You are on page 1of 17

Video: From Technology to Medium

Author(s): Yvonne Spielmann


Source: Art Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Fall, 2006), pp. 54-69
Published by: College Art Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20068481 .
Accessed: 06/02/2014 16:22
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

College Art Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

David
video

Stout, Noise field, 2003, interactive


installation
(artwork ? David Stout)

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of the Electronic

Technologies
In this

Yvonne

to discuss

I propose

article

as an electronic

of

technology

these

properties

stand

video

Medium

with

other

as a medium

in two ways.

video

signal

and

processing

electronic

media,

in its own

First,

examine

transmission

that

television.

notably
that?like

right

Iwill

other

any

video
shares
I under

Second,
medium?devel

ops step by step from the emergence of a novel technology


Spielmann

Video:
to
From Technology

from

of both

signal-encoded

analogue

incorporates

video

and

language

an aesthetic

and
semi
in

vocabulary,

capacities of electronic
set of means

media-specific
a medium

becomes

of

that can

be

from other, already existing media. The develop


to medium

technology

of

such

is achieved,

expression

features

it also

media

specific

establish

Once

distinguished

some

of

successfully

processing.

signal

ment

processes
but

to

system

this case specific to the videographic

Medium
has

the articulation

through
otic

also

in common

recording

and

information

programmable

film

that video

and

transmission
in

functions

demonstrates

with

shares

with

television,
that closely

processors

image

connect to digital programming in computers. Iwish to focus on thematter


of specificity from two angles: the first is the development from technology to
the second is the position of video in the context of analogue and digi

medium,
tal media
and

and

forms

the conceptual
'

video,

among

linkage

processors,

analogue

computers.

digital

to regard video historically, within the context of other media,


technological requirements that are often neglected in debates

I propose

and to emphasize
from

the art-historical
on

understood

The

perspective.

the grounds

of video

emergence

audiovisual

of

to be

needs

The media

processes.

better

discussion

of

video has tended to abandon it as an exhausted, old medium thatwill be easily


superseded by digital computers. In contrast, Iwill argue video has not become
obsolete
rated

with

the development
computer

analogue

media

but

computers,
since

applications

an electronic

enriched

of

culture

on

the contrary

the early

1970s

oriented

increasingly

has

and

has

toward

incorpo

further
pro

signal

cessing and digital imaging. At the end of the article, Iwill give the example of
two

video

more
tance

one

of

intersection

the

both analogue

by David

To
nology
processes

of video

In this

Sandin

in the
early

emphasize

further

and

and

another

the common

t/1
t/1

impor
source

for

(Sandin) and audiovisual feedback processes


video

respect,

as

the computer

1970s

the overriding

and

are more

the computer

con

closely

than film and video technologies.

start with,

we

interrelates
that

Stout?to

image processing

in the computer.

nected media
I. See also Yvonne Spielmann, Video: Das reflexive
Medium (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Press, 2005). An
edition in English, Video: The Reflexive Medium, is
forthcoming from MIT Press, 2007.

by Dan

experiments?one

recent

shape

need
in many

to

that

acknowledge

ways

the emergence

with
of

the

surrounding
a new

medium.

introduction
media

and

As Andr?

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of

a new

involves
Gaudreault

tech

dynamic
and

s
o
c
3

Marion

Philippe

preestablished

codes

video

other

entiates

from

and

(genres,

or

other

electromagnetic

are effected

of video

exchange

audio

can

image

arise

from

monitors
and

keyers,

The

on

to be fixed
shows

magnetic

the

Video

or

tape)
of

scanning

also

and may
and

flow

can

effects

processing

of

in the

characteris

from

setting:

devices

such

means

that

as

cameras,

synthesizers,

real-time

visual

(they do not need


screen

integrated

in horizontal

signals

the

through

that the visible form of an

an external monitor

arise

the video

occur

transformative

in the electronic

effects can be direcdy presented within


that

the electronic

of

flexible

in various

computers.

analogue

tools

of

machines
and

electronic

of the signal lines take place inside the

signals.

screens,

of

grips
differ

video feedback, delayed line

by the specific possibility

different

and

to

etc.)."2 What

in the
expression

lies

culture

come

also

media,

manipulations

a series

by

and

tics of video are highlighted


from

other

media

intelligible
it must

the world,

technologies

the video signal. These modulations


machine

into

institutions,

media

an

appears,

for example, in closed-circuit

signal processing,
processing,

comes

a medium

exists. When

already
with

a medium

"When

explain:

a processor

of

lines.

