Joan Jonas
AFTER I BOUGHT my first Porta-Pak in 1970, I imagined I was still making films while I worked with the qualities peculiar to video—the flat, grainy, black-and-white space, the moving bar of the vertical roll, the closed circuit with instant feedback. Camera, deck, monitor/projector, and artist formed a circle of circuitry. I thought about the discrepancy between live action and the detail of that action which was captured by a video camera. These considerations were translated into performances for a live audience.
All of my performed actions were for the camera; the audience witnessed the making of images for the camera during the performance. There are two temporal experiences: the live action and the one framed in the space of the video. We experience multiple things at the same time. My work reflects the layered ways in which we perceive the world and how our minds process information about the past, present, and future.
While cameras and editing equipment have become more accessible, my thoughts and projections have grown more complex. And while electronic devices keep on getting smaller, the space of the Web seems to be infinitely expanding.