by Bruce Nauman (1968 & 1969)
No 1: 1968, 60 min, video, b&w, sound
No.2 (Upside Down): 1969, 60 min, video, b&w, sound
For "Bouncing in the Corner, No. 1", Nauman turned the camera sideways and positioned it so that his head is cropped from the frame and his body is presented from neck to ankles. Just as he bounces back to a standing position, his body falls again, momentarily collapsing, only to spring forward once more. This action places his body in an intermittent space, occupying a position halfway between standing and leaning, halfway between the wall and the room. Falling backwards into the corner and then pushing himself off the wall again, he appears to be trying to levitate himself... As he performs these actions, his hands slam into the wall to break his falls, and the sounds become an integral part of the activities filmed.
In "Bouncing in the Corner, No.2 (Upside Down)" Nauman is repeating the same activity—leaning back and bouncing forward from the corner—this time the camera is positioned just above his head. This gives his body the sense of constantly rising and falling, his chin just crossing the bottom edge of the screen before sinking back. Here, however, the images were recorded with a fixed camera that was inverted rather than turned on its side.
Bruce Nauman is one of most important and influential figures in contemporary art. His seminal films and videotapes from the 1960s and '70s are among the most innovative contributions to media art. In these conceptual works, Nauman uses his body as an art object, executing repetitive performance actions in his studio. Exploiting the phenomenology of the medium, including its immediacy, space, and intimacy, his real-time gestures investigate the very process of making art.(Texts: Electronic Arts Intermix & Video Data Bank)
To see excerpts of the works, simply follow the links below. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkYR-v_tacI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsEt6oBAuPw
No comments:
Post a Comment