This technical setting defines the open structure of video. The ability to
process the electronic signal and the interchangeability of the audio and video
the

manifest

signals

that emerge

of presentation
To

Video

transfer.

signal
the camera

within

directly

can

and

signals

are
inside

circulate

the

motion.
of

system

specific forms

its emergence

that

in constant

technical

processing.

signal

means

medium

the

that employs

electronic

from

are

These

of video.

qualities

is an electronic

that video

say

electronic

transformative

for the realization of video as amedium

conditions

They

recording

are
and

requires
generated
transmis

sion (the closed circuit). It is possible tomodulate video signals through proces
sors and keyers and to display the signal aurally, visually, or both simultaneously
(you

can

"hear"

separate

the material
2. Andr? Gaudreault and Philippe Marion, "The
Cinema as a Model for the Genealogy of Media,"
Convergence 8, no. 4 (2002): 12.This is a special
issue on intermedia, edited by J?rgen Heinrich and
the present author.
3. It is important to note that the use of terminol
ogy in this area is not coherent and mostly not
very precise. To characterize video as audiovisual
for the most part merges a technical and an aes
thetic definition. Strictly speaking, "audio" and
"video" refer to the status of the signal, whereas
"aural" and "visual"would characterize the aes
thetic processes (of using or working with audio
and video signals) and would be used to describe
the media properties of video in relationship to
other media that also have aural and visual forms
of presentation.

what
and

visual
film

you
audio

strip.

vice

and

"see"
elements,

In the electronic

next

positioned

physically

film

Conventional

versa).

medium,

however,

comprises

to each

signals

other

on

are output

interchangeably as audio or video and can be fed back as video input, and so
forth. This specific audiovisualcapacity of video is expressed when signals generat
ed by

an audio

signals

steer

synthesizer
the appearance

are

into

transformed

of video

forms,

and

visual

signals,

contrarily

when

so

that audio
information

in the video signal is displayed visually and aurally at the same time.
Because of this generic interchangeability of audio and video in both directions,
medium.3
it is appropriate to call video the first audiovisual
encoded

The immediacy of video, the simultaneity of recording and playing, differs


from photochemical media, like photography and film, even though video sim
3 mechanism of recording at its disposal. But the optical
ilarly has the optical
of
recording
light impulses is not the only way to produce video. Different from
external

input,

the waveforms

in a video

signal

can

be

created

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

by oscillators

in

In fact,

the machines.

are

there

to

ways

multiple

input

aside

signal

from

the

recording process (for example, the signal output of one device can be used as
the input to another) more
;
important, video can be realized through signal
that are generated

processes
without

any

video

in order

fixed

order

Video's

to demonstrate

with

came

medium

mation

to hold

set

the

of

ways

of

immediate

for

stage

networked

globally

in real

the use

through

its

because

position

predominant

transfer

presence

infor

time.

and may express these prin

of processors,

In conventional

television.

of

technology

audiovisual

and

synthesizers,

is to stabilize

the goal

television,

analogue

in the electronic

images differ from those produced

computers. Video-specific
transmission

imagery.

(Nam June Paik intro


6 in Kassel, Germany), the elec

in 1977 at Documenta

communication

in aesthetic

also

the introduction of a new technology

characteristics

Video builds upon these technical requirements


ciples

and

place
electronic

represent

of
no

the advent of satellite television

transmission
and

characteristics

System

technical

the

basic

determinant

and

the machines?

through

these

is no

transmit,

run

and

emphasize

video appears with

television

duced it into his work

immediate

there

in the Media

Position

and transmission. With


tronic

that

to generate,

required

shares

the devices

at all.

process

recording

In the system of media,


that

inside

sig

nal processes and avoid the visibility of scanning lines that create a televisual
of flow.

impression
of

the

"world"?a

to achieve

is necessary

Stabilization

of

representation

that has

something

recognizable

been

image

recorded.

The

constant flow of signals in electronic imagery takes stable form to represent the
televisual image only when the video information that iswritten in lines (scan
lines) from left to right and top to bottom (like writing on a page inWestern
culture) is adjusted according to the standardized broadcast formats of PAL (the
common European standard) and NTSC (North America and Japan). So this stan
dard

form

of

stabilized

"frames"

to the

adheres

semiotic

convention

culture.4 The form as such gets disrupted and manipulated


by video

artists

practitioners
Hill,

formal parameters of television are


deliberately set and not specific to the technology,
because if the signal flow were not adjusted to

4. These

build the standard format, itwould just run hori


zontally in time. Some readers will remember the
white line of the horizontal running signal visible
on early monitors that were not functioning prop
erly (according to the broadcast norm).

to name

who

have
only

with

experiment
been

Paik,

a few

the conventional
and Woody

Steina

of Western

in all possible ways

Vasulka,

these

Among

technology.
Dan

and Gary

Sandin,

ones.

prominent

Video's immediacy and potential for processing generate a concept of the


image that is different from other time-based media, namely photography and
film. The status of the image changes in video: it is electronically recorded,
transferred

to another

and

device,

finally

transmitted

to a monitor.

can be properly described as image only ifwe keep inmind


image

is a constantly

characteristics,

moving

it is more

flow

precise

of
to

signals.

emphasize

Due
the

to its unstable
transformative

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

In fact,

it

that the electronic


and

incoherent

capacities

of the video image, anchored in signal processes


temporal

a "tableau"

of

unity

as "transformation
an

produces

video

the

individual

image.
of

of

So video
the

frames

and

images

that are

interlaced)
and

forward

video

In film

and

embodies

the media

and

positions

between frames

between

imaging,

understood

process,

line-signal

of

the passages

half-images

is best

transformation.

a sequence

passages

video-still

allows

that differ from the spatial

undergoing
or

frame

in video,

consist

images

"frame"
is, because

constantly

these

Moreover,

lated, which

is

image

characteristics;

specific

are central.

that

image,"
that

photography,

or

frame

(since

half-images

can

be

reverse

modu

constantly

and

movements,

figurations that are reversible and can be endlessly repeated in feedback. The
flexible, unstable, incoherent, and nonfixed forms of the video image Iwill refer
to as

imagery.

