erdély who, right from the Sixties, made a name for himself by organizing painting, film and theatre activities. The group Indigo(which he founded) attracted the most important musicians, sculptors and experimental film-makers, who under his direction (or rather advice) began to produce their first videotapes. Bódy, Hajas and Erdély, all now dead, helped an entire generation to find their feet. <h2>Production possibilities</h2> The technical possibilities in Hungary are limited and it is particularly difficult to acquire money for a production. Unesco set up a Sony high-band studio in the Seventies at the Országos Oktatási Központ (National Institute for Educational Issues) in Veszprém for the production of audiovisual educational material for Hungarian schools. After five years, the studio was also made available for commercial use so that the production of Infermental III in Veszprém (which was compiled by the Béla Balázs Studio) was in fact made at the going rates for rental. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18535/en/jaianos-szikora-gyula-pauer-a-ló-1983"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/940/18535-400-364.jpg" height="364" width="400" alt="" title="Jaianos Szikora, Gyula Pauer 'A ló' 1983" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Jaianos Szikora, Gyula Pauer 'A ló' 1983 - Mediamatic.net" href="/18535/en/jaianos-szikora-gyula-pauer-a-ló-1983">Jaianos Szikora, Gyula Pauer 'A ló' 1983</a> Mafilm, the Hungarian film studio in Budapest, has comparable professional facilities. But only Mafilm employés with authorized budgets and a storyboard that has been 'cut' are admitted. The Neue Videogattungen which Gábor Bódy wanted to make for about twenty punk and rock bands was not realized for 'reasons of content'. The first official place where video art is produced is the Béla Balázs Studio in Budapest. Here, people are also admitted who are neither students nor employés and have small storyboards and sketches for the production of a video. But only simple low-band equipment is available: a few U-Matic, Vhs and Beta cameras and a low-band editing suite with a high-band player. The studio's budget is constantly being cut back because the entire Hungarian film industry is in a state of crisis. It is both astonishing and a pity that, even in a socialist country, the system for cultural subsidy is sacrificed to the general climate of consumption. Conversely, the public and illegal videotechniques are positively flourishing. The second subsidized non-commercial video organization is housed at Népmüvelödésügyi Intézet (Institute for National Education). It specializes in documentary video and up till now has been unfavorably disposed towards video art. <h2>Content and ways of production</h2> Poetry is at the root of most Hungarian video artists' work. Thus, you often encounter quotations from poems, sometimes set to music. It enables them to communicate their view of the world to the public. The texts are intensely nihilistic and influenced by Shaman thinking. This is to do with the tradition of Hungarian poetry and has possible connections with the Asiatic origins of the Hungarian people. It was at the turn of the century that the great poet Endre Ady directed Hungarians back to these roots. It were precisely these impulses that combined so well with the Punks no future program. The extreme anarchist video songs by the Bizottság (Committee) rock group are one example as is the Vágtázóllalott Kémek (Mad Pathologists) punk group for the discovery of folklore and the Shaman past. Their stage appearances are true 'performances' and Milarepa their videoclip is extremely popular. All members of this group are artists. A second important trend is the theatrical approach of much of the work of the Eighties. The Amandina Ensemble, the group of painters Böröcs- Révész- Szirtes- Koncz- Kukorelly and Jónás, and the work of the bands Trabant and Balaton are, viewed in terms of scene and choreography, a sort of comedia video arte. The way that Zoltán Bonta, Zoltán Gazsi, László Nagyvári and János Vetö work (in collaboration with the Béla Balázs Studio) has lead to many innovations in video during the last few years and comes closest to a 'classical' interpretation of video art. Apart from this categorization, there are some general and specific influences on the work of Hungarian video artists. The strongest is still the influence of experimental and cartoon films which have a long tradition in Hungary. The world of television and American video which has long been an important factor in the development of many German video artists has, partly for technical reasons, little influence. The fact that reception of the necessary images is still uncertain and also that the younger generation who would potentially be interested does not have access to technical facilities as yet places this pivot of the iconography beyond consideration. The consequence is that the few works that analyze the media are of a social-political significance, often taking skits on news programs as a theme. One example is the work of László Nagyvári and János Xantus. <h2>Outside influences</h2> The installations, the videos of various performances as well as the 'classical' videos made specially for the monitor are certainly not independent of the entire international movement of conceptual and minimal art. But I must say that I doubt that the work of Nam June Paik, Peter Campus, David Antin or Frank Gilette was known outside the catalogues. Certainly few artists have had the possibility to see an exhibition in the Stedelijk or elsewhere, but in principle you can assume that Western visual art and experimental film clearly enjoys greater recognition in Hungary than Western video art. The presentations of Infermental, put on in Budapest in 1980, and the inviting of foreign guests such as Joan Jonas and Rotraut Pape by the Béla Balázs Studio has ensured that as from 1983 more information has come into the country. Translation: Annie Wright Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Vera Bódy http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18534 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18545 2009-04-24T12:47:52+02:00 Post-Kaufhaus CCTV

In the 1976 Venice Biennale, Dan Graham presented a video work where a monitor showed the reality of an adjoining space the way it was 24 hours earlier. Ten years later in 1987, this subtle irritation was easily surpassed in irony and complexity by gremlins in the German TV. Helmut Kohl's New Year's speech for 1986 was broadcast instead of his speech for 1987. Not far from Kohl's official seat (which is guarded by extremely advanced surveillance equipment), an artist had dared once again to broach the subject of art and reality...

