Neil --> Exploring the work of other Video Installation artists

Exploring the work of other Video Installation artists 

I’ve chosen to explore Sam Taylor Wood and Bill Viola as they both have quite different video instillations. The first artist I looked at was Sam Taylor Wood with “Still life”. This video lasts for 3.18 and was created by a single camera at a mid-shot of a bowl full of fresh fruit next to a pen. The way it was set up makes it look like a finished painting, with the old-fashioned looking background and then the vibrant colours from the fruit, and where the video may have been edited, Woods has dulled the colours from the fruit out which is what makes it again have this painted look. But what takes it back to looking more realistic is the pen next to the bowl, as it doesn’t have the painted look so reminds me it is a real video.

The name of the video basically describes the theme of the video itself as it is a still life showing a bowl of fresh fruit, and a pen next to it. There is no music as it wouldn't really be necessary and may ruin the artistic style to the video. The theme is to show how things change over time and is just a still life of the fruit basically decaying over time, showing how something so nice can go horrible. The video shows all this grey mist-like substance coming off of the fruit throughout the video and the fruit go all grey and fall apart slowly, getting lower to the bowl they are sat in. The video is also sped up, to show the fruit decay in a shorter period of time, but it doesn't look like it is sped up due to it really happening so slowly, it just looks like normal speed.

This could influence me with my video instillation as I like the fact it plays with time and how she edited it to show how it doesn’t stay the same. I like the fact she used something from nature not manmade and the video wasn’t hectic and in your face, It was very calming to watch and was interesting to see what happens to fruit after a period of time, if that was in your house you wouldn’t notice it change like that, you would see it in jumps, with this video you get to see just what happens, and it is quite off putting in a way as it makes you not want to eat fruit. I don’t like the video very much but I like how it was created as it was quite artistic and different to other videos.

(I couldn’t find a review for this video)

The next video instillation I am going to look at is Sam Taylor Wood’s “A Little Death” This video is very similar to the "Still Life" instillation in the way that is shows a life form change over time, but this time it is with a once living animal; a Rabbit next to a piece of fruit on a table, which again links to the still life as it was fruit used in the original. The video lasts 4.56, and again it is a single camera at a mid-shot facing the rabbit and the fruit on the table. The camera is a bit further away from the Rabbit and piece of fruit this time, being that the Rabbit is much larger than the bowl of fruit, and to get it all in Woods would have had to position it differently. Again is has this painted look about it, but not so much as the first one. She definitely dulls the colours of the image down to give off more of an “old” effect, which works as these videos play with time.

The name this time doesn’t exactly state the theme of this video, it does in the fact it is about death, but the Rabbit was already dead before the video was shot, so it is more about after the death than death itself. Again with this video there is no music as it is unnecessary and would take some of the effect away from the video. The theme of this video is basically just showing what happens to a creature after is has lived its life, what happens to it after a period of time. It basically shows the Rabbit decay. As the Rabbit starts to decay, you see the rabbits skin start to do what looks like vibrate, describing it, it looks like a little mole is travelling through the rabbit by the way the skin is moving. As time passes you see the Rabbit slowly fall apart and become quite disfigured. It is a sped up video otherwise again as I said previously, it would take too long to show. By the end of the clip all is left is some skin and the fur off of the Rabbit.

Another’s opinion on the video:

http://www.ravished-by-illusions.com/post/7010985038/a-little-death-by-sam-taylor-wood

A genius work by video artist Sam Taylor-Wood: Take the most simple scenario you get, waive all additions like sounds or visual effects and create nevertheless a breath-taking film.
While painter of the 17th century created immutable pictures of objects in their most beautiful moments, Sam Taylor-Wood refreshes the traditional work of still life and tells simple a story about the transient nature of life.
The camera catches a dead rabbit which is decomposed rapidly before our eyes, while the mellow peach beside it stays untouched all the time. In an odd, beautiful way it shows how fast a once living being can disappear without any possibility of changing it.

I agree to some extent of this review how she is refreshing and unique which is good as she doesn’t follow everyone else and it’s nice to see someone do something different, however I wouldn't say its “beautiful” and I think it is quite distressing watching a beautiful creature decaying into nothing and think it is quite a sad clip as it shows nothing is beautiful and stays the same forever.