Video also differs from television and film due to the function of the appa
ratus specific to each medium. While television and film both maintain their
specifically fixed setting of temporal-spatial relationships between the projection
(film) or transmission (television) and the positioning of the viewer in the pub
lic space of the cinema or the private space of the living room, video differs in
no

it has

that

model

coherent

of viewing

perspective.

In contrast

in modular

presentations

is no

there

structure

the appearance

of

to this

between
model

of

apparatus structure includes the multiple


of

of

electronic

to its open

Due

the electronic

systematic

from

video

be plugged

together,

the placement

appears
so

the apparatus

of

the viewer.

addressing

Renaissance

construction,
can

the machines

relationship

temporal-spatial

exchange

developed

of distance

of perspectival

system

wherever

systematic

the medium's

not

It has

to the orders of seeing in cinematography, which

comparable

its apparatus

borrows

structure.

apparatus

Video's

and

open

for the audiovisual

possibilities

waveforms.
apparatus?the

image?video,

and

processing
despite

transformative

as an

its status

characteristics
shares

medium,

analogue

significant features of the digital. Both the electronic and the digital media forms
of video have the potential to produce imagery in any direction and dimension
in an open

structure.

In video,

these

appearance of electronic media


of

fields.

image

early

that enabled

keys

as

1973, video

the video

almost

developed

up

to six video

The multikeyer
5. See Jeffrey Schier, "Description of the George
Brown Multi-Level Keyer," April 21, 1992, unpub
lished document, Daniel Langlois Foundation,
Steina andWoody Vasulka Fonds, VAS B37-C2-3.

sources

is a real-time

ground

in such ways
elements

are

to control

to appear

in
and

processor

that apparent
simulated.

The

to

the introduction of a digital clock and pri

artist

built-in clock) that 3controls the positioning


elements

unstable

connections

generic

the modular

waveforms

video. The multikeyer constructed by George Brown had memory


allowed

and

images through changes of scale and the layering

forms of the digital with

algorithmic
ority

As

in the flexible

result

operations

relations
tool

multiple
has

in one

layers

digital,

between

video

output.5
tool

programmable

and repositioning

combines

of

function and

of keyed image

foreground
analogue

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

mixers

and
and

back
keyers

(the

with
to

programmable

and

sequencing

In the late 1960s, video pioneers


with

transition

early

from

tools

plug-in

devices.

programmable

work

an

shows

such

as

tools
and

late, modulate,

like theVasulkas, Hill, and Paik started to

synthesizers,

control

and

keyers,

the flow

of

electronic

to

processors

image

and

signals

manipu
in

their waveforms

that deliberately departed from the coherent image and the usual televisual

ways

of

appearance

the electronic

a coherent

tain

form.6

in which

form,

The

structural

the video

openness

is "forced"

signal

the electronic

of

to main
deter

image

itsmaneuverability
and technically connected video to digital processing.
This development at the same time departed from the cinematic form of the

mined

frame. Video effects such as closed-circuit


dissolved

the concept of a coherent

computers

would

codes,

by
that

and

numbers,

real

change

the visual

rather

symbols,

than

came

appearance
electrical

by

to be driven

energy

in

(as

video),

in the medium.

imagery is not limited to the appearance of a frame,

electronic

and

when

only

occurred

Although
its modular

It was

do.

feedback and delay transgressed and


image, just as programming with digital

"flow"

nevertheless

capacities

result

from

analogue

plug-in

operations and not from the programming of symbols and code, aswith digital
imagery. Modular elements like keyers were in fact building blocks toward the
as a

to process

ability

(with asmany
tions.

video

Analogue
and

cations,

video

tools

also

at which

differs

largely
dial

from

other

nature

ence

starts with

of

these

tools

of video

and

videotapes

langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=461.

and
tique
Joan

video

and
with

of media
Jonas,

and

installations
art; for
and

art

appli
in the
digi

techniques

a new

of

and

film,

instruments
allows

them

The

videographic

practices

from

forms

the end

that contrast

the most

part,

institutions

Les Levine).

