Visual Art
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‘WOMAN IS SUBJECT RATHER THAN OBJECT OF THE GAZE'
M.U.D. by Kbmicmann
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Alexander Kennedy introduces the work of Nan Hoover and Nina Konnemann, who will exhibit a selection of their video-based work at the CCA
arly experiments in film by artists remind us that
the birth of psychoanalysis and cinema
happened at almost exactly the same time, with surrealists adding hermetically sealed packages of poetic and suggestive images to narrative cinema.
The mid to late 60s opened the door for serious structuralist explorations of film and video. minimalism and performance art to be spliced together with high theory in the cutting room. Recently. the recorded. repeated anti-narrative actions of earlier video artists have spun out into baroque narratives. expanding the medium unimaginably further.
In Spectrum at the CCA. the developments that have occurred in the last 40 years are examined through the work of Nan Hoover and Nina Kiinnemann. The CCA media lounge plays host to work from 40YEARSVIDEOARTDE. a project initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation that focuses on the films of Hoover and Konnemann. who both now
work in Germany. The exhibition is also a part of
TIMELOOP (a cross-venue project devoted to video art. presented in association with Goethe-Institute Glasgow). and will be supported by talks across Glasgow. in the Street Level. Gallery of Modern Art. Tramway and Glasgow School ofArt.
Both women are pioneers in the development of video art, and continue to show internationally acclaimed work. Initially using video as an extension of her practice as a painter. American-born Hoover expanded into the documentary medium, and continues to record in real-time, creating linear, unedited films. Psychoanalytic theories of how subjectivity is formed
88 THE LIST 12—26 Apr 2007
in relation to visibility forms the core of her practice, with woman relocated as the subject rather than the object of the gaze. The ‘traditional’ scopophilic drive is
thwarted. and the artist’s body and the surrounding ’ environment intermingle. She is equally interested in ; creating a seductive aesthetic. Objects that are held by,
on or near her body become extensions of this aesthetic, creating macrocosmic landscapes out of the microcosmic bodyscape.
Konnemann is more concerned with the action that takes place at the periphery of our vision and consciousness. the almost nonsensical and unconscious movements that we make when leaving a scene. In some examples her eye and camera follow unaware
social actors; she plays with ideas of surveillance and 2
spectatorship but only manages to capture everyday faces in nondescript places. Exhausted figures skip to and fro, running away and towards unknown destinations. Have these non-events been staged‘.’ Some figures stop and stare right at the camera. others hobble
about in the background then fall to the floor. obviously
intoxicated. ()r are they just play acting?
Both artists use film to demonstrate that our subjectivity at times seems permeable. expanding into
the environments around us. only limited by our self
awareness or other people's fleeting perception of us. I And lilm seems to almost capture these moments of
confusion. moments of escape, demonstrating that the non-space between the frames, the cut between this and that is the place of our emergence as subjects.
Spectrum, CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 12 May.
Mixed
T3? Roderick Buchanan: Histrionlcs An exhibition examining the sectarian past and present that still manages to haunt the streets of Glasgow. Buchanan presents films, photographs and an installation that will take over the large main gallery in GoMA for six months, bringing together films and images of Republican and Loyalist bands based in Glasgow right into the broken heart of the city. GOMA, Glasgow, Thu 5 Apr—Sun 28 Oct.
:11 Wael Shawky: Al Aqsa Park Egypt-born Shawky’s films explore the complex relationship between Jewish and Islamic cultures. The artist uses the Dome on the Rock and the AI Asqa Mosque to describe the continuing complex social and political situation in the Middle East, creating an architectural spinning top that whirls out of control. See review, p 89. Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 21 Apr.
:3 Opt In For Art Featuring drawings, films, animations, installations, sculptures and objects produced by children and young people during a range of projects and workshops. The participants have been involved in all aspects of the preparation for this exhibition, from making the artwork to installation and marketing of the show. See preview, page 89. The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Thu 19 Apr—Sun 6 May.
1'5 Spectrum Forty years of video art is presented through the work of German-based artists Nan Hoover and Nina Kbnnemann. This mini retrospective of the artist’s work is part of the 40YEARSV/DEOARTDE, a project initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, with events taking place in selected art venues throughout Glasgow. See preview, left. CCA, Glasgow, Sat 14 Apr—Sat 12 May.