VIDEO ART AND THE FEMINIST DISCOURSE _________________________________________
MEGHAN AMEDEN
VIDEO ART AND THE FEMINIST DISCOURSE
Vincent van Gogh once said “Normality is a paved road, it’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow.” The hegemonies that society has taken its liking to are some of the most unconsciously adapted social norms in our world today. Women in particular fall further as victims to the unrealistic expectations set regarding body image, roles in society and the objectification. As a conceptual artist, one’s job is to present and address specific problems, values and beliefs etc., and then to educate their viewers through carefully chosen mediums and predetermined subject matter. The mediums and subject matter used in an artist’s work is just as important as the artwork itself. Different mediums speak differently than others, and can be used in order to reach specific target audiences in efforts to leave a lasting impact, or maybe just as a way of conforming, so that the particular target audience will show interest, and ultimately learn to understand what the artist is presenting in their work. The medium of video art has been used since it’s start in these ways to do just that. Feminist video artists in particular have utilized the video format in ways to address the problems revolving around the feminist discourse, while also experimenting with the video format in ways that created a new perspective for the viewer with even deeper metaphors to be interpreted. As an ever evolving form of art, video art has continued to progress just as technology has through out the years. Defined as an art form which relies on moving pictures in a visual and audio medium, video art emerged during the late 1960s and early 1970s, as new consumer video technology was made available outside of the corporate broadcasting world. Color was implemented, video camera lenses improved and engineers started paying more attention to audio.
Artists in general during this period wasted no time when the video camera became more easily accessible to the public. Performance artists in particular took advantage of this new found ability to record their performances, not only for documenting purposes, but as an effort to reach a broader audience through the utilization of media, more specifically, the television. Early video artists like Peter Campus and Joan Jonas started to experiment with the capabilities of the video format. For example, in Peter Campus’ Double Vision he experiments by combining the video signals from 2 Sony Portapaks through an electronic mixer, resulting in a distorted and radically inharmonious image. Where as Joan Jonas’ Vertical Roll allowed her to explore the disjunction between performance and a recording of that performance. Jonas places a heavy emphasis on time, and both physical and mental space in her rationalization of the piece. Jonas manipulates the vertical hold
Peter Campus, Double Vision
function on a CRT monitor to mimic the vertical movement of film through a projector. The video itself consists of images focusing on particular features of a women’s body, more specifically the features that posses the likeliness of being perceived in an overly sexualized manner. However, Jonas deprives this objectification through the video
format, once again, by manipulating the hold function on a CRT monitor, and abruptly cutting the image off, followed by a loud and prominent sound that leaves the viewer frustrated and unsatisfied.
Joan Jonas, Vertical Roll
The distortion and experimentation of moving images that early video artists produced were that of something no one had ever seen before, and in effect video art was labeled as a difficult form of art to understand. Immediately the art form was rejected by society, maybe because it is challenging to understand something that isn’t directly delivering a clear concept, message or purpose, and video art certainly falls into this spectrum of ambiguity. When something is delivered indirectly or if it integrates any form of non-representational subject matter, it tends to go overlooked and also underappreciated, and the viewer is left incapable of connecting with the work on a personal or cultural level. When it comes down to why people are incapable of understanding or connecting with art in general, I can’t help but think it ties into societies total disregard for anything that doesn’t adhere to our superficial way of life and our fixations with popular culture.
The only strategy that these video artists were able to turn to, in effort to appeal to those who rejected the art form was simply to conform. Artists began to implement forms of popular culture into their work in order to gain a broader audience. The challenge was altering these methods of conforming in ways that could implement art and still act as a form of entertainment that respected society’s standards in terms of the status quo. Subsequently, video artists were then creating work that had been deliberately ‘dumbed down’ and ‘softened around the edges’ in order to communicate in ways that were capable of being understood and related to.
