In this, they accelerate market changes that affect book buyers too. Yes, a small elite that cherishes a private library of first editions loses out. So do the masses who think of books as a nearly endless choice of inexpensive objects. And they force viewers to confront that old disparity between words and images. Along the way, they stimulate some of the shocks and emotions that never did resemble information.
Recent video enacts the same trends on the cheap.
It reflects on the stubborn perplexity of form and its conventions. Perhaps early videos recalled sculpture, like Nam June Paik's stacks of televisions. Or perhaps it documented performance art, like Bruce Naumann's ironic ten-minute tirades. These early installations look made from used parts. Newer video artists, like Hill or Bill Viola, create a polished installation with no fixed duration, a kind of ensemble piece for tubes, wiring, and dim walls.