12.06.2010
Each of us is the curator of his or her own life
Each of us is the curator of his or her own life — said Barbara London, addressing the audience gathered at Saturday’s lecture at the National Museum. “When we opened the new media department, I worked there basically alone”, said the curator describing the atmosphere of the 1970s. “ I’m from New York and I remember my terrified parents telling me not to go downtown, because it wasn’t safe there. But it was there, down by Canal Street that all the best stuff was going on.”
In a casual tone, the curator related the history of the development of video art. Concentrating on the works of the turn of the 1960’s and 1970’s, she presented films and installations by Nam June Paik, Joan Jonas, Woody and Stain Vasulka. She did not, however, neglect the years before the appearance of the video camera, when new technologies like the photocopier also impacted the artistic image. “Talking on the telephone was really expensive then, and the appearance of the photocopier gave rise to “mail art”, among other things”, said London.
Among the interesting titbits that can’t be found in a textbook, she shared with us the extraordinary curiosity about the world of Nam June Paik. He read everything about the most varied topics, from science to the humanities to economics. He also spoke many languages, but none of them too well, she acknowledged with a smile. Speaking of the work of Woody and Stein Vasulka, London told the story of the founding of New York’s the Kitchen in 1971. Of the works of Joan Jonas she spoke of her relationships with minimalism and contemporary dance, and of the friction between her and Marina Abramović on the subject of recreating/repeating performance art pieces.
One interesting theme of the discussion was the relationship between the music scene and visual arts, which appeared, for example, in the music videos of David Bowie and the legendary group The Residents. She also acknowledged that it was thanks to her efforts that David Bowie gave MoMA a set of archival music videos, about 40 altogether. The topic of archiving and conservation of film resources also arose in this context; “Don’t keep your films on DVDs”, she said. “They’re just flimsy pieces of plastic. It’s much better to keep them on a hard disc”, said London.
Finally, London presented a selection of artworks by Asian artists, including some by Teiji Furuhashi (Japan), Song Dong (China) and Nalini Malani (India) as well as a 2009 animation entitled Logorama, a powerful critique of neo-capitalism, corporationism, and contemporary culture.
In a casual tone, the curator related the history of the development of video art. Concentrating on the works of the turn of the 1960’s and 1970’s, she presented films and installations by Nam June Paik, Joan Jonas, Woody and Stain Vasulka. She did not, however, neglect the years before the appearance of the video camera, when new technologies like the photocopier also impacted the artistic image. “Talking on the telephone was really expensive then, and the appearance of the photocopier gave rise to “mail art”, among other things”, said London.
One interesting theme of the discussion was the relationship between the music scene and visual arts, which appeared, for example, in the music videos of David Bowie and the legendary group The Residents. She also acknowledged that it was thanks to her efforts that David Bowie gave MoMA a set of archival music videos, about 40 altogether. The topic of archiving and conservation of film resources also arose in this context; “Don’t keep your films on DVDs”, she said. “They’re just flimsy pieces of plastic. It’s much better to keep them on a hard disc”, said London.
Finally, London presented a selection of artworks by Asian artists, including some by Teiji Furuhashi (Japan), Song Dong (China) and Nalini Malani (India) as well as a 2009 animation entitled Logorama, a powerful critique of neo-capitalism, corporationism, and contemporary culture.
