Young artists’ video art to be showcased at DCA

Published On Mon 15 Dec 2014 by Grant Hill

A showreel of work created by budding video artists and filmmakers from the Dundee area will be screened at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) this week.

TV21 Experimental Video/Digital Film is a project involving 16–19 year olds from the Dundee area who have created new video art works inspired by the REWIND Artists’ Video archive based at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD). The resulting work will be shown at DCA Cinema from 6pm on Wednesday, 17th December.

This event showcases the completed works by the young people, including introductions, and it will also feature works from the REWIND archive that have inspired the group.

REWIND archivist and project co-ordinator Adam Lockhart said, “This was a great opportunity for young people to see artworks that were created when video was becoming available to artists from the late 1960s up to 1990. This was a time when the technology was in its infancy and was open to experimentation, unlike film which has been around for over a century.

“Although some of the work might look dated now, the group of young people really engaged in it and they were really interested in the processes that the artists went through at the time to create the pieces. We had a visit from 1970s pioneer David Critchley who led a workshop to re-create one of his early works. Peter Boyd-Maclean, one half of 1980s scratch video artists ‘The Duvet Brothers’ gave a talk about how he started making experimental artworks and then moved into broadcast television.

“It’s important that young people get involved in something that’s not the usual mainstream mediocrity that seems to be the norm on television these days and engage in something much more creative, interesting and fulfilling. This sort of project can be the catalyst to inspire young people to go on and make their mark on the artistic world.”

The REWIND archive consists of some 450 early examples of UK artists’ work from around 1970–1990, who were exploring a new medium at a time when the practice was extremely innovative and experimental.

Introduced to the work through a series of workshops with artists, curators, archivists and education specialists, the group was given training covering camera operation, sound recording, lighting, editing, development of ideas and experimentation, including a visit to BBC Arts at Pacific Quay, Glasgow.

Participants were recruited through the DCA education programme and each created their own piece, with help from others in the group. The main stipulation was that they were interested in art, video, film or photography.

Six artists took part in the project, which was jointly run between Duncan Of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (University of Dundee) and Dundee Contemporary Arts, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the free screening. More information is available at http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/event/tv21-experimental-videodigital-film.

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Grant Hill
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