Workshops with Yvonne Spielmann

The experimental video work of the Vasulkas in light of media developments in the 70's, 80's and in the present time

Electronic art pioneers, Steina and Woody Vasulka have played a vital role in developing a formal vocabulary specific to electronic and digital images. Their work extends over three decades - from their early experiments with analog image processing in the seventies to the exploration of digital coding at the end of this decade and later on in the eighties and nineties. In their work, the role of video as technology marked the emergence of so-called new media, namely interactive, immersive and hybrid media.

The aim of these workshops is to explain the role played by the Vasulkas in the history of video to students who are interested in media arts and media theories, but are not necessarily knowledgeable about the importance of the Vasulkas. The workshops consist in three lecture-format presentations, surveying the theoretical and aesthetical issues related to the Vasulkas' work respectively in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The Vasulkas' approaches to video are discussed as an exploration of new technology and a new medium in the broader framework of previous and parallel developments in media arts. Their video work is addressed in the context of other media (in particular, music, performance, film, and television), providing an understanding of the different approaches suggested by the use of video. Focusing on the contributions made by the Vasulkas in defining the aesthetic aspects of video, the workshops also include an analysis of similar strategies as showcased in the work of various video practitioners (for instance Nam June Paik and David Larcher). Excerpts from videotapes, images of installations by the Vasulkas and related artists, as well as documentation retrieved from the collection of the Center for Research and Documentation, are presented in conjunction with the presentations and discussions.

The 70's

The first day addresses the emergence of an electronic vocabulary, involving a discussion of video experiments paralleling the Vasulkas', such as Nam June Paik, Gary Hill and Joan Jonas. The interrelationships of abstract and early computer films, in particular John Whitney, Stan VanDerBeek, and Ed Emshwiller, are covered, focusing on the interchangeability of sound and image. The incorporation of image processing tools (signal processors and analog computers) in video is also underlined. The day closes with a discussion on the artists' creativity with regard to machines and the aesthetic vocabulary of abstraction in media arts.

The 80's

The second day focuses on the development of concepts and tools for digital image synthesis in the 80s. The lecture includes discussions around the matrix phenomenon of the electronic and digital image as creating a tension between visuality and narrativity. The work of the Vasulkas is discussed in the context of related experiments by David Larcher, Nan Hoover and Robert Cahen.

The 90's

The third day concludes around concepts of perceptual environment and immersive space as developed in the 90s to present time in the work of the Vasulkas. The medium video is compared to hybrid media showcasing the different capacities of virtualization and complexity (especially visualization in virtualization). The ways in which the work of the Vasulkas leads to the conceptualization of interactive and virtual, in short, hybrid media is demonstrated through contemporary examples like Bill Seaman's work, which examines language systems. Finally, some of the technical and theoretical preoccupations of the Vasulkas, and their avant-garde role in relationship to comparable radical approaches, is discussed as they reemerge in new media today: for example, jodi, David Sout and Granular Synthesis.