Performance Art and Video - From the Beginnings to the Eighties
The expression performance art has become a catch-phrase for gestural-theatrical actions in the area of the visual arts. The Performance is rooted in different art forms of the late fifties and the sixties, for example in Fluxus and Happenings, Action Art, Land and Body Art, as well as in Conceptual Art. The boundaries overlap, and many artists took part in different areas simultaneously or even, in turn, in one after the other. During the zenith of the Performance Art Age, in the seventies and early eighties, the most diverse themes were used and varied. Many female artists took part in this new art-form. And the major themes of the performances were accordingly evoked by a search for one's own identity and the emancipation of women. What Performance had to its favor then was the development of private art initiatives that were instrumental in helping artists to organize and document their actions. This program devotes itself to presenting Performance from the aspect of a merging with video techniques cameras and monitors. Above all, the video camera made it possible to document an action for a later reproduction. As a medium linked to self-control and self-observation the video camera became an important and intimate working material. It could be easily applied and, without needing the help of another party, was easy to handle. Compared to film, video offered a new, pictorial aesthetic, and a new way of dealing with light. The immediacy of the video image set new standards for the passing of time during a performance. In that way, too, an action could occur in one space while the audience could watch it 'live' in another space. In one great stroke, video camera and screen became integral components of Performance. The unique qualities of the closed circuit system were new and exciting, and like any new develop­ ment of video technology represented a challenge for artists. Through improvements on the editing techniques artists had more possibilities regarding the subsequent perfecting of recorded footage. This led to an austerity of the reproduced image, as well as to a wealth of autonomous video tapes. Jo Eckhardt. Some of the following tapes will only be shown in excerpts. Handschuhfinger und Bleistiftmaske aus: Performances II; Die neue leibhaftige Zeichensprache; Light Poles; Aqua moving; Light/ Dark; Green Phase; Ich kann sehen, was ich will; Der malende Mund; Glauben Sie nicht, daß ich eine Amazone bin; L'image de la vie et de la mort; Jürgen Klaukes Langeweile; this is an emergency/ Notfall