E-flux
The article regarding the circulation of poor images brings up a lot of interesting points. Media as a collective whole is being distributed as sometimes, poorer versions of their former selves. It’s true, The YouTube videos, and cell phone speaker quality mp3s circling the web are, often atrocious, but where else can you instantly see videos like the ones we saw in class like Annie Oakley practicing her marksmanship, or the trip to the moon without driving to Facets to rent some sort of compilation tape that would have it on there? I gladly would sacrifice sound and image quality for instantaneous access. Furthermore, there are perfect copies of films and music readily available on the internet; you just have to know where to find it. Using peer to peer sharing methods, I’ve downloaded literally hundreds of thousands of songs, and not once have I noticed a difference in quality. The same applies to movies and television shows.
One small gripe I had with the article concerned a speaker who refused to show a film because there was no proper film projector available. The type of person who regards “Art” as something that is so sacred, that it should not be even shown outside of its original format is, in my opinion, missing the point of what art should be. Art is something that should be viewed, and shared, and enjoy by all, no matter what the case. I know a photograph of Michelangelo’s pieta by no means would compare to actually seeing the statue in person, but being able to see that photograph, I can still be amazed and captivated by its beauty.
Video: The Distinctive Features of the Medium
Video art, in its essence should create something that, although utilizes the same conventions of creating a film, should be something completely different. Taking a class at Columbia last semester, gave me a new insight into a medium which I did not consider to be art. Watching videos like Stan Brakhage’s Existence is Song in which he actually painted over film cells, was very interesting to me, but it wasn’t until I created some abstract video art of my own that I really began to understand the challenges and motivations behind what goes into creating video art. Not saying that what I created was great art, but in trying to do something truly unique and different, I got a better understanding to what it was about. For the piece I created, I took a bag of used motor oil and combined it with dish detergent and placed it over a sheet of glass, which I then aimed over a light source with the camera. This created an interesting effect which wasn’t something you typically see. By doing, I had a new appreciation for video art that I did not have when simply viewing it for the first time.
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