Being nice about Artists instead of being mean about them.

Here at the Mansion we are well aware of our tendency to sneer and turn out digital noses up at everything and anything that crosses our path. We are also hyper-aware that everyone can recognise that this is but a thinly veiled defense mechanism, born out of a heady concoction of contempt, laziness and a crippling fear of rejection.

With this in mind, we thought it might be time to mention something that we actually like as opposed to loathe. Below are some video and digital artists/projects that get us hyped up. Some of these artists for people who know anything about video art in particular, may induce an eye roll coupled with a 'well duh' response, so consider this a small starting point and introduction to digital and media art.

Bill Viola

Bill Viola is probably the most influential video artist living today. His works spans from the mid seventies up to, well, now. Initially his work concerned the documentation and exploration of highly personal events in his life, such as his near fatal drowning and the death of his mother. The latter, entitled The Passing, became somewhat of a breakthrough and captured the traumatic event as it unfolded.

His work now uses high definition cameras that capture images in a highly detailed slow motion. The Passions, which invoke religious works of art, have been screened all over the world, often being held in Cathedrals. The work is then projected onto varying surfaces such as smoke and water. Anyway, here's Bill talking with The Tate about Ocean without a Shore from a few years ago.

The Reflecting Pool- Bill Viola.

 

Martin Arnold

Martin Arnold, the Austrian born filmmaker, has a background in psychoanalysis and fine art. He uses found material from classic Hollywood cinema and applies editing techniques as a means by which to reveal repressed and neurotic counter narratives. The most notable of his works are Piece Touchée, Passage a'lacte and Alone: Life Wastes Andy Hardy. He's been a little quiet as of late but these works still have us here scratching our heads. The strength of the work is that as apposed to presenting representations of madness, hysteria, and neurosis, he takes their very characteristics and undoes the original material with them as tools. Plus they're super funny in places.

UNSW: iCinema- T-Visionarium 

 This is a project established at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. This video explains the work fairly well so we won't go on too much. However, it is worth mentioning the importance of this work in the field of interactive digital art. It looks quite a lot like Minority Report except no Tom Cruise or drunk Colin Farrell. The user is able to interact with thousands of video clips from Australian television and reconfigure them together with others in any sequence they want. It's amazing and really pushes the boundaries of interactivity, combing both the digital and televisual.

Alex Roman- The Third, and The Seventh.

This is all C.G.I. Drink that in for a minute. Every bit of it is C.G.I. We're trying to think of something clever to say.......... Nope. This is going to take a while to get our heads round. Stunning work.

Chunky Move- Glow.

Chunky Move are a Melbourne based group who integrate advanced projection technologies and dance. Big Phil Auslander claims in Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture that Dance+Virtual=Virtual. We claim that Dance+Virtual=Awesome. In their work Glow the space between performer and the virtual is distorted inducing spacial disorientation. Their piece Mortal Engine is touring this year so check them out.

    

So there's a few Artists who we like. There's plenty of great new work coming out and with technology getting crazy there's a lot of potential for interactive art to really take on a new shape in the digital realm.

If you have any other suggestions, throw down some comments and link us to their work, we're always psyched to find out about new artists.