HHIS-275: History of Video Art

In the era of digital convergence, video has come to represent anything that combines moving image and sound, providing legitimacy to all new forms. As the materiality and specificity of video and film has lessened, and as media, nearly obsolete, a consideration of its history and contribution to art is essential in understanding art of our time. Students will acquire critical skills through studying and analyzing the development of theoretical discourses that frame past and current issues surrounding the production and interpretation of the electronic image by artists. Videotapes addressing cultural, ethnic, and social concerns throughout the world will be screened, analyzed, compared and contrasted. Includes an overview as to how the technology has evolved in relation to creative output. Examples will be shown of the earliest origins of video art and "alternative media" by artists who participated in its evolution--which in many ways started as a revolution-- to the current trend of art on the Internet, cellphone, and VR. Includes lectures, readings, and screenings, including seminal and often unseen videos to current innovations.