Video Installation:The

Introduction
Video Installations are a contempory art form. Is a contemporary art form that
combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of
the surrounding environment to affect the audience. They are used to show
certain pieces of work to an audience in weird and wonderful ways and to make
the viewer feel certain emotions and have certain views on the artists work.

Projector

Projector and Props

TV's

Three people from the modern day I feel use installation in a very effective way
are Omar Fast, Spartacus Chetwynd and Shigeko Kubota. Chetwynd born Alalia
Chetwynd, 1973, best known as Spartacus Chetwynd). Omar fast has a very
famous piece of work that was displayed in the Imperial War Museum in 2013,
under the name of 5000 feet. It is a video installation which shows a drone at
5000 feet following a boy on his bike, it is meant to help the audience
understand the optimum flying height for a combat drone in Afghanistan and
gives the audience a feeling of first hand perspective in which they feel like the
drone is being controlled and streamed live as they watch. Omar Fasts main
focus was to raise awareness of the advance in technology as this drone can
capture people facial features, shoes and a cigarette from all those feet in the

air. The fact that this exhibit was placed in the Imperial War Museum helps it
set the scene and brings a very influential impact on the audience as it helps
them know that this is based and focused on real warfare situations. It makes
us feel like we are spying on them as it is in a black box which is very isolated
and gives people an enclosed effect. There will have been certain sounds
during this video such as walkie talkies and the sound of a drone overhead to
really bring the correct atmosphere to the audience to really make them feel
the effects of a drone and how close you can be to the action yet from so far
away.
Artists use different technology and
techniques when they present their
work as a video instalment, Shigeko
Kubota used the technique of building
sculptures which hold televisions
within the wooden structures to make
her video installation different. While
other artists such as Omar Fast single
people out to make them feel isolated
there are many techniques that draw
in all types of audiences.
When presenting artwork it can be quite challenging to know the style in which
you want to present it, whether its using just technology or real objects as well
etc. This instalment shows a very physical style to show their work. This piece
of work has no narrative to it as there are lots being shown at once on many
different screens, this makes the audience feel as if they are confused with
what is going on as they always want to know what is meant to be happening.
It is showing a person on screen in lots of different filters so that can people
can view it differently than lets say just on one screen. Is a good way of using
this method of lots of screens instead of showing them one after another but so
the audience can see all different effects at once.

The instalment above called Pornography in the Classroom which was

presented in 1975 by Vito Acconci in Los Angeles. The location of LA gives it a
very big impact from the popularity of the city many people came to see his
strange and wonderful work which helped gain publicity. It is installed using a
projector and a prop which looks like a big camera to show the way
pornography is filmed. It is presented this way to give the effect that
Pornography is being filmed in the Gallery. He is famous for his video
instalments and has been known to present some very strange pieces.
The reason behind him doing this is because he wants his work to memorable,
the most famous pieces of art are pieces which people remember, he made
this installation to make people either feel uncomfortable when they were
watching it or to make them feel a sense of pleasure when watching the
installation, this way people would like his piece of work. This piece by Vito
does have a narrative as it has a beginning and end and draws people in and
us because it makes us feel uncomfortable. As the audience watch this video
instalment they discover the narrative that is meant to be a porn film. LA is a
very popular place for all types of movie making including pornography which
is the home of Pornography which is why Vito chose to base this piece in LA as
it helps to bring norm to a city where some might find it very strange, it helps
the audience to understand the piece rather than just looking at it with disgust.
It is like the audiences own peep show within the exhibition.
The narrative of instalments is very important when presenting a piece of work
in a gallery as people need to know whether it has a narrative or not for
example Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, They created a box cinema that
only holds two people in, the box cinema contained a miniature cinema in
which appeared to seem life like. The box cinema takes the person away from
reality by giving them headphones to zone out of what is happening in real life.
The headphones are special as they are censored to your hearing distance.
In the box cinema a film of someone being murdered is playing, so you can
hear the film but over the film are noises you hear in the cinema such as
people coughing, talking, moving and eating. The sense of isolation each might
feel is broken by coming from inside the theatre. Fiction and reality become
intermingled as absorption in the film is suspended and other realities flow in.
Theyre watching a film about someone being murdered but in the audience
someone is being murdered. The different sounds capture the audience mood
easily. The narrative for this is Horror because of the things that bring fear into
people when its on. However there are some installations do not have a
Narrative form because their video installation isnt trying to portray a
meaning. This piece of work can make the audience feel two different ways as
you must rotate your position in the piece, with one person sitting on the chair
and then people sitting behind on a constant loop. The person in the chair will
feel very uncomfortable because it seems that they are being interrogated or
being watched as he can see that people are watching him from a screen
behind. The people viewing the screen with the person sitting down might feel
like they are trying to figure out what is going on, it makes the audience feel
very questionable as they do not know what to think. This is a very clever way
of capturing an audience as they want to find out more from the installation.
Space can give many different effects in video installations as they create
different moods. In a warm light a small space might be seen as quite cosy but
a large space with white walls would be seen as somewhere cold and you could

look at it how you wanted. This piece of work by Vito Ancconci shows a good
use of pace to create an effect when making his video installation, he made the
room very large and white walls surrounded the piece, along with the CCTV
sequence in place it gave off the effect of interrogation. Despite the fact this
narrative is horror it keeps the audience focused as they are the story, they are
the narrative as the piece is run by the audience taking it in turns to be a part
of the set. In terms of Location I think that it is very relevant that the screens
are directly behind each other as it means people can look at this set from an
external point of view as well as you being part of the scene itself. If they didnt
have this then they could only think of the art in one way. I think the reason
the artist has done this is to create a sense of illusion to the audience and
confuse them with the idea of the piece. I think this works really well as people
do not know how to approach this piece and therefore makes it stand out to
them.

After looking at all these different instalments I can say that I will be using
similar techniques in my own installations to make them relate to one another,
as I have mentioned previously throughout this article about how artists use
different techniques to present their work. I looked at artists that used
projectors to present their work as this is what I want to achieve when
presenting mine.