Another

the
these

of

(for

example,

direction

the

of

electric

the

1960s

are
Vito

is taken

and

of

of video

structurally
The

differ

format

Acconci,
in video

VI

energy.
to the present,

o'
S3

In the first we find

interested

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

artists

by

intention

language

but

work.

institution
artists

the

to computers.

connected

from

out

arts with

tools,

interme

hypermedia.

aesthetic

of plug-in
to be

video

in the

carried

largely

to

the ability

role

complex

the fine

medium.

with

major

the more
was

electronic

of

stage

characteristics,

we find three major directions of aesthetic-technical


6. See Yvonne Spielmann, "Video and Computer:
The Aesthetics of Steina andWoody Vasulka,"
2003, available online at www.fondation

that

converge

plays

and

computer

performance,

technical

a technical

media-specific

media

in video

the departure

In an overview

func

processing

connections

techniques
these

of

analogue

music,

in the

open

connections

plug-in

share

clearly

media

demonstrates

Because

to the formation

grounded

modular

transformation

the emerging

of

contributing
is

the

experimentation

came

who

from

processes
The

as

operated

computers

digital

of video

in the computer.

process

they

simulation have now reached the limits of physicality. So

structure

the audiovisual

and

foreshadows

tally encoded, numeric

applications

but

would,

computer

as six different camera inputs) and not with mathematical

of

television

in the visual
Dara
works

Birnbaum,
that

cri

structurally

the relationships

explore
to

passages

and

hypermedia

of

(for

applications

and music

text,

sound,

image,

interactive

and

develop

Robert

example,

Cahen,

Peter Callas, and Bill Seaman). A third direction focuses on themodulation


electronic

and

expressions

image-sound

to

seeks

expand

of

imagery

technological

to the limits of the possible

(for example, theVasulkas, Paik, and Hill). This third


group of artists provides an ideal starting point for a discussion of the audio
of video?the

visuality

Does

Difference

From

a historical

elements

that

its aesthetics.

and

Matter?
relevant

perspective,

discourses

agree that photography

history commonly
emergent

to the medium

specific

technological

the aesthetic

The

developments.

and

media

of

these

studies

on

analogue

art

and

to play roles in

continue

builds

argument

achievements

cultural

of both

and film will

the observation
of

techniques

recording and representation have turned out to be easily adaptable to digital


In contrast,

technologies.
where

the electronic
to mix

problem

terms

nical

same

the

line of

is included

medium

the vocabulary

of

so

synonymously

almost

argument

and

"electronic"

that differentiation

seen

it is not

two

the

as a

to use

and

"digital"

between

Even

video.

neglects

in the discussion,

the

forms

tech

of

is effaced.

media

Historians
and

cating

see

generally
remediating

the new,

artforms,

previous

technical

computer-based

also means

which

as

tools
causing

redupli

already

existing media forms (for example, still and moving images) to cross and con
verge. This hybridization is possible through increasingly sophisticated simula
tion

devices

most

part,

that perform
we

are

extended

and

transformation

with

confronted

reworking,

For

transfiguration.
and

remodeling,

the

various

sampling

elements of differing media into newly converged forms of digital simulation. At


the same time, the incorporation of digital effects into the technical means of
photography and film enriches and expands the languages of these media. Much
as the
existing
tors?is

shaped

straints

for up-to-date

There
that video

are

factors

entered

in many

media

technical
set

will

the

tone

devices
and

of

and

cultural

fac

computer-generated

strongly

the con

determine

experimentation.

two ways

has

conceived

economic,

social,

vocabulary?among

by newly

these media

imagery,

sented

aesthetic

to understand

video

arena

of media

larger

applications,

such

in this media
production

as video-film,

picture.
and

video

One

is to say

as a result

is repre

installations,

and

video clips onWeb sites; once video was successfully established as a proper
3
medium,

it then

converged

into mixed-media

forms.

And

due

to the wide

range

of interrelationships and the increase in technical development, in the end there


is no need to distinguish video and film. This perspective overlooks historical
factors that are responsible for the specificity of themedium and for the dynam

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

ics within
stable

the media

but

where

system
Because

shifting.

its flexible,

of

with

interrelationships

and

nonfixed,

unstable

does

not

ers. The

on

somewhere

observation

but

as an
and

practices

holds

analogue

is a multipurpose

has

its own

created

interme
comput

digital

instrument

it has

that historically
not

an

of
and

cultural

would
a

into

spread

it

its own,

of

features

the position

between

apparently

indication

arts but

have many

rather

the continuum

that video

be understood

of media

it cannot

because

a real medium,

constitute

state,

diary

then

at all. And

specificity

video

structure,

it cannot employ

is an easy tool to adapt to all different kinds of media. Therefore


much

are not

media

other

variety
view

This

forum.

the directions of media development and reverses the history of


the use of video, reducing its status as amedium back to the level of a technology.

misunderstands
A closer

look

a second

reveals

to understand

way

Because

the medium.

video was aesthetically different from film and television and despite its poor
image quality and limited applications, video was welcomed by experimental
of performance,

practitioners
for new

means

of

to transgress

expression

institutions.

