The Medium Exploration And Aesthetic Construction Of Chinese Video Art In The 1990s

This dissertation focuses on the localization of Video Art in the 1990s,and tries to figure out the conceptual transfer and ontology construction of Video Art in Chinese modern art context.In the early 1990s,Video Art explorers hoped to use the power of Video to eradicate the series of influences brought by television in Moving Images.However,the writing of such a media blueprint would eventually be an utopian dream.With the elapsing of time,Chinese Video Artists began to settled down and reflected on the possibility of Video in the middle and late 1990s.Gradually,they found that Video was not only a moving image recording tool for the occurrence of artistic performance,but also an art medium with its ontological language.Therefore,Chinese Video art set on constructing its own history and aesthetics by reconsidering about the historical mission and ideal blueprint of Video in China.The first chapter mainly solves the problem of what Video Art is,aiming at combing the core and extension of Video Art concept from the theoretical foundation.First of all,a general definition of Video Art is made by semantics,art history and media technology:Video Art is a time-based visual art based on moving images,which consciously confronts the mass media,TV,with the attitude of avant-garde art.In addition,with the help of technology of recording and documenting,Video Art erects the boundaries with other visual arts,and then consciously develops the Video Aesthetic system.Then,by comparing the concepts of Video Art,film art and television art,we further clarify the similarities and differences between Video Art and above two concepts,and further dispel the semantic ambiguity at the conceptual level.Inheriting the logic of the first chapter,the second chapter mainly solves the problem of what is the history of Chinese Video Art.The crux of solving the problem lies in examining how Video Art,as an exotic product,was localized in modern Chinese context in 1990s.From the common point of view,localization of Video Art means that it needs to keep the universality of Video Art——Recording.This is the foundation for constructing Chinese Video Art history.Secondly,from the perspective of personality,the localization of Video Art in China inevitably means that it has a special component in modern Chinese context——Compromise Avant-garde.The reason of this compromise avant-garde was due to the lack of confrontation with TV media in the early stage of Chinese Video Art.The third chapter focuses on the practice of Chinese Video Art in the early 1990s.Sorting back on the creative ideas of Zhang Peili’s<30×30>,which is the first work in the history of Chinese Video Art,we would find that the theme of repetition and meaning elimination lie in the core of his creation.In addition,the Zero-Narrative of Video Art creation appeared repeatedly in the practice of Video Artists in the early 1990s.Its fundamental purpose was to get rid of "narrative fetishism" in moving images,which tired to disqualify semantics in Video Art and return it to pure art without any sort of strings.The fourth chapter focuses on the subjective Aesthetics construction in Chinese Video Art after it really matured in the middle and late 1990s.The Video Art exhibition"Phenomenon·Image" in 1996 marked that Chinese Video Art became an independent art form.On this basis,with the popularization of technology and Video equipment,more and more artists began to explore the subjective Aesthetics of Video Art.The Video Aesthetics is originated from screen based on site-specificity,then finally became a mutual staring system between objectives.As conclusion,the fifth chapter mainly analyzes the transition of Video Art in Medium Iteration.The research of Chinese Video Art in the 1990s should not be limited with its own art history,it should be considered as a transition phase during the iteration of traditional media and new media.