Video Congress
For documenta 7, artists established an off-space in the city center of Kassel to make their works publicly available to an international audience. It was here that, in September 1982, Video Congress was founded as an association of individual video artists and video groups.[1] Influenced by the subcultural impulse of subversion and ‘analytical deconstruction of mass media’ through art, this association was formed to contrast with established contemporary formats from film, radio and television. The aim was to develop video programs of social relevance and to share them in popular places frequented by local scenes, such as clubs and cafés, independently of established structures. Unlike comparable formats, such as Infermental, the thematic focus of the video magazine, first called Schauinsland and later simply Video Congress, was jointly determined in advance. All aspects of the process – from coordination to the presentation of an issue – remained entirely within the remit of a single member. At Video Congress, the focus was not on monetary aspects, but on the collective spirit, the desire for joint production, and self-administration.[2]
The issue of Schauinsland / Video Congress can therefore be read both as media-reflective and critical contributions to a profit-oriented media landscape, but also as historical testimonies that tell of the alternative lifestyle of a generation of committed video activists.[3]
The first issue, entitled Schauinsland No. 0 – Prologue, appeared shortly after the creation of Video Congress in 1982 and was available from the Art Now gallery in Mannheim. The VHS tape contained eleven contributions that stood out formally and aesthetically from comparable formats (music videos, advertising jingles, television). Intensive visual effects, distortions and image disruptions characterized this edition, which was stylistically modeled on examples from punk, new wave and electronic music of the time.
In 1984, after two years of self-organization, the production and marketing of Schauinsland was handed over to the media agency 235 Media in Cologne with the hope of making the format accessible to a wider television audience. The original title Schauinsland was abandoned but the editions published to date were included in 235 Media's distribution program. Schauinsland / Video Congress was initially created as a non-profit magazine for networking media artists. In an effort to further professionalize the magazine and open up new target groups as part of the collaboration with 235 Media, an international expansion of the magazine was sought in issues eight and nine. With the 10th issue, Schauinsland / Video Congress was discontinued.[4] (2023)
References[edit]
- ↑ A & A Video (Axel Brand, Annette Maschmann); Art Now (Fritz Stier); Bildschön, later Ausstrahlung (Rudi Frings, Rosi Jahnke, Gigi Knäpper); Fun & Art (Andy Hinz, Sascha A Ehrlich et al.); Iron Curtain (Georg Hampton); Propaganda Video (Norbert Meissner and E.E. Kähne); Nachts in den Städten (Werner Schmiedel) and Walter Gramming.
- ↑ Video Congress formulated their idea in a self-authored promotional brochure as follows: ‘For an active kind of video: video activists have joined forces and are compiling an overview of their own output here in the catalog. In addition, they are working on a first joint production under the title Schauinsland. Up to ten different groups participate with 5-minute clips each, so that a comprehensive documentation of their various ways of working can be shown. The 5-minute clips also deal with a common theme. For each new Schauinsland production, the theme is agreed upon in video congress meetings. Schauinsland is published every two months.’
- ↑ See Renate Buschmann, "Video Congress. Ein Kollektiv und Magazin künstlerischer Videoaktivist*innen", in Video Visionen. The Medienkunstagentur 235 Media als Alternative im Kunstmarkt, Bielefeld, 2020, pp 103-105.
- ↑ The reasons given for the discontinuation of Schauinsland / Video Congress included the heterogeneity of the video art scene and a lack of a market for sophisticated artistic content. See ibid., pp 105-107.
Links[edit]
- Video Digest Magazine, a magazine and exhibition taking up impulses from historical video magazines such as Infermental, Video Congress and Zapp Magazine, 2023.