This could influence me on my video instillation as again it is about nature, and nature and animals is a favoured topic of mine, however  like I said previously it is quite distressful and horrible to watch the creature decaying and becoming disfigured. I don’t particularly like the video because of that, is doesn’t have the grace to it like “Still Life” does and I didn’t find it as fascinating to look at, in fact it was much harder to watch. I also dislike this video due to it seeming fake in parts as I don’t understand how during the quite long period of time it would take the Rabbit to rot, how the peach is still intact like it has just been left there moments ago, next to what is left of a Rabbit? It seems quite unrealistic and maybe it wasn’t even really made just edited well.

The other artist I am going to look at is Bill Viola, whose videos are quite different to the ones I've looked at previously. His first video I looked at was “The Reflecting Pool” which lasted for 6.55, a fairly long video instillation, and is similar to the two video instillations I looked at from Woods in the fact that it was made a single camera shot showing the same image throughout the clip. It is a very artistic shot of a beautiful woodland area surrounding a pond. A background noise of crickets, running water and just everyday woodland noises is added to give it a pretty, elegant effect to it. It seems like something from a film or a dream in the sense that it is such a pretty scene and has a grace about it. It basically shows a man walk up to the pool slowly, come up onto the steps, and for a fairly long period of time he doesn't move at all. Then suddenly he goes to jump into the pool, and he freezes up in the air, he has stopped moving like he has been paused. You see ripples in the water like the man jumped in, or something has fallen in, however nothing is there in the water. The scene in the water also changes as the video goes on, before the man jumps into the water, the water is clear and you can see the reflection from the trees and bushes in the water, however for a long time when the man is frozen in the air, the water is much more blurred and there is not as much of a refection. Soon the the clear reflection comes back again as you see the shadow on the pool of the man walking away. After that two figures appear reflecting in the water but not on the ground, they walk around the edge of the pool to the other side and there is ripples where they should be in the water but nothings there, during this the water goes cloudy again and they disappear with the ripples. After that when it starts to get dark, the water is  quite dark now, and in the light patch of the water a figure appears, the figure from the beginning of the clip, and stands in the same spot again from the beginning, but only reflecting  as the figure is not on the land, the light follows him as he walks off and once he is gone the water lights up again. Then the same figure then gets out of the water and walks off in the first direction he came from and it fades to black.

I think this is why it has the name “The Reflecting Pool”. It’s not anything to do with the man jumping into the pool, the theme is about showing the effect the man has on the water, and how the reflection changes by movement, it’s about showing the outcomes of his actions not him actually doing it, and that is why Viola doesn’t show him jump into the pool as your eyes will be diverted into watching his movements not the grace of the water. There is no soundtrack to this video, again like Woods video instillations, it would ruin the peace as it is not needed and would take away some of the beauty from the video. The background noises finish the video up nicely and create this really pretty scene. The theme of this video instillation is movement.

Another review on the video:

http://melissamarcus.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/the-reflecting-pool-bill-viola/

To me, his work is an investigation of life- his own life and the things that every human experiences- birth, life, death. I don’t know what “The Reflecting Pool” is about is his words, but I have made my own observation. I think that reflection in this piece means memory and illusion. I see a representation of reality vs dreams/memories, and the present vs past with the human figure standing outside the pool, and then the other figures that appear, but only in the reflection. I do kind of agree with this statement as you could interpret it in a way of someone’s imagination as they are not actually on the ground, just as a reflection, so you could say the pool is someone’s mind and what they picture and think about. It then carries on saying: The figure becomes frozen in time as he is about to cannon-ball into the pool and the reflecting pool begins to transform. The movement of the ripples in the water changes, the lighting changes, and we start to see images that are only reflected and not there in real life. This is more of an observation than an opinion. But when I watched it I only really thought of how actions of the man partially affected the water, and not the people and what their significance is, due to Viola making sure no people were visible outside of the water, however reading someone else’s opinion I would agree in saying this could be someone’s imagination or a strange dream and the people are important but are distant in the mind hence being in a reflection, and the ripples and cloudiness could suggest that these people make the mind of the person think and effects the person which is why there is ripples in the water.

