After what I experienced in the first semester of video art, I’m honestly not looking forward to this one, however I do hold hopes as my second semester of it is with a completely new teacher. Was utterly disappointed by the last semester of it I took. Learned once again threw that why I don’t like the Apple OS (or more specifically that it doesn’t like me) and that video art was primarily filled with ‘first!’ videos. Where if you were the FIRST! To do it you got your mark in history even if it was recording some bisexual girls playing with each other… wait that wasn’t anything even remotely first. Why the hell did we have to watch that? Moving on…
Things that I did actually like that resulted from the class however was the chance to play with more video edition programs, (a luxury when all that you’ve had to use is WMM) and got me working with video once more. (A field of work I hadn’t been successful in finishing anything for over 3 years) an intriguing side effect form the class however I believe might be my odd interest in what’s known on the internet as YouTube Poop (YTP), as it shares a lot of the characteristics of what I’ve been able to derive as video art form the classes and subsequent time to ponder over it. However my personal tastes in video (and art) still falls to a more rationalized end as YTPMV (YouTube Poop Music Video) is my favorite variant of it and of the works we viewed in the previous semester I enjoyed the ones that I could actually gather a purpose out of or were at least technically experimental.
over all i'm muddled on my opinion of video art, but i hope to clarify that over the course of this semester. i'm hoping my greater understanding of what can be and is video art that i've realized sense the last class will be beneficial in undertaking the assignments.
I find your point of view very interesting... I sometimes questioned why we had to watch certain videos, also. However, I came to the realization that the professor wouldn't be showing us the piece unless they felt it was necessary to our understanding and learning of the class. Most the films we watched weren't about the footage so much as the exploration of a new 'technology/medium'. That may just be how I see the class but maybe try to look at it through a different perspective and you may be surprised with the results or they may be the same. Never know. I hope you come to enjoy the class :)
ReplyDeleteBummer you were so disappointed with the last vid art class. I thought that most of the videos we watched in class were great, but I can understand how a lack of clear coherence in some of them can be frustrating. I guess as with all art, we take away from it what we can.
ReplyDeleteI did find video 1 boring at times and some of the videos we watched were really bizarre but they're part of the history of video and they're significant to us as learning artists.
ReplyDeleteI tend to relate with your stresses and complications with the tools. I often feel very anit-technological with all the toys in todays society, but then grab my cell phone and "hypocriticise" my thoughts. I too found some of the material boring in video 1, however what I disliked even more what how everything seemed to be very dated. I realize that some of the focus was on the origins of Video Art, however it would have been nice to view some more current examples to give us some inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI believe the videos we watched last semester weren't the best example that could have been shown, I didn't find much of an educational purpose towards video art in them. Hopefully this semester will be more beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI was also pleased to use the different sorts of programs last semester. It was also the first time I used a Mac computer. That was an interesting experience.