Video Art: From History to Contemporary Art

The course is devoted to the history of the emergence and development of video art, which originated in 1965 and is today recognised by leading art centres and museums around the world. It will address the ideological and technological preconditions for the emergence of this new art form and its development in the digital age.

Within the course programme, students become acquainted with the basic concepts of video art and its key representatives, from Nam June Paik and Bruce Nauman, Bill Viola and Gary Hill, Shirin Neshat and Nalini Malani, to contemporary artists working in new media, such as Pierre Huyghe and Hito Steyerl. Attention will also be given to the history of Russian video art, which began in the 1980s, as well as its key figures, works, and collections.

The course includes screenings of video art excerpts and their discussion from the perspective of contemporary criticism. A special role is played by the analysis of how video art is conditioned by the historical process. The history of video art is rethought from a theoretical standpoint.