This could influence my video instillation as it shows that small things can have big effects, it could help me if I wanted to do a video instillation about movement and I like how much effort was put into the small details of the clip such as the ripples in the water. I really liked this clip as I thought it was very calming to watch unlike “A Little Death” which I couldn’t wait for it to be over, this was pretty and artistic in the way at first when the man jumped, you focused your eyes to see if he would move again, but by the end you were watching the rhythms of the water and the reflections. This could influence me if I wanted a video instillation based on averting the viewer’s eyes onto things they wouldn’t normally look at.

His other video instillation I looked at is called “Acceptance”. It’s a short clip only lasting for 2.03, and is different to the other three video instillations watched due to the fact the camera moves around a bit, like it’s an amateur cameraman, however I think the camera is supposed to do that as the video itself is quite uneasy and there is a struggle trying to be brought across in the video. Again it is a very artistic clip but not in the same way as “The Reflecting Pool” it’s more showing the beauty of humanity, this time instead of the little things and nature. However from watching these two videos of his, I have noticed that Viola has a keen interested in water and the beauty and delicate things that can come from it, so you could also say this video is about water movement. This video instillation shows an out of focus person in the darkness, not much going on, and as it gets clearer you see that it is a naked women being showered by water, the more water that is falling onto her the clearer she gets, when she gets quite clear you can see that her expression is like she is crying out for help, she looks miserable, like she is struggling. The woman starts to calm down, and as she does so, less water is pouring on her until she is completely calmed, her expression has changed to a much more relaxed tone and she turns to face the camera and starts to move towards it, by the end she is completely clear and all the water is gone.

The name "The Struggle” links to the video instillation as I think the water is supposed to represent pressure, due to the woman showing a struggle and upset, the more water pours on her, and this could suggest the pressure to be accepted by others or even herself, and the water is representing that barrier the woman has, and when she started to accept herself the water disappears (the stress). Again there is no music in this video instillation, just a noise that sounds like wind, again like the other three video instillations, music may ruin the idea that Viola is trying to get across. In this video light is also important, the more the woman accepts herself, the more light is on her, and the fact she is surrounded by darkness could suggest that she is alone, especially at the beginning as there wasn’t much light on her either, however like I aid previously I think the video is more about her accepting herself, which is why light hits her only.

Here is another’s view on the video:

http://nochovka.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/interpreting-bill-violas-acceptance.html

At first, we are seeing a female figure appearing somewhat out of focus. The subject passes through a water stream and emerges in focus. The setting appears un-interpretable at first. But I believe I understand the message, and part of the message is given away in the title itself. I can agree with most of that statement however I had an idea of what is was about after watching it the whole way through, I thought it was interpretable as soon as I saw the last minute. The review carries on saying:  The female subject emerges from the darkness, out of focus and into the light. The beginning and end points of her movement slightly signify a path which symbolizes moving from something undesirable to something worth struggling for, in this case from darkness to light. I can agree with this as it shows her start of struggling and the end like I said previously she is calm and heading in a new direction. It carries on saying: Falling water symbolises a barrier, an obstacle that needs to be defeated, and there is no alternate path around it. Water also symbolizes vulnerability- a cold and unpredictable force that makes the passage both uncomfortable and dangerous. I agree with the fact that water symbolizes vulnerability as when there is water on her she is clearly struggling, and once it is gone she is calmed and in the light, however I disagree with the water being an obstacle itself, I think it’s an anagram of her emotion being shown in a way we can understand. But after reading this review I think I understood the meaning of the video instillation quite well.

I did not really enjoying watching this video, as artistic as it was it was quite boring and at the end I found it awkward to watch due to the fact the woman was naked, however I liked the concept of the video and thought it was quite creative in using water to portray an emotion, as water can be a very strong substance in great forces and so can feeling unaccepted. This could influence my video instillation as it inspires me to focus on a particular thing and show how it is important to me, not to focus on a lot of things in one, as too many things could cluster the video. It has inspired me to definitely do something based on movement.