Summary - Unwatcheable

Week 4 Synopsis of ‘Unwatchable’ by Stuart Koop


Koop starts by examining his reaction of disappointment and boredom at the opening of Swiss Video Scene in Victoria. He states that due to the all-pervasive presence of electronic images in present day society audiences and critics alike are increasingly critical and intolerant of ones deemed boring. He quotes Phillip Brophy who states that no matter how contemporary and artistic/skilled at multimedia/ important we think our ideas or views are, us artists need to pause and think before recording and releasing more ‘boring video art’.

However Koop suggests that curators may play a different role in this assessment of video art as he examines the essay written by the NGVA curator for the Swiss video art show, who references the origins of the concept of boredom from 18th C French aristocracy as being a privilege which the curator proposes that boredom is part of the human condition and therefore part of art.

Koop expands on the omnipresence of screens and images in contemporary society and our individual ability to control and manipulate these as well as continuously view them, use them for surveillance, entertainment and knowledge and suggests that perhaps what is setting art apart from this is the artists use of video to create boredom as a conscious choice to ‘work against conventions of screen entertainment’.

Koop then explores how artists have played an increasingly editorial rather than creative role in the last decade using slowing down techniques of classic films or using real time security footage or the slow pan across a Persian carpet as the artists seem to acknowledge the endless flow of images and seem to desire to take a form of control over this yet that video art remains largely unwatchable as some examples cited from the Sydney Biennale prove.

This slowing down and causing boredom Koop sees as an artistic strategy to cause the audience to switch off or leave and as a critique on screen culture. Koop concludes with a thought provoking question to viewers and artists as he looks at the other side video whereby it is used to capture all shocking global events and cites the example of the US video organization called Witness sponsored by high profile celebrities which sends cameras worldwide to document injustice and violations of human rights and distribute these videos to major news companies and the UN to help improve situations. Yet are these images not so difficult to watch and by sending these images on screens that are largely used for entertainment does this help the ‘invisible minorities’?. Koop ends off by saying our dilemma is to know ‘when to switch off and when to keep looking’. This article gives a balanced and thought provoking reading on video art.