About Art Video

Thursday, December 3, 7 to 8.30 p.m.
"Video Art and Mainstream Distribution"
Artist video is often created for and sited in pristine white box spaces, where there is a deliberateness to the viewing environment and the context of the work is clearly articulated. Tom Sachs and his collaborators the Neistat Brothers challenge this tradition through humorous, low-tech, do-it-yourself performances presented both in the gallery and outside it. Like Sachs and the Neistat Brothers, Marc Horowitz uses media outlets such as YouTube and network television to distribute his hilarious interventions throughout the United States. These artists are innovators in exposing mainstream audiences to artist video, and pushing the borders between conceptual practice and everyday experience.


Tom Sachs and The Neistat Brothers
Waffle Bike, 2008 (8:06), Obstacle Course, 2006 (3.32), Space Program, 2008 (12:09)

Marc Horowitz
Bishop, CA, 2009 (4:10), Nampa, Idaho, 2009 (3:10), Craig, CO, 2009 (4:02), Wasenburg, CO, 2009 (3:08), Paradise, IN, 2009 (2:10), Ewing, KY, 2009 (4:11)

Saturday, December 5, 7 to 8.30 p.m.
"The Watcher and the Watched"
Jill Magid, an artist who explores the personal boundaries of state surveillance, uses catalogued CCTV footage to construct film noir-like narratives with herself and her location as subject. Magid use the tools of photographic evidence to explore the deeply conflicted condition of one's loss of control. In her work the camera, and its operator, move from anonymous watcher to intimate participant. In Kon Trubkovich’s videos, the camera takes on an aggressive and controlling identity. Tackling the tension between freedom and captivity, the subjects of his work participate in Sisyphean activities that keep them from escaping their condition. Both Magid and Trubkovich navigate the borders between personal liberty and institutional restraint, implicating the viewer in the power dynamics presented in their work.

Jill Magid
Trust, 2004 (18:00), Camera One Wester Park, 2005 (11:00)

Kon Trubkovich
Repeat Offender, 2005 (11:07), Ant Farm, 2007 (9:54)