KVT – Muses on Video Art

Last week was a good one to get into a bit of Video Art.

Now I’m a video virgin as far as understanding the whys and wherefores and howevers and ins and outs of how it’s all made and how it works, and I don’t really care about the technics and mechanics of it all. I mean I don’t even know much about, and care even less, if its video or 16mm film (or whatever other mm is talked about). Even the word digital doesn’t press my buttons. All I know is that if I come across a piece of video/film art that grabs me by any part of my body that registers awe and approval, then I’m all for it.

Some of the most memorable art I’ve ever seen is in the video/film category (also a lot of the worst) and often when video/film is amalgamated with other media (sound, movement, visual installation, dance, theater etc) the results are overwhelmingly good, often breathtaking.

When a video/film exhibition/screening/showing/whatever comes my way, I go with an open mind and often am amazed and invigorated by what I experience, and a lot of the stuff I’ve come across in Hanoi has been on top of my Vietnamese art pops list.

Saw Graham Burchett’s show at The Factory on the weekend. Burchett describes himself as a media artist using a mixture of visual and audio art and he describes his works as employing noise and free-form composition to tell a story through abstraction.

A wealth of good and a modicum of mediocre stuff was on show with my favorite being a minimal piece titled ‘Passing’.

When I saw Gus Van Sant’s tensely rivetting movie ‘Gerry’ at a theater on Sunday (and ‘Gerry’ is a superb piece of audio/film art ) I was reminded of Burchett’s talent again.