Together with her husband Woody, Steina Vasulka is one of the pioneers in video art and has had considerable influence on the development of this visual art form. The artist, who originally studied the violin, combines her love for music and sound with a passion for the camera. For her, video art is an extension of music, whereby the sounds lead to images. This interaction of image and sound underlies almost all of her work. In 'Orka' (Icelandic for 'power'), as in earlier productions such as 'Geomania' and 'Borealis', the continual fascination for the primal forces of nature and the elements come to the fore. Steina has dynamically interwoven all kinds of video takes of natural phenomenon. The images have, through their continual movement and the energy emanating from them, an overwhelming effect on the viewer and the way in which she reworked them for the montage is fascinating. By changing the speed of the shots, changing colour and direction, using 'natural' reverse motion and other (digital) techniques, unknown structures develop and Vasulka creates a new, other nature. The rhythm of the images, combined with the sound, has an absorbing, contemplative effect which forces the viewer into submission. Thanks to her background as a musician Vasulka sees images not as 'stills', but as movement. Her video images are, for the most part, based on an indefinite concept of time. The often cyclic character of her work strips time of its direction. By using electronic media the endless flow of water, eternity, is interrupted. Vasulka shot the footage in Iceland while travelling in that country over the past twenty years.
– Marieke van hal
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Computer graphics: Tom Demeyer
Steina Vasulka ° 1940, Reykjavik (Iceland)
Lives and works in Santa Fe (USA)
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