Presentation text 1996
Video Opera for Paik
Paik appears on scene the way he likes, recreated from his own creation
The teacher in the spotlight
The performance Video Opera for Paik, is an eloquent demonstration of the utilization of multiple combinations, made possible by the diversity of technical and conceptual resources, an absence of limits and the innovating liberty found in video art. Here we find united a variety of artistic expressions, props and tools, artists, notions of time, distance, and space. It is conducted by two artists that have an intimate relationship with Paik's work, as well as sharing his artistic ideals.
One of them is Steina Vasulka, renown artist that took part in the birth of video art, and since then has gained admiration and prestige thanks to the consistency of her work. Steina's innovating art is intimately integrated with Paik's universe. Born in Iceland, 1940, Steina, a music school graduate, married Woody Vasulka in Prague in 1964, and together they began a fertile artistic partnership. They founded The Kitchen, an electronic theater which caused a sensation in New York during the 70's, and then spent 2 decades investigating the possibilities of interfering with TV images using various external means.
The Vasulkas have been recognized as pioneers in their field since the mid 60's and are known for their experiences with electronical technology, many times fabricating their own props and equipment. Since the mid 70's, Steina, a violinist and Prague Conservatory graduate, began to explore visual, space and sound transformation through the dynamic union of digital technology, mechanical instruments and natural landscapes. Later, she would add other elements, such as musical instruments. The violin, in this case, was used, and an almost absolute fusion was obtained between the parts. Violin Power was developed along the same lines, and here she controls the images of a video projector through her violin chords, each one responsible for a specific function - forward, backwards, pause, etc. The images and music not only complement themselves but form a single body where it is impossible to conceive of each part separately. This performance, adapted specially for Videobrasil, will feature a violin controlling the functions of a CD player which will project images produced by Steina herself, and in which she appears playing the violin twenty years earlier.
The other artist to participate in the performance is the musician and producer Stephen Vitiello, distribution director of Electronic Arts Intermix - US's largest distributor of video art (including Paik's work), as well as a sought after curator for international video festivals and museum projects. He has been Paik's close collaborator since 1991 - partners in art and life. His proposal is to recreate a piece developed by Paik in which musical performances are fused with video images of past Paik performances, and where the rock band Bad Brains music interacts with images of the artist Joseph Beuys.
ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL VIDEOBRASIL, "11º Festival Internacional de Arte Eletrônica Videobrasil " [11th Videobrasil International Electronic Art Festival]: from november 11 to november 17, 1996, p. 57, São Paulo, SP, 1996.