Video Art of the Eighties
In the early eighties, artists and a small number of art critics ac­ cepted without hesitating video as an artistic form of expression. Of course whole structures like presentation possibilities and qualified critics were missing, which effected the audience and naturally the market as well. In the traditional landscape of art the primary goals of video art were to keep a necessary distance from television and to search for a market meaning, of course, financial niches. The video narcissism of the seventies was inevitably brushed aside by the sense of pictorial composition in the eighties, and a return to concrete messages in the content. What guided this development was having achieved an independent picture- language and the usage of a media-based, picture-sound-composition as an artistic tool. The themes explored by the video works reestablish their tense fields of content. This be­comes especially evident when looking back on a decade of video-making. These themes are also social themes of the times; of politics and daily life, viewed separately as well as in the way they penetrated one another, and a conscious analysis of the body and soul as a further development on the art of the seventies. In accordance with a social awareness for the ecology problems there are excellent (and largely unpolitical) works that deal with nature and technology from original perspectives. Then, too, even fate-ridden individuals and global catastrophes emerged in video art, and, in keeping with the age of media found direct artistic expression. Parallel to everything else some­ thing new developed in the video art of the eighties: humor. In opposition to the belief that artists have to express pain and be deadly serious, many artists did not lose their sense of humor and, moreover, used it unexpectedly well, evoking both mystery and irritation. Sound, which alongside the picture, is a main element of video leads invariab­ ly to music and language. The music-clip is certainly the most popular form of video in the eighties. Like in the music field, with video art as well the borders between the "U"(for entertai­ ning) and the "E"(for seriousness) were constantly shifting. The following examples should help to give an impression of the eighties. In some cases they will be shown in abbreviated form. Axel Wirths. Der Westen lebt; Mamas little Pleasure; Ich mache die Schmerzprobe; Eleven - Verstehen Ist wie Hitze; Baustelle; Das Duracellband; 10 3/4 Zoll; The Berliner Summernightdream; Zum Glück gibts kein Patent; Rotorama; Gesänge,des Pluriversums; Fallende Scheibe; Kniespiel III; Filmfax - Artfax; Mutter Vater ist tot; Debüt; Luck Smith; Die Distanz zwischen mir und meinen Verlusten; TV-Trilogie; Der Herzschlag des Anubis