established

was

Video

the

back,

seen

and

as a new

were

were

who

events,

looking

territories

medium

of

not

and

as an

image, particularly feed

of the electronic

of presentation

immediacy

Fluxus

the vocabularies

clearly

applicable technology. The waveforms


and

and

Happenings,

means

expressive

of

an

emerging

video culture. AsWoody Vasulka put it, "Video feedback is a dynamic flow of
created

imagery

the camera

by

at its own

looking

It was

monitor.

often

still

(and

that seduced users of video by its sheer beauty.. .. The


is) the first phenomenon
acknowledged master of feedback was Skip Sweeney, organizer of the first video
festivals and founder of Video Free America in San Francisco. To Sweeney feed
back

was
The

critique

to ride.'"7

wave

'a religion?a

a proper

is not

that video

was

medium

also

in the

forward

put

early days of video. Itwas precisely because of the characteristics of video relating
to the constant
the medium

found

that

the waveform

of

transformation

In addition,

unacceptable.

the

in the

filmmakers

video

1970s

black-and-white

small-scale,

image had very low resolution and lacked depth of field. The rejection of video at
firstmeant itwould be neither accepted at film festivals nor discussed in relation to
art. Later,
nomic
film

in the

reasons,
format

on

were

but most

and not

video

started

filmmakers

1980s,

interested
in

only

producing

for

video

with

working
in

equipment

in conventional

shooting

the medium.

Furthermore,

for eco
feature
video

for a long period was not acceptable to the artmarket: it did not enter collections
and museums,

and

itwas

too

considered

poor-quality,

serve. In this cultural environment, video developed


7.Woody
Vasulka, "Video Feedback with Audio
InputModulation and CVI Data Camera," in
Eigenwelt der Apparate-Welt: Pioneers of Electronic
Vasulka, and Steina
Art, ed. David Dunn, Woody
Vasulka (Linz:Ars Electr?nica, 1992), 148.

art where

there was

strong

concern

with

live art and

fragile,

and

difficult

to pre

in the experimental fields of


the ephemeral.

In addition

video played an important role for political groups that had no media expertise but
were dissatisfied with media coverage in institutionalized television. Many of these
independent

television

groups,

however,

later moved

into

the

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

television

system.

S
O
S3

Some

technicians,

and collaborated with

technology
the aesthetic

forms

new

build

and

engineers,

abstract

of

not

pioneers

Artists

and
on

available

in the new

engaged

video artists to explore

the early experimental

video.

that were

devices

computer

worked

engineers

the market,

to

together
for manipula

generally

image through feedback, delay, and layering: most promi


nently the Paik-Abe Synthesizer (used by Paik) and the Rutt/Etra-Scan Processor
and distortion
(used by the Vasulkas and Hill). Interestingly, such modulation
tion of the electronic

effects were also applied to the existing televisual image. Paik especially was
interested in defamilarizing the television frame, while the Vasulkas sought to
create

video

between

from

imagery

the electronic

from

scratch,

and

other

and Hill

signals,

similarities

explored

systems.

language

Because of the diversity of these activities and their focus on the immediacy
of

live medium,

the

video

concern

growing
video

with

Iwould

to

like

than

determine

feedback

the basic

which

forms,

the

from

in archives

From

of

and

is a

collections,

that difference

As

by
there

this media-historical

early

in the abstractness

susceptibility

today, when

electronic

does

matter:

to discuss specificity

it be possible

of video.
lies

specificity

results

art

the argument

strengthen

characteristics

demonstrates,

Even

film.

only on the grounds of media difference will


and

to institutionalization,

prone

of video

secton

smaller

not

and museums.

the preservation

a much

represents

perspective,

was

recently

in cinemas

the work

with

comparison

until

experimentation

with

of

wave

transforming
to

signals

processing.

So both of themodes of understanding video discussed above are subject to cri


tique, because they lack an appreciation of the dynamic development of video
based on the specific nature of the medium. First, there is lack of concern with
the articulation
ing

aesthetic

an electronic

of
forms.

Second,

vocabulary
a narrow

in interrelation

developed
on

perspective

the

exist

with

introduction

of video

applications that are specific (like feed


technology
to
video
and
those
back)
(e.g., the use of video for documentation).
nonspecific
is not at the core of discussing
When the understanding of media-specificity
fails to differentiate between

on

debates
of video
When

can

the conversation

video,

to film

comparable
arrive

the debates

purely

of various

the convergence

theory

become

at the actual

academic.

technical
theory

to

media
provide
of

materiality

it is by technical definition film, video, video-film,


DVD,
video

and

so on

is not

is not

taken

into

addressed.
account,

when

Furthermore,
video

can

This

easily

be

occurs

tools

the necessary
a work,

in

mainly

that have

body

orientation.
issue

the

no

of whether

film or video transferred to


the processing
categorized

aspect

as a

of

technologi

cal step between film and computer, which not only undermines the existence
of the medium, but3 downsizes video into a "little sister" of television. Video
becomes

nothing

more

than

a tool

that entered

the market

with

the

nonprofes

sional Portapak equipment in themid- 1960s and consequently disappeared with


the development of digital video in the 1990s. Such a position gives video only

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

significance and limits its influence to the sectors of alternative

limited historical
television

and

the

and

performing

about

informed

dynamic
not

structure?has

of video art is to a large degree poorly

Although

museums

aesthetic

riding

some

into

of video

poration

extent

in video.

