Video Acts

"Today, video is a familiar tool at the artist's disposal. But to those who experimented with the technology in the 1960s and 70s--when affordable equipment became commercially available--the capabilities inherent in the medium were unknown. Vito Acconci, Joan Jonas, and Bruce Nauman, among other American pioneers, used videotape to document and extend their performance work. Acconci, for one, produced conceptual, performance-based video work in the 70s that consisted of ruthless interrogations of the artist and viewer, as though defining the video medium were a matter of universal urgency. Video Acts provides a historical overview of video art created for display on a single monitor, with more than 100 pieces, dating from the mid-60s through 2000, including numerous landmarks in the development of this young medium by Marina Abramovic, Gilbert & George, Acconci, Jonas, and Nauman, as well as more recent work by Tony Oursler, Darren Almond, Pipilotti Rist, and others redefining the genre."