As a tool and form of media that has availed itself to the everyday consumer, the video camera is no
longer a device that only the experts can operate. There is a definite difference between the ability to record a video and the ability to record a video that will in some way benefit society through insight and influence. Anyone these days can pick up a video camera or smart phone; record a video, and then share it instantly via social media. That’s what it’s all about these days though, right? Being connected; documenting one’s day via Snapchat, Instagram, or a through a witty Facebook status written ever so carefully in the efforts to receive more than 10 likes… grandma doesn’t count. When did this obsession to constantly update and inform those, who in our minds hold value to us, become an everyday task? I believe the constant need for approval, acceptance and understanding of others relates immensely to the standards set by society regarding body image, submission to popular culture, and the ever growing problem of gender stereotypes. Video art’s emergence into the art world allowed for some of the most prominent names in feminist art, and through the art form they were able to expose these problems while also conforming to society’s standards of the status quo. Amongst theses artists were of course, Joan Jonas, Martha Rosler and more recently Eija Liisa Ahtila.
In order to further look in Joan Jonas’ Vertical Roll, we must first try to understand what Jonas was trying to achieve through this disjunction between performance and a recording of that performance. Cast as as “electronic erotic seductress,” the numerous costumes and roles performed by Jonas critically examines the everchanging exploration into “the narcissistic qualities of video” and would later provide the foundation for her practice as a video artist.1 Jonas identified that at first she saw the monitor/projector as an ongoing mirror. She watched herself, and attempted to alter the image using various objects, costumes and marks resulting in an array of identities. “Narcissism was a habit. Every move was for the monitor.” [Joan Jonas]2 Has it ever occurred the ways in which one’s actions change once a video camera is introduced? I think about my own personal reactions to being recorded and in being in front of a video camera. Instantly I become more aware of what I am doing, how I am standing, my posture, and even the ways in which I speak. The video format captures real time and space, and resembles the ways in which others perceive you. “…Narcissism was a habit. Every move was for the monitor...” Jonas admits her purposefulness in the ways she moved and posed herself in each frame while recording this piece in particular. She was aware of the ways her body would be sexualized and objectified. The objective was to trigger the conjuring of sexual fantasies from the viewer, with the fragmented images shown, only to deprive them of the entire image in the end. The continuously jumping picture frame, with its repeating horizontal black bar, both confronts and distances the viewer, creating a tension between subjectivity and objectivity. The tapes disjointed and persistent visual rhythm is amplified by what sounds like the sharp crack of a spoon hitting a surface, which resonates as if Jonas herself were smacking the video equipment. In the tape's final moments,
Jonas confronts the viewer face-to-face in front of the aggressively rolling video screen, adding yet another spatial and metaphorical layer of fragmentation and self-reflection to this theatrical hall of mirrors.3
Joan Jonas, Vertical Roll
This idea can only be interpreted as Jonas’ way of depriving the viewer of their curiosities as she playfully teases them; only to shut them down completely by smacking them away. The objectification of women is something that women today have learned to use to their advantage. The female body is a source of empowerment and control, and is often utilized in such ways by women to get what they want and to control men through sexual desire; a common weakness for most men. In this case Jonas implements this utilization of power and control through the subjectification of her own body and the deprivations she bestows upon the viewer. As stated previously, the emergence of video art as an art form allowed for some of the most prominent names in feminist art, and allowed these artists to express their views toward society in not only an impacting 1
"Vertical Roll." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. | 2 "Vertical Roll, Joan Jonas." Vertical Roll, Joan Jonas. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. | 3 "Vertical Roll." Electronic Arts Intermix : , Joan Jonas. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
manner, but also as an artistic one. Time is painful. When I first sat down to watch Martha Rosler’s, Martha Rosler Reads Vogue, 1982, the first thing I noticed was the 25 minute 45 second duration of the video. Watching Netflix isn’t this hard. I grew anxious 20 seconds in as the dramatic music playing in the background grew maddening. “It’s 8:30… do you know where your brain’s are?” appeared across the screen.
