At long last, the exhibition surveying video art in California is here. California Video opens to the public tomorrow.
Curator Glenn Philips made a really great point in the L.A. Weekley today about how contemporary technology (specifically YouTube) has affected how we view video art today:
“The weird thing for me is that I think people will receive this show better now than if I’d done the exact same show 10 years ago. It’s kind of silly, but I honestly think YouTube has something to do with it. We all watch YouTube now and it’s prepared us: People are now comfortable with the idea of someone alone with a camera, turning it on and doing whatever they want to in front of it. That’s really what ’70s video art is. You can theorize about it all you want, you can make as many high-minded claims as you want – and most of the artists that would be applicable to – but they’re really just playing with the camera, and your average museum visitor is now a little more comfortable with that.”
He’s right. It’s amazing to watch the activity online around this exhibition as bloggers each curate their own mini versions of the show, embedding video from YouTube into their online galleries.
Glenn Phillips did a great job of putting together the show, at it appears that Getty is getting with the 21st century program (more so than other institutions), putting excerpts on line.
http://imoralist.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-video-getty-center.html