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Jochen Gerz
«Video Opera House»
After the performance-oriented tapes of the 1970s, 'Video Opera House' marks Gerz's first attempt to reflect video as a narrative medium. The 3 chapters of the tape are realized with simple technical means. The images are economically staged, usually somewhere between a static and an almost object-like calm, but sometimes their continuous flow is interrupted by a repetition or still image. The narrator speaks from OFF. Chapter 1 deals with sexual identity, whereby the man/artist speaks of himself as a woman/opera. Chapter 2 treats the staging using technical media. Chapter 3 varies the artistic positions once more with ironic switches: the knit cap smokes.
Rudolf Frieling