Martha Rosler, Martha Rosler Reads Vogue
Everyday people remove their heads from their body, place it on a chair and sit on it. They walk around blind and submissive; vulnerable to the brain washing tactics executed by the media in effort to get you to want to wear those $300 DIESEL brand jeans that look as if they’ve been run over by a truck a number of times. Or to listen to that song about “getting money” and “fucking bitches,” which clearly demonstrates how poetic some of our most well known and “influential” music artists are today. Or even to hook you on a television show such as the Kardashians; a show in which bases its premise around the lives of a family of inarguably ingenious business entrepreneurs, but also a show which serves as a prime example of the narcissistic and social media absorbed people in our world today. The Kardashians have fallen victim to their own brain washing tactics when things are put into perspective. Everything falls full circle, and as role models for many young women today, they hold the
power to get them to buy their array of clothing lines and products, and to watch their reality shows and know each of them by name, whether you buy their products or watch their show or not. They have submerged themselves into the media in such ways that have named them among some of the most well known families in the world. When Kylie Jenner posts a selfie to Instagram promoting her new lipstick, which some would claim, makes her look like a transvestite, in the way it was applied, in effort to achieve a more voluptuous look; you can bet her 59.2 million followers are taking notes. Surely, in no time, there will be an army of “tranny-esque” looking fourteen-year-old girls wearing that Kylie Jenner approved lipstick! Everyday we wake up, remove our heads from our bodies, place it on a chair and sit on it. “It’s 8:30…do you know where your brain’s are?” 10 minutes into the video, Martha’s monotone voice only makes the numbers counting down to the videos finish change even slower than before. “What is Vogue? Vogue is dreams, wishes, being anything you want to be.” Anything you want to be… how is it that people decide what they want to be these days? I rounded the young girls in my apartment complex ranging from ages 5 to 12 and asked them the question: what do you want to be when you grow up? The five-year-old shouted out “Vet!” One of the 10 year olds stated how she wanted to be rich and own 5 dogs and the 12-year-old said that she wanted to be a Victoria Secret Super model; no joke. I found it interesting how different the 5 year olds ambitions compared to the 12 year olds were. At the age of 5 girls are still playing in the dirt and your hair is still a mess at the end of the day. Statistics say that 71% of teens ages 13 to 17 use Facebook, 52% use Instagram and 33% use Twitter4. After reading these statistics it was even more obvious to me as to why the 12-year-old wanted to be a Victoria Secret Model. Essentially, this 12-year-old girl doesn’t know any better. Not to say that being a model is necessary a bad thing. She is basing her answer off
of what she is exposed to, and this exposure stems from the various social media sites, that through statistics, can be assumed she uses. When applied to womanhood, it is fundamentally the same scenario. Women today turn to popular culture and the status quo to make the decisions for them.
Martha Rosler, Martha Rosler Reads Vogue
Martha Rosler Reads Vogue coincides with the moment a backlash against feminism was first identified and the term Post-Feminist was coined. The values Rosler interrogated then are now ubiquitous within popular culture, but granted legitimacy through the seeming incorporation of feminism within mainstream politics. Rosler looks at the luxury magazine and the veils through which the amorous glances of commodities charm and fascinate with their illusions: Identification, aspiration, wealth, social superiority, class appreciation of the finer things in life, all these are imbricated in an orgy of bourgeois values; the enduring symptom of women’s asymmetric relation to power insistently realized through the private world as to-be-looked-at-ness and being-forothers; the elliptic worlds of fashion, art, media, entertainment and the nexus of money; the co-dependency of the artist producing recondite commodities, possession of which bestows distinction within this realm.5 4
"Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015." Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. N.p., 08 Apr. 2015. Web. 03 May 2016. | 5 "#35 Martha Rosler Reads Vogue: Grey Area." Greyareagallery.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2016.
The specific use of male doctors to perform the examination of an especially exposed and vulnerable nude version of Rosler herself, is entirely necessary for the premise of the this next work by Rosler. The work itself was said to be “the most pointedly feminist of Rosler’s tapes” by Mary Stofflett, in June of 1982.6 Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained, 1977 explores the social standards enforced for the female body along side the objectification of the female body. Rosler situates the female body as the site of an ideological struggle. A struggle between women and the societal standards regarding female body image.
