Within the video movement our choices for this exhibition will look a bit odd. We are not going to show or describe works outside of the consideration of audio / video as electronic signal - that blessed state when it becomes accessible for alternation by electronic instruments. We are avoiding the essential and important pictorial and conceptual influences arising from "art as style" during the time period, from social influences and, from gallery and art market influences. We also believe that the most important works of art in video have been systematically presented by other curators. On the other hand, what we found more essential, more mysterious and unexplainable as new comersfrom the "Old World" wasthe undefined spirit of American innovation and invention. To us it was all there was to do.
In the 1960's we used to distinguish between white collar and blue collar artists. Both of us came from socialist societies and would at "the tip of the hat" side with the working class. We thought the world was still material, even though we were handling metaphysical material - Time and Energy.
THE TECHNOLOGY
Besides the instruments, the essence of the exhibition is the images, both still and moving. In our private work we have advanced to the technological state of presenting our work on laser disk. From the moment that we discovered a link between the laser disk and the printed page through the barcode we knew it would suit the purpose of the exhibition magnificently. Despite the clumsy laserpen for reading the barcode and despite the time delay, we are convinced that this is a perfect marriage of method and subject.
THE TAPES
Steina has always been an avid collector of videotapes. Very early she was engaged in personal tape exchanges, a habit she still keeps. During the early days the urge to share unique discoveries drove people into almost compulsory communication videoietters, "how to's" and "look what I'm doing" were common, almost a genre. Many times we were the first on the receiving end, and today we are looking at an amazing assortment of tapes which forms the core of this exhibition.
There is an unprecedented affinity between electronic sound and image making. Each generation of artists seems to come up with a tempting proposition of uniting the acoustic and the visual and vice versa - hoping once and for all to solve the mystery of audio-visual aesthetics. The generation that is the subject of our exhibition has gotten somewhat closer: even if the mystery of composing images with sounds was never revealed, this time the material, i.e. the frequencies, voltages and instruments which organized the material were identical. The advent and use of the oscillator became the natural link. As in our case, many of our colleagues and friends used audio oscillators of audio synthesizers to generate their first video images. The first video instruments were inspired by the architecture of audio instruments, and the first organization of images was negotiated in similar ways. With feedback, which all these instruments possess generically, the preliminary nomenclature of generated images was established. The continuity between instruments of sound and instruments of image making was basic to our conception of the exhibition in discussions with Peter Weibel. We also knew that there was a chance that the great weight of the cultural history ofsound and music might tip the balance of the exhibition off center. So be it.
Woody Vasulka
