"The work ends whenever its intention is accomplished. The time is inherent time, the time required for the task at hand. The work is "boring," as Les Levine remarked...whether they are interesting or not is largely a matter of judging the value of the task at hand."
Videotapes are boring if you demand that they be something else. But they're not judged boring by comparison with paintings or sculpture, they're judged boring in comparison with television, which for the last twenty years has set the standard of video time."
Videotapes are boring if you demand that they be something else. But they're not judged boring by comparison with paintings or sculpture, they're judged boring in comparison with television, which for the last twenty years has set the standard of video time."
I found this concept really interesting. I can say, I too have labeled a video installation or two as boring. And really it is due to, as Antin points out, TV. We are used to being sold when watching video - whether products or entertainment. On TV something is always happening. And the purpose is clear. And in the end there will be a conclusion - even if its spoon-fed and predictable.
Video is about time - and sometimes I go to the museum without enough of it. So then it brings about this urgency, as the viewer, for a payoff for time invested - I suppose with a painting I can sit and look at it for however long let the impression take and move on whenever I feel it has. Still (non-moving) art is timeless in this way, it doesn't change. Which I guess could be labeled more boring then say an ice cube melting as in Terry Fox's Children's Tapes. With a painting, however, one can choose to glance then keep walking. Still having had the chance to see the whole thing, though maybe not to intellectualize it. When I watch the ice cube melting, I basically know what is going to happen, but the curiosity gets me and I must stay because I believe that if someone made this with intent and purpose, then there must be value in seeing it through.
This is actually really what I've found so fantastic about working in video - even when it's boring, it's still kind of interesting ..because something is happening. Because for the audience, that expectation demands attention. And a small effect can have a large impact.
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