In January, Dieter Froese presented his installation Unpruäzise Angaben/Not a Model for Big Brother's Spy Circle in the City Art Museum Bonn. Anyone visiting this exhibition was confronted in various ways with the border between art and reality and its political aspects. Old hat? A well-worn theme that was done to death in the Seventies? Or has the problem made an all too drastic switch from art to daily life? The problem of the interaction between fiction and reality in the electronic media community has been commonplace for a long time. The new artificiality of art in the Eighties is here more a symptom than criticism or analysis. The Bonn Art Museum is being rebuilt and renovated. The new direction has brought a breath of fresh air into this still very makeshift building. Preparations are being made for the major Macke exhibition that's on the cards. These circumstances heighten the intensity of Dieter Froese's video installation. Almost all the museum's collection is closed or cleared out. Technical staff walk round with tools, drill can be heard. There are thick cables on the stairs, video cameras with long leads being carried up and down over three floors. Mountains of monitors, as if they've been thrown out, are piled up in the spaces. There's a still greater number of imitation cameras and monitors. Is this an exhibition being put together? Wasn't there enough money or has a sponsor cried off? None of that. Froese is employing the principle of the fake camera, an everyday pan of surveillance reality. Alongside perfectly functional surveillance cameras, most manufacturers include completely identical dummies in their range: the same deterrence for a fraction of the price.1 The real aim of surveillance is not so much the accumulation of a not particularly useful flood of information as inducing the feeling that there's always the possibility you're being watched. Surveillance has the character of a modality, it suggests a particular reality. Froese's dummy lenses are careful copies of the real thing. As empty shells, they make it clear that mostly we only see the outside of electronic technology. How many people know what's going on inside their own television set or which cables bring them a program? A brand new TV is first unpacked at home. An empty impression is left behind in the polystyrene foam and cardboard. Froese shows how the contents are more new packaging. Even with the wiring diagram, the riddle of the box is basicly insoluble. The reality of what is seen is as unresolvable as the question of whether we are actually appearing on the screen of an unknown surveillance monitor or whether it's only a fake camera keeping tabs on us. In the installation, the cameras and microphones are linked via an almost incomprehensible system by which the transfer of image and sound degenerates into an irritating labyrinth of information covering three floors. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18548/en/post-kaufhaus-cctv"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/381/18548-400-236.jpg" height="236" width="400" alt="" title="Post-Kaufhaus CCTV" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Post-Kaufhaus CCTV - Mediamatic.net" href="/18548/en/post-kaufhaus-cctv">Post-Kaufhaus CCTV</a> <h2>Parallel modality</h2> However, Froese is not only concerned with video and surveillance but also with art and artists. As the title indicates, the installation is not only a demonstration of the relation between observation and irritation. It also reflects on the relation between artists and the outside world and the conflict between art and power. Amongst the monitors connected to the closed-circuits systems are others playing two videotapes. On the first tape, people try in vain to escape the surveillance cameras range of observation, a chase recorded in slow motion. On the other tape, we see the same people being interrogated in front of a white wall illuminated by a spotlight. All those questioned are artists, Froese's friends. Why do you make art? Do you intend to change the system with your art? Do you earn a living from it? The questions arc answered with diffidence, irony, dourness. These are the questions every artist knows but no one can answer. Other questions make one think of the Communist witch-hunts during the Mc Carthy era: What is the significance of the color red in your paintings? Do you speak Chinese? What code system do you use? Making art means imparting something of your intimate inner life to the