TO TRANSFER OR TO TRANSFORM

"Artists investigate and play with changing manifestations. In doing so, particularly media artists have to deal with changing technologies as a part of their everyday practice." In the sessions to transfer or to transform Gaby Wijers of the Netherlands Media Art Institute brings together a number of artists to talk about new versions, remakes, reconstructions, emulation and conservation of their work.

The first edition of to transfer or to transform - with Fransje Jepkes, Bill Spinhoven and me - took place on December 18 2007.  This first edition focused on video installations.

Seeing that I use various forms of presentation, depending on the available facilities, I was asked to tell something about the variety of manifestations of my video work.

First I have shown and talked about parts of the Terra Morale documentation dvd with recordings and remixes of my work;  then about four related subjects, called configurations, documentation, remakes and carry-over. Links tot the visual material of these themes are added alongside and below.

Netherlands Media Art Institute,2007,To Transfer or to Transform #1, introduced by Gaby Wijers

RECORDINGS
From the very start MonteVideo (later Montevideo/TBA and NMAI) has made recordings of video installations. They have also made recordings of my video work.  I have used these for documenting my installations and the retrospective exhibition as I did on the Terra Morale section of the documentation dvd and this website. As part of the presentation for to transfer or to trans form I have shown and explained the short video tour from the submenu ‘exhibition’ in order to give an overall picture of the installations. (> recordings)

CONFIGURATIONS
Configuration tapes of my work were also made at the time of MonteVideo. This kind of tapes were documentation tapes (at that time analogue), based on split-screen and picture-in-picture editing techniques. They were meant for certain presentations, in which it was necessary to show all the visual material of a multichannel installation by means of only one video tape, in which the video images could be seen and experienced more directly, compared to the recordings. (> configurations)

REMIXES
The advent of digital and non-linear video editing enabled me to 'remix' my (predominantly analogue) master-, submaster- and auxiliary tapes into new configurations for only one video screen. A better presentation of the configurations is made possible by improved projection techniques. Remixes are no documentary tapes, but versions of my video work. I have shown  the remixes for video projection from the section ‘remixes’ to give an impression of those versions. (> remixes)

DOCUMENTATION
The importance of documenting video installations and the way this can be done, are major questions of the to transfer or to transform sessions. I have talked about visual aspects concerning the content of the Terra Morale and Dis Malebolge documentation dvd-s as a supplement to the form of the video-installations. Subsequently I have shown the chapter Fable of the Dis Malebolge documentary dvd, as an other example of my way of documenting. (> documentation)

REMAKES
Using the complete original visual and audio material, the remixes are versions in which the images of the multi-channels did not change essentially. They are conceived in a way that their artistic importance is equal to the original video installations. Remakes are revisions in which - for some reasons - things have been changed.  For to transfer or to transform I have shown two extracts from the remake Avernus. (> remakes)

CARRY-OVER
Making different kinds of presentations of my videowork as well as changes in the presentation facilities for video and media art, have both had their influence on the latest developments in my work. As part of my contribution to to transfer or to transform I have shown some video extracts of the video cycle Oude Oceaan (Old Ocean), at which I am working since 2007, in order to give an impression of the gradual influence of the variety of manifestations on my current work. (> carry-over)

> nimk.nl/eng/search/to-transfer-or-to-transform-1