Video Art Thinks Big: That's Showbiz

I chose to read this article because I was drawn to the aspect of showbiz, particularly in video art. I love the statement that the author makes about how universal video art is, it can be experienced in a museum, in a classroom, or at home on anyone's laptop. The article also talks about how contemporary video artists are a new breed. A few of the video artists mentioned in the article are Kalup Linzy, Ryan Trecartin, Sadie Benning, and Nathalie Djurberg. Video artists today are dealing with an overstimulated audience that is constantly bombarded by media, so they shy away from more traditional aspects of video art. For example, many of Trecartin's videos are full length films, and instead of treating them solely as works of art like past video artists, they are also treated dually as entertainment. Similarly, Linzy's video art deals with black stereotypes in a contemporary soap opera style. The prevalence of homosexuality in both Linzy's and Trecartin's work is a humurous breath of fresh air; it is not meant to be seen as a political statement, like so many homosexual artists in the past. However, there are differences in their work. Linzy provides a "moral of the story" outlook that comments on the lessons of life, where Trecartin's outlandish utopian videos aim to impress, dazzle and stun. Like Trecartin, Sadie Benning's videos also contain utopian aspects, but she completely replaces live actors with cartoons. Djurberg's work takes a completely opposite turn, using stop-motion video techniques and claymation to show violent bloodbaths. But all in all, video art cannot be ignored as an emerging mode of communication. With society's ever-increasing access to technology, and websites like youtube, video art may just be the medium of the future. Where sculptures and paintings are beautiful, the fast-paced, high-instensity nature of video art may be the only thing that will capture our diminishing attention spans.