Martha Rosler, Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained
The title of this work in interesting enough within itself. “Vital statistics,” if I am not mistaken, the term vital is defined as absolutely necessary or important, essential. Where as the word statistics refers to the study of a collection, along with the analysis, interpretation and organization of data. Therefore, I couldn’t help but wonder after watching the work for 18 minutes and 44 seconds, what the hell is so vital about the depth of a women’s vagina while relaxed? The male doctor then comments on how the women’s vaginal depth is considered “standard,” and I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment and how nonchalantly he breathed his words. “Toe height, 9 inches, hip height 7 inches, breast height, 7 and 1/3 inches, head height 8 inches,” No comment. The 6
"Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained." Video Data Bank. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.
doctor continues on with his examination and I continue to watch with curious and bewildered eyes. The woman is instructed to step on a scale, “119 pounds, standard is 124 and 3/4, you’re below standard.” The sound of a high pitched “HA!” in the voice of which I can’t stop thinking resembles the famous “Ha! Ha!” iconized in the popular television show, The Simpsons by Bart Simpson’s bully, every time he punches Bart in the stomach. Rosler is making a conscious effort to expose the hegemonies that revolve around women’s unknown and unintentional ability to not only absorb societal standards, but also their ability to project and be projected upon as objects. Women have grown accustomed to basing their lives around the guidelines of an imaginary handbook that exists only within the warped minds of a citizen – simply obtained. The primary premise of video art is based upon perception, and the alteration of what is normally conveyed through the use of the video format. Rosler not only defies the ideal version of the nature to see ones’ self as others see, by confronting the perceptions of self, but also through the use of a medium that forces the viewer to rethink their initial ideals. It is both visually and mentally stimulating to watch this film, Rosler forces the viewer to imagine themselves as a pawn in societies twisted game of life, systematized by an unjust and impractical set of rules. Rosler’s voice speaks truth over the remainder of the work as the woman changes into a white wedding gown – “One learns to manufacture oneself as a product, how one learns to see oneself as a being in a state of culture as opposed to being in a state of nature.” The women in the video changes into a white wedding gown – submissive, domesticated, Suzy-f*cking-home-maker. “Her mind learns to think of her body as something different from herself, having of parts to be judged.” In addition to the change in the woman’s wardrobe, she applies make up, and her hair is styled. These intentional changes in wardrobe, along with the
doing of her make-up and hair are clear examples of what is appropriate and acceptable for how women should look, dress and act. Rosler comments on how women adapt to certain inadvertently advised poses or actions. She talks about how women often know the boundaries of their bodies, but not the boundaries of themselves.
Martha Rosler, Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained
Having fallen victim to, but also having grown self-aware to the particular boundaries that women unconsciously set for themselves, I can’t help but relate and feel slightly obligated to call myself a hypocrite. But that still doesn’t change the point that our social norms aren’t actually normal, rather suggested, and the number of women who fail to grow aware of these boundaries significantly outweighs the ones whom do. It may be unwise to assume that these numbers are rising, given today’s sum of so-called feminist and libertarians, but the amount of fourteen-year-old girls who are in such a hurry to grow up and in affect dress in ways that make them look like they are 22 rather than 14, along side the girl who hung herself in her closet because of a boy who didn’t like her, speaks otherwise. The sad truth of the matter revolves around the way people have fell accustomed to establishing their value off of the approval and acceptance of others. A person’s worth should not be based off another’s approval, nor based off the collective views of what is accepted or “normal.” A bad hair day, or the comparison of yourself to others should not affect your decision to leave the house in the morning, or to be seen in a bathing
suit because your friends are thinner than you and there are boys around, even through you’re uncomfortably hot and that chicken fight your friends are having looks like so much fun. “She has been carefully trained in a mechanical narcissism that is is a sign of madness or deviance to be without; her body grows
Martha Rosler, Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained
accustomed to prescribed poses, characteristics, gestures, restraints and clothing.” The perception of self that has been pre-determined by society is again, unrealistic, and yet still women fall object to it’s expectations and standards. Trying to view ones’ self through the anxious eyes of the judge is a tiring and unviable practice. It leads to overthinking, overanalyzing, and self deprecation. The ways in which others perceive others is almost always different from how one perceives themselves. That is the double jeopardy of the situation these days – the traditional societal standards are being fought, but still these ideologies still remain, and the outcome is often times a confliction of assumptions and boundary setting decisions. Rosler narrates this idea when she exclaims in the video that, “Evil demands only of the abstract for the concrete; that is, it demands only the derealization of the full human status of the people on whom you carry out your ideas and plans.”
