Ennui en note
24 Images, Winter 1991, no. 59, p. 57
Reviewing the 20th edition of Montreal's Festival international du nouveau cinéma et de la vidéo, the author suggests that, just as last year, it appears as if video is no longer relevant, or that the festival's organizers lack the enthusiasm which might bring the medium to life.
The author praises the late arrival of Godard's exploration of television in Histoire(s) du cinéma, and is taken by the expressive mobility of the camera exposing a New York afternoon in C'est vrai! by Robert Frank. Nino Rodriguez's Identities, an interview with Thomas Padgett, in which Rodriguez has edited out all the conversation leaving only dead air and producing a poignant yet simple video.
Comparing Marie André's Premier amour to Twin Peaks, the author is unconvinced by the somewhat clinical view which André takes to her idiosyncratic events, and dismisses the technical prowess of Wanting for Bridge as an attempt to obscure the piece's lack of real emotional effort. In The Way of Love, Sanja Ivekovic combines remembered images and Sufi rites in a poetic reflection.
While some pieces did interest the author, as a whole, the exhibition neither struck a note nor made an argument for the continued value of video art.
ITEM 1991.094 – available for viewing in the Research Centre
Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited
Identities – Nino Rodriguez
Histoire(s) du cinéma – Jean-Luc Godard
C'est vrai – Robert Frank
Sul Treno Belgrado-Istanbul – Leonardo Celi
Identities – Thomas Padgett
Canon: Taking to the Street – Dara Birnbaum
Premier Amour – Marie André
Twin Peaks – David Lynch
Wanting for Bridge – Joan Irene Staveley
The Way of Love – Sanja Ivekovic
Heads or Tails – Dennis Day
The Colour Trilogy – Terryn Flaxton