Another

era

and

more

this move

of

has

in

aesthetics
in virtual

curators

about

specific
when

media.

incor

This
also

may

increas

of motion

technique

as video

eludes

to

explain

demonstrated

recently

larger media

tool

the over

Again,

practices

have

video

the

medium,

interesting

media-specificity.

as a visual

is welcomed

video,

"old"

an

into

contemporary
not with

toward

as an

turned

and museum

and

arises

challenge

and

sequences

the electronic

of

exhibition,

Video

in the video

techniques
of video

prerequisite

technology,

is or was

What

immediacy.

art,

art historians

why

interest

video

stations.

broadcast

attention

the side effect of finally helping video works

its own
in newer,

is with

and

of video

the categorization

productions

concern

to its open

video?due

more

implementations

One

collections.

because

cinemas

like

needs

arts produce

outlived

also

adaptations
the

and

to be

that has

something

ing

and

seems

however,

for

recent

the

installations

and interactive media


enter

institutions

up

of media-specificity

nevertheless

debates,
multimedia

but

technologies,

built

the matter

arts.

installation

This happens because the discussion

and

discussion.
seems

development

to

incorporate allmedia differences and notions of specificity under the umbrella


of the digital. When film, video, and computer imagery are conflated technically,
the distinctions
of

sameness

and

loss of differentiation

becomes

seemingly

they

introduced

to video,

seems

there

More

media.

seen

longer

to be no

and

the early
are

computer

So once

the

and

computer

shared
We

process

then

that are worth

ogy

when

analyzing

we

to understand

wish

exclude

in emerg

striking examples of the interplay of analogue and digital technologies


ing media

ahis

is

"digital"

video

and
abandoned.

completely

a rather

of film, video, and

the rubric

intersection

anachro

a new paradigm

including

to talk about

need

debates.

rather

separate development

as distinct.

important,

of video

evolves,

inevitably

of the historically

are no

computers;

ing properties

in critical

interest

of

topic

the logic of the digital as a universal medium,

torical understanding

as distinct

to be
in video

media-specificity

nistic. Following
of

cease

them

among

consideration

a technol

how

a medium.

becomes

in parallel to the stated collapse of video into the digital is the seem
the
of
convergence of film and video under the new umbrella. "For
ing logic
Almost

instance,

it is common

or

a DVD

when

of

a film

or movie

whether

what

there

we

to say

actually

and why

that we

mean

recourse

(without

this matters

substituted, while
question,

for us

are

going

is that we
to

of

to watch

intend

celluloid)....

in the process

a film

to watch

Itmay

convergence,

on

video

recording

be worth

asking

video

been

has

film has been simulated by digital technologies. To answer the

is a need

to re-examine

the development

of video

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

as a medium

w
I o'
C-?
S

its incorporation

and
film

into

in turn,

and,
Two

within

the argument

of

aspects

while

form,

digital

its simulation

that video

technological

difference does not matter

never

technology,
we

when

examination

fully

at the

look

developed

technology

in contemporary

arts

media

development

become

is not

obsolete?because

in the digital and because video was


in a new

works

since

form.

it as an old

regard

language. The use of video

driven

necessarily

direction

1990s. A close

the

in video

involved

newly

itsmedia-specific

as an electronic

of video

domain."8

has

in video

the artists

that

suggests

and do not work with

with

comparisons

medium?converge

increase

sudden

some

making

the digital

by

Instead,

and

exploration

the artists

further

on

draw

video

installa
techniques in film (interactive cinema installations), inmultiple-screen
tions (mainly of narrative sequences), and in virtual-reality settings (which use
video

are

to convey

applications
The
less

Iwant

point
concerned

with

painting

is that

recent

work,
older

give

of

examples

medium

of video

interactive

installations

and

the

enrich

film

forms:

a means
video

For

medium.

example,

together in the new form of augmented

discuss

elements

video

recognize

per

A different
interactive

and

mances

expand

virtual-reality

techniques

we

installations,

of video.

in conjunction with

not

do

forms
Seaman

the visual.

of
since

the

late

These

Striking
1980s

works

1970s, when

artists

many

presented

exploit the

demonstrate

video's

and through the encounter with


are

examples

and

the works

the computer-noise

of David Stout. Such practices of "performing"

to the
early

of

reality. Clearly, when we

and multimedia

capacities

performative

of Bill

and

to

art has been created by artists who

type of media

computer-generated

the

media,
service

se.

aptitude for processing


Steina

interactive

of

in the

implemented

and

are brought
such

of new

technique

video

in

and film in Fiona Tan's

are

sequences

with

instance,

movement

in the context
and

installations"

for

cinematic

and

Evidently,

become

in which

"new"

media

and with photography

the variety.

has

"video

contemporary

other

with

works,

Douglas Gordon's video-films,


to

of movement).
such

than with

video

in Bill Viola's

sense

the

to stress

video

of
perfor

the video image live date


and

live performances

in

parallel and created "live" effects with video processors. Works by both Sandin
and

capacities
art

The
8. Stephen Partridge, "Video: Incorporeal,
Incorporated," inExperimental Film and Video An
Anthology, ed. Jackie Hatfield (Eastleigh, UK: John
Libbey Publishing, 2006),

180-81.

discussed

Stout,

the electronic

of

that uses

digital

Electronic

that

demonstrate

below,

medium

continue

the processing
to thrive

and

transformative

in contemporary

media

computers.

