Dial “V for Wideo”

“I used to edit tape to tape before non-linear digital video editing was available” says Brett Bergmann, of the waning days before digital replaced the direct handling of celluloid film. Today’s self-made videographers don’t know how well they have it: “One wrong slip,” says Bergmann, “and you could erase your entire work.”

The title of Bergmann’s exhibition comes from famed video artist (and poet/novelist) Michael Ondaatje, who when he first moved from Sri Lanka to England had problems pronouncing the letter V, and so video sounded more like “Wideo.”

Many of the artists in V is for Wideo are also new to the medium, says Bergmann. The artists he chose were selected for their ability to push the “technology and its ideals to fit their own interests,” pushing the medium into new and unfamiliar territory.

Allison Burns, a self-taught videographer, is “interested in the contrast of the fleeting, time-sensitive reality of live performance and the tangible, consistency of video.” Her video, entitled Open, uses a handheld camera to capture the performing arts in an unlikely setting: the woods.

Jason Milan Ghikadis, who will be presenting Syncopation, is an English Literature Major who, rather than adapting his written narratives into live-action, has adapted them word for word through a spoken-word piece that abstractly elaborates on the narrative of his texts.

Zoe Kirk-Gushowaty and Parissa Mohit will represent their own brand of hand drawn animation, while Hubert De Roy explores split personalities, literally, in bipolaris.

Dominiq Alexander hopes that no one will suffer while watching Suffer Zone, a single channel digital video display that bathes its stars in video grain and “thick sonic melodies.”

For Bergmann, “video holds a certain magical quality that isn’t present in any other medium.”