Article+1-+Krauss

Discuss the Krauss article here. Post your response and comment on other responses.

I just finished reading the Krauss article and I have to disagree with she said. I was with her in the whole video art at base is about narcissism. I mean to sit and record yourself or someone else doing something and demand recognition as well as money is bold, but to say narcissism is the "unchanging condition of a perpetual frustration" is hard to grasp. When I think of narcissism I think of someone who is narcissistic ie. someone who is overly confident or cocky: arrogant. Not someone that can never accept themselves or think that they will never amount to something. That is unless she means that narcissism is actually a front for a lack of self confidence which I can understand. - Kris Stith

I thought the reading, “The Aesthetics of Narcissism”, by Rosalind Krauss was eye opening yet difficult to read. I found myself rereading paragraphs multiple times only to find myself even more lost in her writing. Krauss tended to go on in some tangents which played a large factor in my ability to grasp her discussion.

I agree that video art can be regarded in terms of narcissism and egotism, however, I also think that other mediums of art hold narcissism as well; I would have liked to see Krauss give her two cents about this.

I really enjoyed the Krauss' thorough descriptions of the examples of art she discussed in her piece. I particularly enjoyed the ones about "Centers" and "Boomerang." After actually viewing "Boomerang" in class I think it's safe to say that she did justice in explaining the elements of the work.

-Carolyn Becker

I feel it is a little hard for one art critic to accuse all video art of being narcissistic. It is easy for one who is narcissistic to turn to art as an outlet because art can easily be turned to recognition. Additionally, video art is an easy culprit because its very substance is one which requires the artist to speak through it, often projecting their own physical image and voice. Yet I can’t believe this is the intention of every piece of every artist. Krauss points out pieces which differ a great deal from one another. Some, in my opinion, offer better examples of narcissism than others. For example, I enjoyed Boomerang and Now more than the others because I felt that the artists used both their voice and profile as examples to illustrate their intended points instead of merely exploiting them. In these pieces, the use of the artist was practical in the fact that it was very influential in the piece, causing the viewer to immerse himself into it. Yet I agreed with Krauss more in the pieces Air Time and Vertical Roll, for I felt that the use of body parts and voice did not strengthen the ideas of the piece as effectively. In these cases, I felt that another medium could have portrayed the message at least as well if not better than the use of video. In these cases, I could agree with Krauss in the fact that artists may cling to video as a simple solution to project their ideas with their faces directly tied in as a sort of signature. Janetta Deppa