Project+2-+Ambiguous+Body

Final Project

= **The Ambiguous Body** =


 * **The body is mediated. It is mediated in culture, and it is mediated in**
 * **itself. It is represented in the brain, which itself is a part of the body;**
 * **and it is mediated with the help of the brain through the senses,**
 * **which are functions of the body in which the various inscriptions of**
 * **culture are already at work.**
 * **//“Body and Language”//**

Early video art was, in part, focused on the human form, usually the body of the artist. The works were often documentations of performance or a record of the artist interacting with the technology. Later, video installations incorporated the body of the viewer as well.

In the triad of camera-monitor-performer, a structure was created that allowed the artist to explore the (male) gaze, performer/audience relationships, and deconstruct the cultural language of television.

Another (de)focus of these artists’ works is a sense of ambiguity. While these works spoke in and about the language of television, these works certainly did not adhere to the common narrative structure of television shows. There were no heroes or villains, just conflict; no story arc, just cycles of story-like occurrences.

In this project, you will explore the body as a generator for a video work. You may explore the body as form, as content, or in a contextual sense. The body may be explicit or implied, in other words, you do not have to show an actual body in your video.

You will choose a work of art from our examples, deconstruct the work determining the conceptual strategy, and remake the work. Your work will use that conceptual strategy, but your work need not look like the original work. Think of the “conceptual strategy” as a formula that you can substitute in your own elements.

Artists to look at: Gary Hill, Pipolotti Rist, Bruce Nauman, Peter Campus, Joan Jonas, Marina Abramovic, Bas Jan Ader, Francine Alys, Linda Benglys, Chris Burden, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Paul McCarthy, Anna Mendietta, Pascual Sisto, Vito Acconci,

Some terms to think about:

Holding, Augmenting, Defining, Directing, Binding, Re-forming, Replacing, Restriction, Interfacing, Mediating, Extending, Prosthetic

Conceptual Body Examples Student Body Work performance, body and video

You will turn in a wiki page that contains the work you cose to remake embedded in the page, a 1 page response to that work which deconstructs it, and your work as an embedded video.


 * Note: Do not use music in your work unless it __directly__ relates to your concept.**

In class exercise Video exquisite corpse

Instructions: Choose an image from the web. Make sure if has a resolution equal to or higher than your video project. Pass that image to the person on your right. The image you picked is your starting image, the image that is passed to you is your finishing image. Use the class time to fill in between the images, for at least 30 seconds. Use other images, a variety of techniques and anything you learned int he lecture to create a smooth narrative from one image to the next. Export your final clip and save to the class folder.