Now that we are at the beginning of planning next Video Vortex we should start reflecting on future topics that next conference will cover. It is now time for suggestions of any type, so please feel free to do it! Below you can find gathered some of the first discussions suggested by people involved in last editions; they are not final topics but an starting point for future discussions.
One of the first things noticed is that next Video Vortex #10 is made up of “1” and “0”, binary numbers in the digital system. In the denary system “10” is “2”, so it could also be Video Vortex 2 or 2.0, but as Andrew Clay holds that might not be a happy association given the force and connotations of the Web 2.0.
Among the topics, Andreas Treske proposes to look at Video Activism, especially at the events in Istanbul (Gezi Park) and the right wing scene in Athens as well as videos of Syria, Libanon, Egypt, Algerie as political mash-ups. (Here an article of interest on firstmonday.org and the presentation of Margarita Tsomou in Video Vortex #9) He suggests as well the possibility to carry out next Video Vortex in Istanbul.
Apart from political Mash-ups it would be also interesting to reflect on this topic in a wider sense and see other current activities that are being developed in this field. Just as an example of sound-video mash-ups, Darren Salomon has some interesting collaborative music web projects that you can check in his website.
Meryl Krieger has proposed to reflect on crowdsourcing. She is interested “in the role of video in crowdsourcing promotional campaigns; one of the key findings seems to be a strong correlation between having the performer’s face in a video and the success of the campaign. As an element of this, the technological sophistication of the campaign founder and their ability to work with video seems to be a strong component in what crowdsourcing sites they use, at least as much as the sophistication of the crowdsourcing site itself.”
Overvisibility and undervisibility is another subject suggested for next conference. For instance, Natalie Bookchin is developing a project called “Long Story Short”, a participatory documentary in which she is using tools of online video to tell and share stories that we don’t usually see online from people invisible online –those people living in poverty in the US-. In this sense of undervisibility, Vera Tollmann is working on labor behind moving images, like who is editing Google speech to text subtitles for deaf people, or who is organizing all channels on YouTube, personalizing content, deleting … In other words, what would be interesting is to look all those invisible structures behind the surface.
Video as software, understood in terms of Lev Manovich, is also a matter of interest in the current discussions. There is an artist called Ursula Endlicher that creates videos with this HTML movements. Her focus lies in translating the social and structural components of the Web into choreography for performances, into installations and objects.
Andrew Clay suggests to look at Kember and Zylinska’s “creative media project”, and to consider the three following ideas:
1. “Feedback : being retrospective and forward-thinking, being creative with media in the media itself”
2. “Noise : interference in ‘how things are’, the consideration of ‘something else’ the creation of forms ‘ever-new’, the ‘unknown new’, or getting beyond the ‘new-as-the-ever-same’ (something that is not really new in Walter Benjamin’s terms).”
In terms of “’noise” and creative video glitch art is gaining a lot of popularity. These artistic expressions are part of the growing new aesthetics movement which could also be a relevant topic. Nick Briz is an artist working on glitch art, especially on video and remix culture. You can visit his website as well as an interview on Rhizome.org
3. “The closeness of technology and the technicity of video– mobile apps, camera phones, webcams.”
It might be interesting to think what will Google Glass video will bring and what kind of changes we can expect. In this context, hybrid spaces could be an interesting issue as well. The media artist Jeremy Bailey normally works on video and reflects on the intersection between video, computing, performance, and the body. You can visit all his videos in his YouTube channel (For instance, have a look at The Future of Television video)
Vine and Instagram video are other topics to consider. Some of the current discussions around Vine -6 seconds video- is the force of the loop, especially when it comes to violence scenes it is having some controversy. One example was the vine massively spread of the Boston marathon explosion. (The American artist Scott Blake creates portraits activated by barcodes in which the loop has a strong force)
An artist that has recently worked with Instagram Video is Erica Scourti. She explores communication, connection and identity through autobiographical experience and video. (Here an interview)
In conclusion, this is a summary of the discussions so far as well as some personal notes and examples of artists that work on these issues. Please feel free to add, suggest, discuss or propose anything concerning topics and the conference itself. You can comment below or e-mail me to maburugorri [at] outlook [dot] com