Video installation
Video Installations is a form of
art that combines
contemporary art with video
technology by using the
surrounding environment to
have an effect of the viewer of
the work. Video installation can
be found as far back as 1960s
where it is believed that the
first video installation was
created. Since then the video
installation and developed
drastically into the impressive
video installation art, ranging
across all types of art types and
genres that can be viewed at art
museums. The man credited
with being the pioneer of video
installations was Nam June Paik
who used multiple Television
screen formed as a sculptural
art piece. Nam June Paik carried
on and developed his work,
eventually creating full
immersive video installation
environments. Narrative in a
video installation is the
background information that
the artist gives the audience
before they see the actual video
installation. The narrative can
be told through the actual video
installation or the way the
exhibition is laid out, all with
the purpose of tell the story to
the audience.
Nam June Paik
A Nam June Paik was one of the
earliest users of video
installation art; this meant he
has to deal with a much less
advanced technology to create
his art. After June Paik have
come thousands of other video
installation artists progressing
and developing over time. The
ways that the art has developed
is largely down to the
development in technology.
Technology such as
advancement in television
quality and other technological
advancements. As time has
gone on people have also
invested more and more into
peoples projects, resulting in
not only better video
installations but also bigger and
more expansive pieces of art.
Nam June Paik often created his
art with what appears to be
patterns across his art whether
this be symmetry or picture,
which lead on from one
another. Nam June Paik had a
huge influence on the world of
art, with commenting "For a
man who invented an entire art
form, Nam June Paik comes
across as lovably antic."
Sonia Falcone
The piece above is a video
installation piece by Sonia
Falcone. Falcone uses a
projector to project her images
onto multiple thin vertical
blocks that were spread around
six-meter p, which display her
art onto a large-scale piece,
which can be displayed in a
museum. Sonia Falcone is a
Bosnian born video installation
artist who was come to fame
within the video installation
world for her work. She is
credited with creative high
technical expansive pieces,
which show off a wide
impressive range of colours and
patterns. Falcone uses
projectors mostly top show off
her work. Projectors is an
effective way to show of video
installation as it can show art on
large-scale forms. Falcones art
can largely be seen as non-
narrative art form as her art
does not appear to have any
clear message and story.
Instead, she opts for more
abstract concept by showing
seemingly random colours and
pattern, which have no
apparent story or narrative.
However even though these
images will seem random to
normal people, Falcone has
said that the different sections
of the piece have personal
meaning to them and secret
reference. She mixed artificial
and natural scenery to stress
out the unity and importance of
both in human existence, and
the message she wanted to
send is that living is beautiful,
from the moment of conception
throughout everything man
does and feels in his lifetime.
Her mission was to send hope
and to signify that there is
promise for the better future.
Falcone uses a dark background
to contrast and focus more on
the vibrant colour that are
projected onto the pillars. This
immerses the audience further
into the art creates the illusion
of the art being larger than it
really is, making the audience
feel the whole environment is
part of the art. The photo below
helps to understand the size of
the piece of art and how it
engulfs the environment.
Reviews on this piece of art
have often commented on how
the different shades of light on
throughout the piece help to
contrast the positive and
negative parts of her life.
Falcone is a good example of an
artist who has used modern
technology to create artwork
that is visually pleasing. Falcone
used many advanced animation
programmes in order to create
the complex movement in
patterns in her art.
Bill Viola
Another current who has been
making waves amongst the
video installation world since
1978 is Bill Viola with his lifelike
and realistic video installation
art pieces. One of Violas most
famous art installation is a piece
called the crossing. The crossing
is a room-sized video
installation the combines two
large-scale two-sided screen
onto a pair of video sequences,
which are being projected at
the same time. On the screen, a
dramatically lit man walks
slowly toward the camera. His
body appears as if it is glowing
due to black stark background,
which amplify his bodily
features. After a few minutes of
him slowly walking towards the
camera he comes to a standstill
where he stares motionless into
the camera. When this happens
the two scenes/screen spilt
apart and a fire alights below
the mans feet on one of the
screens. This fire spreads up
onto his body until he is full
body is engulfed in the flames.
However the body stays
motionless and only moved his
slightly as his body is eventually
disappears amongst the flames.
A symmetrical event happens
on the other screen but instead
of fire he uses another element,
this being water. The same
events happen until he is again
engulfed by the water. Water is
a common theme in Viola's
work which is often used as a
metaphor. The
ArtEletronicmedia commented
on this by saying Viola's
personal history unveils why his
art (almost) always has
something to do with water.
When he was six years old, he
fell out of a boat when he was
on holiday with his parents. He
nearly drowned. But unlike
most people, Viola described
the experience as the most
beautiful world Ive ever seen in
my life and without
fear, and peaceful. This near-
drowning experience resulted in
his fascination with water. Both
these scene end simultaneously,
resulting in an eerie silence and
lack of any movement on the
screen. The crossing is an
example of Violas trademark
manipulation of filmic time.
Viola uses a highs speed camera
which films at 300 frames per
second Viola then slows this
down so people can view the
images at great definition whilst
it being longer than a fraction of
a second, this results in Violas
work have a high level of detail
which can the human eye can
barely comprehend, this
heightens the level of definition
of the art. Violas use of slow
motion is used as an invitation
to the audience to concentrate
on what is really going on, and
make them focus on the detail
of movement and what it mean
spiritually or even religiously.
Viola took a lot of inspiration
from Nam June Paik as he also
tried to use technology to
enhance his art and take it to
the next level.
All three of the artists are all
creating a video installation, but
it's amazing to see how one
form of art can have such a
variety of creativity and vision.
Of course there can also be
similarities identified between
the artists as well. Sonia Falcone
and Bill Viola both used their art
to tell stories about their life
and how they felt. The two
artists seem to conform to this
due to past event in there life,
such as Viola suing water in his
art a lot as he almost drowned.
This could be seen as a more
linear piece of art which people
can see as having a beginning
middle and end or some sort of
chronological order. Nam June
Paik however contrast this by
creating more non-linear pieces
of art installation. He did this by
creating art installation that
seemly does not have a specific
order in which it should be
watching, or even a story that
makes sense. Instead his art is
more abstract can be
interpreted differently by
whomever is watching. The
narrative of the video
installations is a key element in
giving the audience the
appropriate background and
idea of what is behind the art to
understand the video
installation further resulting in
the desired effect of the video
installation being greater as the
audience will have more of an
idea of what is happening on
the screen. For example the
narrative from Bill Violas work
that he almost drowned as a
boy gives the audience more
perspective and idea of why the
art is emotional and deep.