Eija Liisa Ahtila, If 6 was 9
“A gray day, no point going out. It’s too wet. Hair curls up in a stupid fashion. I made toast for myself. I wish I was taller and more photogenic. A long day with a book in dozens of positions. I watched MTV a few times.” This last artist I will touch on really seems to demonstrate these ideas of basing one’s self worth off of the approval and acceptance of others, along side the continuing notion of the objectification of women, in a more current manner opposed to how Jonas and Rosler have done in the past. Finnish video artist, Eija Liisa Ahtila traces specific narratives concerning feminine desire and subjectivity through the use of her signature multi-screen apparatus. Her installations which typically consist of three paneled screens that take up entire gallery walls, insist that we look to the places of exclusion in order to find the meaning of things elsewhere.7 Ahtila’s nonlinear way of delivering her narratives gives just as much precedence to background movement and sounds as to her storylines themselves.8
As I have touched on in Matha Rosler’s Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained, Ahtila also expresses the ideologies around women and how they grow accustomed to the certain boundaries that they inadvertently set for themselves through the work If 6 was 9, 1995. Although meant to act as that of a documentary, the piece is contradictive in itself because of it’s fictional dialogue. Ahtila explores female desire and sexuality through a series of forward declarations and confessions by a group of five young girls, on the brink of womanhood.8 “A gray day, no sense going out. It’s too wet. Hair curls up in a stupid fashion.” Although a not so extreme example, this
Eija Liisa Ahtila, If 6 was 9
particular statement really seemed to stand out to me while watching the video. It’s the smallest of comments made by women today that give light to these unconscious boundaries women set for themselves. “Hair curls up 7
"Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network." In Excess, Elsewhere and Otherwise: Feminine Subjectivity in Eija-Liisa Ahtila's Multi-screen Installation If 6 Was 9 (1995). N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016. | 8 "Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Real Characters, Invented Worlds: Room Guide: Room 2: If 6 Was 9 (1995-6)." Tate. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016
in a stupid fashion.” I like to think about people’s reactions to a male exclaiming something of this sort – it’s more likely that you wouldn’t, and if you did, it would be assumed that that male is a homosexual. A man whom cares about their appearance in the same way a woman does will dictate the assumptions of that male’s sexuality, again
due to the societal standards. Although this is not entirely true, because men are just as easily susceptible as victims and they also tend to adhere to social norms and the status quo, they are generally not as easily subjected to these standards set for overall appearance and body image. It is slightly obscene to imagine the idea of someone not leaving the house on a rainy day just because of the way their hair reacts to the weather. Again, these boundaries that women set for themselves is something that in the long run could potentially hold them back from their full potential in life. Even something as small as a bad hair day coincides with this idea. Who’s to say that bad hair day was the day one could do something great, but they would never know, because they’re sitting at home making sure their hair isn’t getting wet, because that would be a tragedy for someone to see them with frizzy curly hair. Ahtila explores in another scene the ways in which women submiss their bodies to men in order to validate their worth to them. The girl in the video recollects her first sexual experience with a boy. She talks about how all the guys wanted her, but she also states how none of those guys wanted to bring her home to meet their family. “Things started to happen so quickly. I liked it.” In the transition between adolescence and womanhood is a confusing and difficult time. Maybe the ideas that revolve around the need for a man to validate one’s self worth stems from the conventional way of growing up with a mother and father, and feeling pressured by society’s standards to one day find yourself a man and hope that he choses you over all the rest to be his wife, and bare his children, because that’s how things are and that’s what’s expected from women, right? “I was never one of those girls whom guys tell their folks about, but that’s the way it is… Guys thought I was a God’s gift to them. Everybody wanted to be with me.” At this point in the video it is clear that
Eija Liisa Ahtila, If 6 was 9
