VIDEOMIX

At first glance, video is a medium to which we immediately relate. After all, we are exposed daily to an endless cacophony of images and sounds that come to us through television, photography, film, and advertising. Given it’s connection to these other modes of visual communication, it is no wonder that video has become one of the most predominant and influential art forms of our day.

But this apparent accessibility does not in and of itself, make it an easy medium for artists to work with or viewers to understand. In fact, quite the opposite is true: each image and sound comes with its own embedded narrative. By its very nature, video must transcend its pictorial vocabulary?and the viewers’ visual and storytelling expectations--to become a work in its own right. The challenge for artists is first to acknowledge this and then transform the medium’s inherent properties and associations into languages and worlds of their own.

I thought this was a particularly important time to present a show of this nature. We have grown ever more accustomed to the moving image. It reflects the constant flux in our society and the speed of global communication, of both news and ideas. Nothing is static, and we as creators and audiences understand that well.

VIDEOMIX offers a forum in which these worlds can be seen. The premise of the exhibition is to show the diversity of this fascinating medium. The artists in VIDEOMIX traverse generations, use everything from the most basic to the most sophisticated technologies, and have widely diverse conceptual ideologies. When seen together, their similarities and differences become strikingly apparent, thus creating a colloquy that helps us explore and understand this vast and complex medium. All of the artists in this exhibition have a strong voice and unique vision.