Noisefields

Steina Vasulka, Woody Vasulka / United States / 1974 / Czech Premiere / 7 min.

synopsis

The attack of stroboscopic flashes of changing colours stimulates the eye to its own activity, which is detached from the real image. It is almost impossible to distinguish a light stimulus from a negative afterimage. And yet, in the whirlwind a clear logic is evident, and the audio track helps to reveal it. Is the video static fading into the background, or is it spilling forth in a defined circular space? The video sequencer switches between two video sources and plays out a frenetic game of pulsating electrosignals, materializing in visual and sound fields.

“In Noisefields […] a camera was pointed at a sphere. But once the circle was created, electronic snow is keyed through the abstract shape of the circle and a Video Sequencer is used for positive/negative switching at various speeds. This imagery, which merges camerafed and camera-less input sources, is further processed through the Dual Colorizer that changes the color and its intensity.”

Source: Yvonne Spielmann: Video and Computer. The Aesthetics of Steina and Woody Vasulka

biography

Steina Vasulka (1940) and Woody Vasulka (1937–2019) are important representatives of electronic audiovisual art and video art. SV, a violinist originally from Iceland, is, among other things, the author of multimedia installations and electronic audio performances. WV (Bohuslav Vašulka) was born in Brno, studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU and, after his emigration to the USA, conducted artistic research on video and electronic audiovisual art and their theoretical reflection, and also dealt with issues related to the conditions of their genesis and preservation. The two worked together on some projects. In 2008, VW participated in Ji.hlava IDFF as part of his own workshop, while in 2011 the festival offered a cross-section of Vasulka's Czechoslovak work under the banner of Special Screening, and in 2015 presented archival video footage of New York concerts and private performances filmed by the Vasulkas. Ji.hlava IDFF also co-published Lenka Dolanová's book Dialogue with the Demons of Instruments – Steina and Woody Vasulka (NAMU 2011).