There are many contemporary artists currently using the internet as a tool to make work. This type of art typically explores the identity of a public that has now grown accustomed to being connected to a virtual reality and brings up questions of ownership, accessibility and control. Today I am going to share two artists who have utilized the video sharing website, YouTube to make wonderful video pieces as well as the master of video compilation, Christian Marclay. Although Marclay doesn’t necessarily use the internet as his medium, I think he is a huge inspiration for artist exploring these issues.
Natalie Bookchin, Mass Ornament 2009
Natalie Bookchin is a pioneer of new media video work. She has been a part of CalArts faculty since 1998 and has been exhibited locally and internationally. In this piece Natalie Bookchin has edited together hundreds of clips from Youtube of people dancing in their rooms. I love the collective movement of all these isolated people dancing alone in their bedrooms but now together in unison on-line. It’s quite beautiful. Check out her artist website here.
Cory Arcangel, Arnold Schoenberg, op. 11- II – Cute Kittens 2009
Cory Arcangel just had an incredible mid-career retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is a computer programmer, web designer and artist working in Brooklyn. He created his own video software that extracts tiny fragments of videos so that he could take out exactly one note to create arrangements like this one. He uses technology to explore our culture. Check out his hilarious artist website here.
Christan Marclay, Telephones 1995
Christian Marclay is certainly having an “art star moment” right now. His most recent video piece, The Clock is a 24 hour long watch that you watch. The piece is made up of hundreds of movie clip scenes that mention or show the time. The scenes are artfully edited together creating a bridge between generations and genres of films and synchronized with the actual time that it is playing. Telephones is a precursor to The Clock, it too consists of movie clips but centers around the telephone conversation. Learn about how he created The Clock here and check out his artist website here.
