Support/Surface
- Date of creation : 1969
- Country : Switzerland
- Duration : 00:12:00
- Technical characteristics : Black & white, Sound
- Artist - Author : René Bauermeister
Description
Although the status of Support – surface as the first Swiss art video has been contested by Gérald Minkoff (who also worked with this medium since the end of the 1960s), the fact remains that it is an important work from the beginnings of video art in Switzerland, both artistically and historically. Like certain artists from other countries, René Bauermeister, begins his video work with a work that criticizes television: a window placed in front of the camera produces the illusion that the action takes place at the bottom of a cathode ray tube and its housing. A hand bangs against the glass and leans against it, a ball bounces several times, and eggs drip against the glass as if the television were a container. However, in the third sequence, the montage juxtaposes these simple actions with ironic connotations with the figure of a man shooting at the spectator. This irony, which targets the aesthetics and illusions generated by television, is pushed, at the end of the tape, to the point of aggression: the screen is scratched, pierced and finally smashed with a hammer.
(Source, website, SIK)
View the work on SIK's website
- Date of event and/or date of diffusion : 26 Aug 1980 - 28 Sep 1980 01 Jan 1974
- Format : 3/4” U-matic