outside world. Not as a clear pronouncement but as a more or less coded imprecise indication. The art too has the character of the modality and that makes the artist suspect. After the presentation of his videotapes, Dieter Froese was available for questions from the public. An artist friend took up the discussion with the video camera. Unintentionally, there were obvious parallels with the staged interviews. Not that the spectators posed such indiscreet or aggressive questions as the voice on Froese's tape but the conveying of art is also a system of looking and being looked at. Only the division of roles remains open. Who is observing whom here? The visitor sees both sides, the camera and the monitor. He is both surveiller and surveilled. In the reality he is mostly in the latter position. <h2>Art surveillance</h2> An extreme definition of the concept museum would be a place for the contemplation and surveillance of art. As mentioned before, Froese has been lucky with the renovation in Bonn. He could alter the empty museum into a true observation machine for the art viewer. In this context the museum guards almost seemed like relics from the past. Will, perhaps, the museum's new building be fitted with its own surveillance system? Such an elaborately organized exhibition also demands a certain involvement on the museum's part as well. But it was worth the trouble: because one seldom finds solutions for the often divided twin-concept of video art (whose function is to indicate a branch of art) which combine both components in a plausible way. This exhibition was proposed by Katharina Schmidt, the new director of the City Art Museum Bonn as a project within the program. With the acquisition of the Oppenheim collection, the museum has taken charge of the most extensive cache of video in West Germany. However, until recently, there was little to see. As usual because of technical, personal or space problems, video was banished to the broom cupboard. But an important foundation has been created for a brighter future with the production of an extensive catalogue of the collection and the sorting out and revising of existing tapes. A suitable space for the Oppenheim collection has also been planned for the museum's new building which will be ready in 1989. <h2>Video control</h2> During her long career running a video gallery in Cologne, Ingrid Oppenheim (who was killed in an accident last year) was an important stimulus to the development of video both in Germany and abroad. The center for video art in the new museum will be named after her. But something is already happening with video. The collection is being constantly updated and gaps in the historical aspect will be filled up in the future. For a year, there has been a meeting once a month where artists talk about their productions. In 1986, Klaus Vom Bruch won the Dorothea Von Stetten prize with a strong video installation in the Bonn Art Museum. He, too, is one of the artists who took his first steps in video in Ingrid Oppenheim's studio. Klaus Schrenk, who made an important contribution to the realizing of Dieter Froese's exhibition, has set himself the target of giving video a place in the new museum's permanent collection. He thinks that instead of a strict division of the various branches of art, there must be an endeavour to integrate videotapes and installations into the general art context after 1945. Certainly no simple assignment. I am extremely curious about the architectural and technical presentation of the video collection in the new building. In international terms, there are few examples on hand. It is an area begging for good solutions. 1 Anyone not believing this should, for instance, send off for a brochure about Panasonic's model WV-1400 D. Translation: Annie Wright Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Dieter Daniels http://www.mediamatic.net/id/9051 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18706 2009-04-24T12:49:47+02:00 235

At the beginning of this year the new video catalogue of 235 (pronounced dreiundzwanzig fünf) appeared. 235 is an agency, or rather a business firm in Cologne, which for a number of years has been engaged in all kinds of activities in the field of audio and video. 235 is distributor, publisher, adviser, organizer, as well as hardware leasing company. It all began with the sale of LP'S and music tapes which can conveniently be classified as experimental, but currently the range has been expanded to include music and art videos.

