V I D E O I N S TA L L AT I O N S

WHAT I S V ID E O
I NS TA L L AT ION
Video Installation are pieces of work which are presented in an art gallery, it is a
contemporary art form which is usually displayed in forms of video technology and
installation art, this is because it is making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment
to affect the audience. Installation art focuses on three main concepts, where it will be
exhibited, how it will be exhibited using the space they have, and what the installation will
be and how will it give meaning. The thing that makes installation art so unique is that it is a
unified experience, and the focus is on how the viewer experiences the work that they see.

D ouglas Gordon was born on the 20th of September he is a Scottish artist. Gordon is
a conjurer of collective memory and perceptual surprise whose tools include commodities
and mechanisms of every day life. Much of Gordons work is seen as being about memory
and uses repetition in various forms. He uses material from the public realm and also creates
performance- based videos. His work often overturns traditional uses of video by playing with
time elements and employing multiple monitors. Gordon has often reused older film footage in
his photographs and videos. One of his best-known art works is 24 Hour Psycho

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which slows down Alfred Hitchcocks
film Psycho so that it lasts twenty four
hours. He wanted people to think about
the concern for memory and perception.
Douglas focuses on the viewers attention,
both on the intricate detail of the film in
its naked state, as the progression of the
stills, as well as on their own recollections
of a cinema classic. Most of his work is
presented on large or small monitors to
make people focus more on what
they are seeing and keeps them interested,
it is important to focus on the lightning
and scenery of the art work because it is
the key focus. Gordons work embraces
a wide-range of media including video,
photographic, audio and text-based works.
The space he uses is very simple, he uses
an ordinary room with a projector playing
his film on a large screen. Using a projector
allows Gordon to get a high quality movie
in 1993. Using a large projection enables
the audience to see the detail in each
shot and shows the audience how much
detail went into the film and how perfect
the frame is, this is because the film was
slowed down to 2 frames a second, which
essentially turns his instalment into a
photo slide show. The empty room meant
that the only focus would be on the
installation its self. I believe this works well
with the narrative he was going for and
the space. People can still view the 24-hour
installation in full. This allows people to
truly appreciate the installation and view
the non-narrative alternative piece and
become immersed with the film.
V I D E O I N S TA L L AT I O N S
Tears of Steel is a piece of installation
art which consisted of 27 monitors, 6 laser
discs, and 6 laser-disc players, installed
in a piece of black box architecture.
All the videos playing in the black box
are synced in perfect time, displaying
various images of athletic men. The
way they are shot are also done in the
camera pans slowly onto their faces
and then shows the hard work they are
going through with their own body.
The installation shows that even though
every man is different, they are seen as the
same person because every man works on
the same machine then moves onto the
next one to work onto a different body
part in order to maintain a good psychical
appearance. The narrative gets the
audience to think about how we are born
into a set routine and that the perfection
of men in now becoming generalised and
that everyone is trying to look the same.
becoming generalised and that everyone
is trying to look the same. When you look
at the installation closely we can see that
it looks like a muscular man, who is using
27 monitors, which shows that there are
so many men doing the same thing and
they are seen as the same person. This
means that they become identical to each
other and that there are loads more men
who do exactly the same as these 27 men.
When comparing these 3 artists i think
that they are all very similar as they
use the same type of equipment to
install their work, however Gordon uses
a projection in a dark room to keep
it focused on the subject, similar to
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Mullicans work, however Tears of Steel
is presented in a large room with a lot
of empty space for the audience to look
around, however it is clear that the main
focus is on the Black television screens.
Matt Mullican is an American artist
whose work is concerned with systems
of knowledge, meaning, language and
signification. Mullican also works with
the relationship between perception
and reality, between the ability to see
something and the ability to represent
it. His work has been exhibited
internationally since the early 1970s.
This piece of work (Psycho Architecture)
consist of two television screens, which
is made up of one screen following him
around his studio in a near slapstick
manner, while the other is filmed
through the artists point of view,
which demonstrates the trait of intense
scrutiny that curiosity may provoke,
which makes the audience feel more
engaged when viewing the instalment.
This instalment follows a non-narrative
form as there is no story to it, however
more of a type of experiment. In this
piece Mullican uses the technique of
having two television monitors, which
allows the viewer to view the different
actions from different viewpoints. He
uses technology of television monitors
coupled with headphones which give the
audiencevmore of a connection with what
they are watching.
Out of all the video installations I think
that this would relate to my idea the most
this is because it uses multiple screens
and i like the way it is presetned
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