Medium
3

The

emergence

processes

and

of
not

a medium
in breaks

usually
and

occurs

ruptures

through
that would

dynamic
draw

and

divisions

interrelated
in media

history of the "before" and "after" kind (in painting, film, video, digital media,

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and so on).This

suggests that both integration anddifferentiation

in the consideration

play

as an electronic

of video

medium:

interact when we paint the portrait of amedium


its

to an

relationship

its semiotic

institution,

transmission and the technological


the communicative

disseminated,

or design

its means

of thismeans,

relational

criteria

its identity card:

configurations,

possibilities
and

come into

"Various

are put

that

devices

of

the ways

it is

in

or

place

etc."9

induced,

To the extent that video departs from the frame-bound imagery that is
essential to photography and film and transgresses the standardized format of
the televisual image, an electronic language is put into place. The possibilities
of

electronic

mean

manipulation

the

that

scale,

form,

and

directions,

dimensions

of an image are all variable elements. These electronic properties, which


to television

apply

as well,

exist

in video

from

apart

the

standard

in fact

broadcast

for

mats

(NTSC and PAL).The early video experiments of the 1970swith circulating


video signals (feedback), temporal delays, and recursive loops (delayed feed
back) had to be performed live.More elaborate forms of live-feedback developed,

but

it was

ming
and

with

only

functions

the construction

connection

of video

were

and

video

with

and

1970s

introduced

around

In

1980.

always

evident.
ana

entailed

the video

ways,

significant

program

between plug-in

became

computer,

in the

computer

and

memory

and the differences

since the first digital computers used in electronic

logue computers,
cessing

between

devices,

programming
The

of processors

that both the congruencies

line pro
Dan

pioneer

Sandin took the first steps in video toward digital computers when he described
the programmable functions of his analogue computer. The Analog Image
Processor, which Sandin developed in 1972, could modulate the video signal in
various

and

ways

combine

multiple

operations:

In brief, the Image Processor


computer,
analog
.. .The I-P
accepts
and

ways

plex
video

optimized
naturalistic
or

displays

recorder,

tape

(I-P) is a patch programmable


for

or

the real

similar

the

result.

device

can

of

processing

modifies

images,

stores

time

and

combines

television

images.
in com

them
film

camera,

to encode

be used

general purpose
video

chain,

moving

images

into a form which

the I-P accepts. A televison monitor decodes the signal


and displays themodified image. The instrument is programmed by routing
the

image

through

various

video tape recorder. The modules


of

9. Gaudreault

and Marion, 15.


10.Dan Sandin, quoted inPhil Morton, Dan
"InConsecration of a
Sandin, and JimWiseman,
New Space: A Color Video Process," January 26,
1973, unpublished notes, Daniel Langlois Founda
Vasulka Fonds, VAS B41 tion, Steina andWoody
CI6.

inter-connection,

modules

processing

thereby

are designed

As
logue

this

as

biological

early

computer

and

maximizing

environmental

experimentation
functions.

Artists

out

tomaximize

to a monitor

or

the possibility

of possible

sensors."IO
video

treat

the visual

could

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

ana

incorporate

information

o?
t/1
S

modifica

to accept external signals from such

demonstrates,
could

then

the number

tions of the image. The I-P is designed


devices

and

of

the

image

EL

Dan
USA,

Sandln, Analog
Image Processor,
1972 (photograph
by Dan Sandln)

field differently from the standard frame-format of television, setting video aes
from

apart

thetically

don a photographic
audio

and

visual

television.

abstraction

Through

and

because

video

function of the visual, the electronic medium


in transformations?a

characteristics

sign

later

of

can

aban

could present
developments

in digital computer graphics. Sandin himself led the way from analogue to digi
talwhen he described how video signals encode information. At the end of each
individual scan line and especially at the end of the bottom line, the signal needs
to return
nization

to the

of the bottom
this

perform
information"

11.Dan Sandin How TVWorks, 1972, color video


tape, sound, 27 min. 48 sec, transcribed by the
present author. See also Daniel J. Sandin, Tom
DeFanti, Lou Kauffman, and Yvonne Spielmann,
"The Artist and the Scientific Research Environ
ment," Leonardo 39, no. 3 (June 2006): 219.