The new catalogue provides a survey of the range of art videos offered by 235. In the shiny black ring binder of simple design (interior format 21/21 cm), the video tapes are arranged in alphabetical order under the name of the artist or group of artists. The left side of the page gives information about the tape in German and English, followed by a short description of the contents, and a code showing whether the video is for hire or for sale, and/or whether it can be shown on TV. Most tapes have all three possibilities. The right side of the page is reserved for a photograph and the initial of the artist whose work is presented. Everything is designed in black and white. A total of 65 video tapes by some 45 artists from 10 different countries, and 13 compilations of different tapes are on offer. The majority of the tapes is from Germany or the United States. The tapes are very recent (eighties) and very varied. Famous names rub shoulders with unknown names, 'real' art videos and registrations of performances, scratch video and tapes that are related to music or literature. The aim was not to provide a collection with a well-defined image of its own. This may be due to the fact that 235 has not yet been offering video tapes for a long time. Of most artists only one tape is available. To mention only a few: Code Public, Bruce Nauman, Monika Funke Stern, Norbert Meissner, Wonder Products, Ulrike Rosenbach. Publications by Editon Kümmel; cassettes in cloth binding containing documentation about activities of artists such as Christo and Joseph Beuys, and a wooden cassette with a concert by John Cage in Cologne. The Klaus Peter Schnüttger- Webs Museum (a project of Bettina Gruber, Ulrich Tillmann and Maria Vedder) has published a portfolio in an edition of 20 copies about the important and varied work of K.P. Schnüttger, the famous avant-garde artist, works of whom are still being discovered. All this in honor of the festive opening of the museum in Cologne on September 6, 1986, coinciding with the opening of the Ludwig Museum. Unfortunately, the museum had to close its doors the next day already, because the costs ran too high. The portfolio contains, among other things, a video tape with a report of the opening festivities. The compilations offer scratch video from England, lyrical poetry (i.e. poems transformed into image language) and 10 issues of a magazine for video art. <h2>Video Congress</h2> lnfermental may be the first magazine on video, but it is not the only one. During Documenta VII in 1982, Video Congress was founded, a cooperation of a number of German video artists, including a few cooperators of 235. They decided to produce a video art magazine, a videonale, with as its main object: to be entertaining. In their own words: the videonale must make clear statements as regards content, as well as avoid boredom. (A dig at lnfermental?) One of the ways to meet that demand was the requirement that the tapes shown in the issue must not be longer than 3-8 minutes. The first issues of Video Congress contain only German contributions. When in 1985 the urge to transcend the national borderlines had become acute, the magazine was given an international image. Each issue is based on a theme which is determined by the participating artists. The selected tapes must be related to this theme in one way or the other. The average duration of the German editions is 45 minutes. The international editions are longer (about 100 minutes). Each issue is supplemented by a booklet containing photographs and information about the various tapes. Video Congress differs from Infermental in that it bears a closer resemblance to a magazine. It appears more often, it has a fixed editorial board, is shorter, and its set-up is more commercial. The purchase of an issue of Video Congress is relatively cheap. The two most recent issues, Metasprache and Reisebekanntschaft, were 140 and 100 DM respectively on VHS. Infermental appears once a year, deals with several themes, has a duration of an average 4-6 hours, and each time has a different editorial board in a different country. From the start it was set up on an international basis. Infermental wants to provide inspiration as well as information, for artists as well as the general public. It is not a distributor, but an intermediary, and its object is not to sell, but to achieve a circulation of videos as wide as possible throughout the world. As regards content, the two magazines do not seem to differ a great deal. In both magazines, works are grouped around a theme, and both magazines want to make clear statements. Video Congress/, however, places more emphasis on entertainment and general accessibility, while Infermental asks its editorial board to reveal a mental context in the work submitted and its presentation. Financial problems have temporarily put a stop to the issue of Video Congress. In contrast to Infermental, Video Congress is paid from its own means. The profit from sales and rent are shared in terms of percentage among the contributing artists, or are used to finance productions. As soon as conditions allow it, a new issue will appear. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18707/en/torch"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/916/18707-400-399.jpg" height="399" width="400" alt="" title="torch" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - torch - Mediamatic.net" href="/18707/en/torch">torch</a> Translation: Fokke Sluiter Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Jans Possel http://www.mediamatic.net/id/8179 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18708 2009-04-24T12:50:21+02:00 In the Light of the Day/ Reflections in the Light of the Day Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Peter Boyd Maclean http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18709 d d ARTICLE 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/18743 2009-04-24T12:50:48+02:00 Infermental 6

On January 6, 1987, Infermental VI had its world premiere in the Banff-Centre in Alberta, Canada. Infermental is a periodical containing international contributions, which informs about video on video. Each issue is edited by a different editorial staff in a different country (this time in Canada). Each time under the supervision of a senior editor, who already contributed to a previous issue, and of Vera Bódy, who coordinates production and distribution from the Infermental headquarters in Cologne. In this interview she deals in some detail with the set-up of the latest issue, and with Axis, the liber-cum-video/video-cum-liber she edited together with her husband Gabor Bódy (initiator of Infermental), which will probably get a sequel soon.