the girl has reached an acceptance of her self worth to these men whom want nothing more than sex from her. “But that’s the way it is…” It can be interpreted that in this girls mind she sees that it is better to act submissive in this case, rather than to not be noticed by men at all. “That’s why girls didn’t like me much, flat-breasted bookworms wondered if I had too big a mouth – and artificial lashes… Though girls called me a whore. And sapling feminists thought I was just stupid. Really? What should you do when every cool guy offers you his body? Say no thanks?” The need to feel wanted by another person is one of the most humanistic qualities that any person, male of female could portray. By giving up her body to all of these men she is fulfilling that humanistic need to feel wanted by another person. Being used or using others through sex is not going to validate one’s self worth nor will it ever entirely fulfill that void to feel wanted by another. Ahtila breaks her documentary intentions and thus leads us to the realizations that the work itself is one of fiction when one girl in particular reveals that she is actually 38 years old. The scene begins with the girl sitting a top a ledge with her legs spread open and her jacket unbuttoned. She looks young, innocent even. One would think nothing of the way she is sitting, but then she speaks. “Here I sit like this, with my legs apart like a little girl who hasn’t learned anything about sex, who has no idea that a woman must hide her private parts and lust.” My
Eija Liisa Ahtila, If 6 was 9
mind begins to absorb what is being spoken – “In fact I am 38 years old.” When a girl reaches womanhood, she is at that point officially, unofficially, inducted into a societal grouping of submissive and objectified women, whom inadvertently grow to learn the standards and expectations that women are predestined to follow. The woman in the video speak with confidence and sarcasm as she continues, “I have a woman’s breast and a labia that opens beautifully when aroused,” – she steps down from the ledge she is sitting atop and begins buttoning up her pink coat. This can be interpreted as having proved her point and now she is conforming back into the expected position as a presentable woman in society, one whom sits like a lady and if she does not, she will then be seen as either a whore or a lesbian when seen sitting in such promiscuous and manly ways.
Eija Liisa Ahtila, If 6 was 9
The conversation between viewer and actor turns a corner when the same women then admits that she “turned to girls” at one point in her life. She states that she was done with men and needed something more. I like to think that by implementing this particular scene into her work, Ahtila is in a way reaching out to her fellow women through the dialogue spoken by this one actress specifically. The women in the video addresses her sexuality and challenged societies expectations. “- Or should I just talk to a talented young guy whom the ladies help, and let him do everything for me? – I know some who chose that path. Now they say they like being transparent – like standing in the road with cars sliding through them.” It is a universal thing for men to be expected to take care of women, and for women to let themselves be taken care of. Women are expected to be submissive and men are expected to be rigorous. That’s that standard that our hegemonies are based upon, so therefore those are the standards women learn to follow. Look at it this way; expression “Independent black women who don’t need no man” didn’t just come from that popular animated comedy Family Guy, it stems from the feminist discourse, and in that discourse is the idea that women should not base their self worth on men, nor should they be expected to be dependent on men. Trying to point out what seem to be such apparent problems in society today is a monotonous task. As stated previously, I find myself starting to sound more and more like a broken record player. Standards, and expectations, objectification, society is the enemy. Author Lisa Kleypas writes “You are your own worst enemy. If you can learn to stop expecting impossible perfection, in yourself and others, you may find the happiness that has always eluded you.” That’s not realistic now is it? Inspirational quotes aren’t nearly as inspirational as they are
intended to be. People need that “wow� factor these days. Essentially, this is the idea that these feminist video artists were executing through their work. They strive to bring their work to certain extremes in order to make these problems in society as apparent as possible, and through the video format they are not only utilizing the medium to conform in ways that society will be impacted by, but also by means of pushing the medium to is very limits in order to communicate in not only a vigorously influential and applicable way, but in an artistic one.