Video 50

Description

Robert Wilson gained a reputation as the creator and director of aggressively experimental theater from his work in the 1970s. Productions such as The Life & Times of Joseph Stalin (1973) and Einstein on the Beach (1976) were lavish, unusually long productions that broke and then redefined every convention of theater. The tiny dramas that comprise Video 50 are smaller-scale experiments, but they share with these larger spectacles the qualities that have come to typify Wilson’s aesthetic: surreal or dream-like imagery, the absence of a linear narrative, the conflation of seemingly unrelated characters and micro-stories, and a mesmerizingly slow pace.
Video 50 consists of a randomly arranged set of 30-second “episodes”; counting occasional repeats and alternate versions, the 50 pieces of the title number nearly 100. Some of these episodes are static to the point of resembling still-lifes, while others are self-contained vignettes that begin and end—or seem to end; any narrative resolution is teasingly withheld. With its use of early video techniques and the highly stylized, fashion-world look of its actors, Video 50 seems dated, but the way in which Wilson wields his domestic-gothic vocabulary is classic surrealism: everyday objects and settings are made mysterious, comical, or alien by their bizarre juxtaposition to one another, and by an equally nonsensical and cheerfully manipulative score of music and sound effects.
A few of the episodes in Video 50 feature notable French personalities of the time—perfumier Hélène Rochas stares down a mugger, culture minister Michel Guy struggles to open a dresser drawer—and Wilson thought of these as miniature portraits or character studies. The action, rather than serving a coherent plot, reveals elements of personality or registers the viewers’ subjective impressions of a character. This is the radical conceit of Video 50: the still life is no longer still. As a set of time-based portraits exploring the intersection of narrative and still-life, the work is immersive and experiential, seductively dissolving the distance between viewer and subject.
Ruth Keffer
Guest Curator
Robert Wilson, Video 50, 1978, video with sound, 51:40
This project is made possible in part by Prue and Ami Rosenthal.