To

position.

starting

at the end
pulses

of

line

each

adjust
and

also

the

video

image,

needs

line. The camera itself creates the information


which

synchronization,
: "The

actual

video

Sandin

information

refers

to

horizonal

that it needs

technically

to

as "encoded

only

in the

They

are controlled

is encoded

synchro

at the end
pulses

vertical synchronization

scanning

"
lines from left to right."
While in principle video effects are not systematic but live-processed and
reason early pioneers developed devices to better control the
unpredictable?the
3
and modulation of the signal? digital effects, by contrast, result
manipulation
from

numeric

the program

operations
and

and

the programmer,

are

structurally
who

might

systematic.
admit

that uncontrollable,

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

by
chaotic

David Stout, Transit, 2003, video


? David Stout)

(artwork

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

occur.

sometimes

phenomena
on

depends

line

processing

is that video

difference

is therefore

In the
digital

medium.

time-based

The major
and

since

temporal,

domain,

no

has

development

modulation
is a linear,

video

spatial

or

tem

can happen from any direction and inmultiple


poral extensions, modifications
can
be reversed (as inmorphing
and
dimensions,
techniques). The
operations
is a nonlinear

computer

concern

the

and

medium,

access

is with

and

storage.

It is evident that line-processing effects in the linear medium of video differ


aesthetically from those accomplished by mathematical programming, although
it isworth noting that it is in principle possible to simulate those electronic
effects

comes

This

digitally.

as no

can be

others,

computer

is especially

programming
Stout.

by David
with

cal elements

He

machine

structures

and

synthesize

film,

interchangeability

raw material

in the computer.

chaotic

performance

the early

video-noise

interactive

perfor
and musi

audio,

visual,

with

performances

Stout uses feedback and closed

computers,

on

draws

interactive

dynamic

In his

performances.

audio-visual

video

in

that

signals to nonlinear

of electronic
in the

clear

to

seeks

live audio and plugged-together


circuit

seen

already

simulated.

The passage from the linear processing


mances

have

forms, such as painting, photography,

digital processes all previous media


and

we

since

surprise,

of noise

concepts

videographic

of signals at the level of digital manipulation


recent

"My

a common

shares

in interactive

work

origin

installation

in the use

of video

the

and

of

and
noise

as the primary visual element. A simple definition of video noise is 4arandom


grouping of black and white pixels changing position every 25-30 times a sec
ond.' I have subjected this visualnoisefieldto a range of digital image processes to
an array

produce

of

images

and

sounds.

One

common

process

to all

the works

shown here is the use of feedback. Those familiar with

this technique will


the early video experiments of the late 60s and early 70s which pro
duced a rich body of recursive visual phenomena that has been subsequently
dismissed for its cheap hallucinatory allusions; nonetheless, feedback circuits
have proven an important means of illustrating the dynamic principles of theo
remember

retical chaos and suggest the potential power of artificially intelligent sound
a
image

engines."
As

in audiovisual

computer

in video,

transformation
sound

generate

from

directly

visual

the feedback
and

synthesis,

in the

processes
the visual

output

is fed back as input. This work develops variations on graphic patterns through
feedback and digitally modulated waveforms, and through changes in scale,
velocity, and themultiplication of the information that result in infinite new
formations
fosters
12.David Stout, "Introductory Notes on the
Work of David Stout," unpublished notes provid
ed to the present author.

of

to

chaotic
analogue

The work

image.

the audiovisual 3

the essentially
contrast

the

structure
behavior
video,

reveals
of

of

processing

of

the processes

the electronic
the elements

medium,
characteristic

in the
digital

realm

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

abstraction
and
of

also

in video,
exemplifies
In

the medium.

represents

just

one

for performing

option
to create

visuals

from

image;

computer-generated

numbers

and

is a multitude

there

of ways

symbols.

Just as themedium of film generates the image* form of the frame, video
as amedium is by its nature inclined to processing, while the digitally encoded
image that results from programming can theoretically generate all possible
forms.

image

In a comparative

examination

of the electronic

to processing

streams

characterize

together

of media

forms,

and the interchangeability


the

technical

conditions

the predisposition

of its audio and video

that ground

the

realization

of the aesthetic forms specific to video. Once these specific presentational forms
were established, video developed into amedium. This brief history of the audio
visual

medium

of video

also

language must be discussed


from

technology

amedia
medium

to medium.

demonstrates

that

the articulation

of

an electronic

in the context of a larger dynamic development


The

first

steps,

however,

language distinct from preexisting media


to realize its singularity and specificity.

toward

the articulation

of

reflect the struggles of each

Yvonne Spielmann (PhD habil.) is professor of visual media at the Braunschweig University of Art,
Germany. She is the author of Eine Pf?tze in bezug aufs Mehr: Avantgarde (P. Lang, 1991 ), Intermedialit?t:
Das System Peter Greenaway ( 1998), and Video: Das reflexive Medium (2005, forthcoming from MIT Press as
Video: The Reflexive Medium). She is currently writing on hybridity indigital media arts. http://www.
yvonne-spielmann.com

?o
S
O
o
EL

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.149 on Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:22:33 PM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

You might also like