Vito Acconci
Isaac Julien
Samuel Beckett
Thierry Kuntzel
Dara Birnbaum
Matthieu Laurette
Peter Campus
Mark Leckey
Stan Douglas
Chris Marker
Valie Export
Bruce Nauman
Jean-Luc Godard
Marcel Odenbach
Douglas Gordon
Tony Oursler
Dan Graham
Nam June Paik
Johan Grimonprez
Walid Ra'ad
The AtlasGroup
Clarisse Hahn
Gary Hill
Zined Sedira
Pierre Huyghe
Bill Viola
Christine Van Assche
An Art, a History, 1965-2005. New Media Collection, Centre Pompidou
An Art, a History, 1965-2005. New Media Collection, Centre Pompidou
Miami Art Central is pleased to present Video: An Art, a History, 1965-2005., an
international group exhibition based on the video and multimedia installations of
the Centre Pompidou which recounts the history of this very contemporary field,
punctuating the main phases of contemporary art from 1965 to 2005. Curated by
Christine Van Assche, Media Arts Curator at the Centre Pompidou, this exhibition
will be on view at Miami Art Central from September 20 through December 10, 2006.
“The Moon is the oldest TV" said the pioneering Nan June Paik (Seoul, Korea, 1932)
who, in 1963, first introduced a television work into a museum space. Two years
later he reproduced the lunar cycle using seventeen televisions situated on
pedestals in a darkened room. Each set showed a different phase of the moon, the
shape of which was the result of transforming the signal being transmitted by means
of a magnet located in the cathode ray tube. Moon is the Oldest TV is the earliest
historical work in the exhibition Video: An Art, a History, 1965-2005, and laid the
foundation for many video works created in the last decades.
Video: An Art, a History, 1965-2005 presents an overview of how video has developed
in the last forty years. Video as a means of creative expression appeared in the
early 1960s and has developed considerably since then. Originally used by artists to
record their live performance works, video became an artistic art form in its own
right in the 1990s, and now plays an important role in contemporary art practice.
Developed in the 1970s as a more practical alternative to film, video, like
television, has been available to mass audiences from the beginning, making it
especially appealing to artists seeking a wider forum (Nam June Paik) for their
work. The medium dominated in the 1980s, and the term “new media" was coined to
describe video-as-art. Video was initially adopted by many artists seeking to
document performances. A number of these artists sought to push the boundaries of
the medium, utilizing strategies taken from television, and experimenting with
closed-circuit record
ing monitors, feedback, slow-motion and fast-forward functions, etc. Others used it
to critique the images and content of mass media (Dara Birnbaum), particularly as
they related to phenomenological concerns of identity. New media evolved in the
1980s and ’90s toward experimentation with installation through discursive devices,
the systems of cinematic narrative, the parameters of installation, the active role
of the viewer, and installations that function as exhibitions (Douglas Gordon,
Pierre Huyghe, and Isaac Julien). In the 2000s, many aesthetic directions are being
pursued through technological research, interactivity, theatricality, etc. However,
the issues that have captured the focus in this exhibition are the works made by
artists responding to more global concerns and issues of form and content.
Tracing the history of video from 1965 to the present, this exhibition is structured
in five sections: Imaginative Television and Quests for Identity explore issues
related to the essence and structure of the television medium; meanwhile, From Video
Tape to Installation, Post-Cinema and Contemporary Perspectives address questions
such as artists’ status, the role of the spectator and the relationship between
fiction and documentary. Covering some forty years of the history of this media,
this exhibition brings together a selection of 37 works by some of the most
important artists in this field ranging from the earliest pieces made with extremely
limited resources, to impressive displays of audiovisual resources unleashed in
more recent productions.
Artists in the Exhibition:
Vito Acconci (USA), Isaac Julien (U.K.), Samuel Beckett (Ireland), Thierry Kuntzel
(France), Dara Birnbaum (USA), Matthieu Laurette (France), Peter Campus (USA), Mark
Leckey (U.K), Stan Douglas (Canada), Chris Marker (France), Valie Export (Austria),
Bruce Nauman (USA), Jean-Luc Godard (France), Marcel Odenbach (Germany), Douglas
Gordon (U.K./ USA), Tony Oursler (USA), Dan Graham (USA), Nam June Paik (Korea/USA),
Johan Grimonprez (Belgium/USA), Walid Ra’ad / The AtlasGroup (Lebanon/USA), Clarisse
Hahn (France), Gary Hill (USA), Zined Sedira (France/U.K.), Pierre Huyghe
(France/USA), Bill Viola (USA).
About the Curator:
Christine Van Assche is the Media Arts Curator at the Centre Georges Pompidou in
Paris, France. She has curated exhibitions and produced new works with such media
artists as Gary Hill, Tony Oursler, Joan Loeb, Nam June Paik, Marcel Odenbach, Joan
Loge and Thierry Kuntzell. She was, along with curator Catherine David and critic
Raymond Bellour, co-curator of the exhibition "Passage de l’Image," which
was presented during its international tour at the San Francisco Museum of Art in
1992. In 1993, Van Assche began to acquire works of video and computer art for the
Centre Georges Pompidou, resulting in an addition of over 600 videotapes, 27
installations and 2 CD-ROMs to the permanent collection. The entire collection is
available to the public through an open access policy in a video space located in
the Paris museum.
About the Exhibition:
Miami Art Central’s presentation of this exhibition will include video, sculpture
and multimedia installations in a chronological conversation about the medium while
highlighting the relationship between the pioneer video creations of the 1960s and
1970s with those of younger artists. In addition to the actual works, various
documents from the archives of the Centre Georges Pompidou Collection (scripts,
drawings, film stills and artists interviews) will also be included in this seminal
exhibition.
Miami Art Central’s presentation of this exhibition is sponsored by the Cisneros
Fontanals Art Foundation.
Sponsored by the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation and through the supporting
partnership of Porsche Cars North America, Inc. The 2006 Conversation Series at MAC
has been generously underwritten by Gonzalo Parodi.
Opening reception: Tuesday, September 19th, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. Gallery walk-through with exhibition curator Christine Van Assche.
Miami Art Central
5960 SW 57 Avenue - Miami
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 12-7 pm
General Admission: Students and children under 12: Free. Free on Sundays