<a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18747/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/830/18747-371-298.jpg" height="298" width="371" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18747/en/f-m">F.M</a> You've only just returned from a trip to Canada, Japan, and the United States. In Vancouver you prepared the new issue of Infermental, together with Hank Bull of Western Front Video. Yes, this is the sixth issue of Infermental since 1980, apart from a few special issues that appeared as supplements. Westrern Front edited Infermental VI, and I traveled to Canada for the final editing. Invitations to participate had already been sent out to a few hundred artists in august 1986, ensuring that the basic materials were available. Four themes were specified in the invitations: Cross Culture Television, New Religion, Poetical Economy, and Telepathic Music. The last two subjects were eventually incorporated as categories in Infermental VI. In addition, the material submitted led to the setting up of three more categories: Myxology, Fractal Grammar, and Satellite Control. Cross Culture Television, originally intended as a regular item in Infermental, was left out. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18748/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/548/18748-343-282.jpg" height="282" width="343" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18748/en/f-m">F.M</a> Why? For practical reasons. We received contributions for this subject from 31 countries. It would have been futile to reduce it to the same length as the other thematic pans of the program. Also, it would be asking too much to add two extra hours, devoted to a single theme, to a program which in any case already lasts for five hours. Therefore we decided to use this material for a special issue, sold separately, From the point of view of contents, it also seemed better to separate the materials. Infermental VI is almost exclusively concerned with video art. A theme confined to television would have been an odd man out. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18757/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/243/18757-336-282.jpg" height="282" width="336" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18757/en/f-m">F.M</a> What were the criteria used in selecting the tapes? Western Front invented an editorial concept called New World Edition. This refers to a kind of cultural world map. An explanation could be that Canada is a classic example of an immigration country. Not taking into account the indigenous Indians, Canada is a nation with a very young culture. While it is true that the Indian culture was not exterminated as heavy handedly as in Central or South America, 'civilization', and especially industrialization, did turn their culture into a marginal phenomenon. This is painfully obvious from the presence of Indians everywhere in the streets of Vancouver. Even though it was not among the topics of Infermental VI, this gap was so evident everywhere, that we used images of the streets of Vancouver as a kind of jingles between the several contributions, in order to draw attention to this problem. The basic idea behind Infermental, a yearly issue, each time edited by a different editorial board, and in a different country, each time with a different concept and different sponsors (for Infermental VI this was the Canada Council), has again proved to be right. The choice of Vancouver and the Western Front, obviously caused North America to be more strongly represented, in terms of quantity as well as in terms of choice of subject and design. To our surprise, however, we received many contributions from Japan. This is probably due to the fact that Vancouver is situated on the West Coast, and in this way is in connection with all countries around the Pacific. There is a kind of Pacific connection that can also be observed in work from Indonesia, Australia, and Japan. For the Cross Culture Television program, this location proved very convenient and instructive. Without great difficulties we were able to include contributions from South-American and Asian television, From a location in Europe this would not have been possible, <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18759/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/977/18759-348-282.jpg" height="282" width="348" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18759/en/f-m">F.M</a> How does Western Front operate? Western Front is a non-profit organization, a multi-media- workshop, which not only produces videos, but also invites writers, and for example organizes drama and dance workshops. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18766/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/022/18766-348-293.jpg" height="293" width="348" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18766/en/f-m">F.M</a> What are its aesthetic and theoretical principles? Hank Bull, Eric Metcalfe, and Kate Craig, who spend half their time in India, and frequently worked in Africa, are not representative of the typical Canadian lumberjack mentality. Nor of a cult of artificiality, for that matter. Of course this is obvious from the design of Infermental VI. The themes that were originally planned and also those that were included in the issue later on, clearly indicate the aesthetic principles and world view of this group. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18769/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/034/18769-400-124.jpg" height="124" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18769/en/f-m">F.M</a> How have the themes been filled in? Poetical Economy clearly bears the stamp of the artist Antoni Muntadas, who for a long time was artist in residence at Western Front, and is now teaching in San Diego. He borrowed the phrase Poetical Economy from Robert Filliou. In this way all these aesthetic concepts have their own history. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18770/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/209/18770-400-116.jpg" height="116" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18770/en/f-m">F.M</a> How did Telepathic Music originate? This is connected with the general craving for the occult, the tremendous boom of astrology and other spiritual sciences that have caught on lately. We use the word 'telepathy' because it is a link between these different expressions. This is also reflected in the music. Many video tapes are nonverbal. The phrase Telepathic Music does not refer to actual music, however. What happens is that the spectators, while they are watching the images, get musical associations, caused by processing of the images, or by internal associations in the video. What is meant is not actual music, but the association with music. This interest in associations can be observed in all themes in Infermental. No carefully worked out instructions are given to the artists invited. The theme selected should rather evoke associations in the artist's mind, associations which he then gives form in his own way. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18771/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/532/18771-400-123.jpg" height="123" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18771/en/f-m">F.M</a> Three new themes have emerged from the selection of the works submitted. Satellite Control simply announced itself. From many works it appeared that the artist either controlled his direct environment, or that he felt he was controlled- by TV, satellite or whatever. Controlling and being controlled was a recurrent theme, whether this took place at the level of nature, of a city, or of a box of matches. Myxology is a play on words by Hank Bull and myself. It is composed of the words myth, mix, and logic, and any other words you may find in it. The term was originally applied to work in which different ideologies are mixed and processed without turning them into something concrete and different. Characteristic of this work is the joy of playing with this mixing process. Fractal Grammar is my favorite category at present. The idea comes from Mandelbrot, who already decades ago adduced evidence for the stratification and refractions of concepts from physics, and coined the phrase fractal dimension to refer to this concept. At present he works for American science. In the meantime it has become possible to express the fractal dimensions in electronic diagrams. The model of the Mandelbrot tree, by which is meant the smallest denominator of the fractal dimension, has made a profound impression on the people from Western Front and myself. We came across this concept when we did a crash course in computer graphics. Our course instructor Bob Richardson, a supporter of Mandelbrot, almost drilled the concepts into our minds. While we were selecting the tapes, it became clear that there are many new kinds of grammar in the field of video, although they cannot be directly traced to Mandelbrot. Many artists develop new formulas for the production of video tapes just like equations are developed from new insights in physics - which can also be expressed visually. In this way, artists are actually working according to Mandelbrot's theory of knowledge. Every artist develops his own control system, which forms the semantic instrumentation for his interaction with video. It was our intention to associate the subjective impulse of the artists with scientific knowledge. This explains the theme Fractal Grammar. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18772/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/225/18772-400-124.jpg" height="124" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18772/en/f-m">F.M</a> This concept shows that you pay attention to the composition of the tapes. The video festival in Bonn 1986 showed a similar development of the video images themselves. Did that strike you as well in Fractal Grammar? No, we were mainly concerned with the choreography, the dramatization, and the total structure of the works concerned. Especially where this subject was concerned, we paid less attention to the separate images. In Myxology, we did pay attention to this aspect. In Fractal Grammar, the production process and its conditions played a more important role. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18781/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/879/18781-400-112.jpg" height="112" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18781/en/f-m">F.M</a> How was the concept of topicality interpreted in Infermental VI? Almost all the selected tapes are from 1986. In this respect the issue is of topical interest. Therefore, indirectly, current trends, the Zeitgeist, are much in evidence in the program. A few older works incorporated in the program meet the second important objective of Infermental, which is to include older work that has not been presented to the public provided that it fits in with the context of the issue. This topicality is largely responsible for the reputation Infermental has of being a forum for video art. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18782/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/562/18782-400-112.jpg" height="112" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18782/en/f-m">F.M</a> What is the relation of Poetical Economy and Telepathic Music to topicality? Do the aesthetic principles of the Fifties surface again, such as Fluxus and informal art, or does Infermental VI attempt to continue the discussion of this subject? Certainly there are many young artists who look for examples towards the Fifties. Just as others look towards the Twenties. We were not interested in a thematic study of old aesthetic discussions. I think the Zeitgeist plays a more important part here, though innovation as well as plagiarism are substantial components of art history. It is often in the confrontation of innovation and plagiarism, that brilliant, innovative and topical works originate. Poetical Economy makes me think of the Eighties rather than the past, because it refers to the discussion about economy and ecology. This conflict is still fairly young. Only recently has this problem become of critical importance. At present a tendency can be discerned for man to see the earth as an organic unity. Mankind rejects the mentality that leads to the exhaustion of nature, a mentality that goes back to the Stone Age. Artists should not attack these problems in the way politicians do, but with their own means. Therefore this category is called Poetical Economy. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18783/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/376/18783-400-118.jpg" height="118" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18783/en/f-m">F.M</a> When will Infermental VI appear? It first appeared in Canada on February 6, 1987, in the Banff-Centre in Alberta. The world premiere was at the Berliner Filmfestspiele at the end of February. It is already fully booked for the rest of the year. This is mainly the result of the good relations North America has with Australia, Japan and South America. We now have many more presentations there than with the other issues of Infermental. This is of great importance for an international publication. The next productions will be made in the us and Japan: Infermental VII by the film and video department of the New York University, Buffalo, and Infermental VIII by the Om/Rice group, in cooperation with the Hara Museum, Gallery Scan, and the Goethe Institut in Tokyo. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18834/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/433/18834-400-110.jpg" height="110" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18834/en/f-m">F.M</a> In Tokyo you presented Axis, a combination of paperback and video tape with an anthology of 21 European art videos, published by 1986 by Dumont in Cologne. I had been invited to present Axis by the Workshop for Architecture in Tokyo. The general public was extremely interested, which was amazing, as it had not received widespread publicity. Attention was not so much focussed on me - I am completely unknown there. Instead it was focussed on the theme of European video art. With an intensity that can only be found in Japan. Very specific questions were put about European artists, even about artists who are not very well known in Europe. Dalibor Martinis and Sanja Ivecovic, for example, are quite famous in Japan after they won a prize at the seventh Tokyo video festival in 1984. The fact that the prize was awarded to two Yugoslav's, instead of a Japanese or an American, is characteristic for the well trained and critical Japanese public. The high cultural level provides many opportunities for real artistic qualities, at least where video is concerned, more so than many other festivals. The Japanese are far ahead of us, visually, aesthetically and in the field of design. Their standards are a great deal higher than ours. And because the Japanese are very much interested in European culture, the confrontation with this subject is much more intensive, and the discussion more developed than here. Therefore it was a challenge for me to discuss a novelty like Axis with them. Several Japanese publishers have already expressed their intention to translate the book in Japanese, because they feel that the theme of European video art will appeal to many Japanese. We are already discussing this with them. Later I also presented Axis in the United States, at the national video festival in Los Angeles. There too European video art receives a great deal of attention. I must add that in Los Angeles, only the video part of Axis was presented. I did bring the book, but few people were able to read German. People leafed through it out of politeness. In Los Angeles as well, people were interest in an English version. The idea of producing a publication about and on video, the two media supplementing each other, is of course more interesting than the separate texts. It was more interesting to the Japanese and the Americans to discuss this concept than the actual contents. I was more interested in explaining Gábor's and my own concept. A publication about video, which is intended to remove the general reservations about this medium. Reservations that are the result of the fact that video is still associated with porno, horror, and violence. Axis intends to demonstrate that video does not always mean: when you have seen one, you have seen them all. Axis proves that watching video is like reading a book, which you can read several times without the book losing any of its force of expression. This notion introduced Gábor and myself to the idea of book shops. In America people had never regarded video in this way. From the point of view of marketing, the notion of selling a video tape together with a book in a book shop, was interesting to them. Therefore, the Goethe Institute invited me to present Axis at the New York book fair as well. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/18841/en/f-m"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/675/18841-400-72.jpg" height="72" width="400" alt="" title="F.M" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - F.M - Mediamatic.net" href="/18841/en/f-m">F.M</a> Can we expect more experiments, or do they end with Axis? It is obvious that Axis is not a financial success for the publisher. The idea is too young for that. Nevertheless we are already planning two new publications, on the model of Axis. The next publication will be devoted exclusively to Music. As far as definition is concerned, in the field of music clips the chaos is even greater than for other forms of moving images. Therefore we shall make a kind of historical anthology about the subject Music and Moving Images. It will start with the Twenties and the experimental film, and will proceed to our own era with the latest trends in the field of music clips. The difference with Axis is that we have opted for one subject, and the historical perspective of this theme. The setup is the same: a tape with an anthology of images, with short introductions and supplemented by a book. The next project will exclusively be devoted to architecture. A development can therefore already be observed. Axis has five more subjects that must be developed. The next publications will each deal with one subject, which will be studied in depth. Translation: Fokke Sluiter Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 1#4 Friedemann Malsch http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17689 d d ARTICLE 1