GFK Fellowship Symposium 50 Years of Video, From Portapak to Instagram

The medium of video is omnipresent today. However, compared to the canonized disciplines of photography, film and television theory, the theoretical examination of video has not yet established itself as a field of discourse in its own right. For this reason, the international conference is dedicated to half a century of transdisciplinary theoretical reflection on video. It takes particular account of the interaction between theory formation and art practice.

To this day, the development of video is characterized by constant divergence and hybridization. This continuity of change in technical standards and modes of use (from the open video tape reel to video in social media) leads to a constantly evolving specificity of the medium. 50 Years of Video: From Portapak to Instagram takes the hybrid character of video as its starting point and juxtaposes it with a theoretically and aesthetically conceived media specificity, as has been repeatedly called for in the past.

As an inventory and revision of existing disparate theoretical approaches, the range of topics includes the use of video in psychotherapy in the 1970s, the current disappearance of video stores, consumers as producers in online video, the spread of violent videos online and the performative use of video in theater. These discussions will be included in the publication Video Theories: A Transdisciplinary Reader, sponsored by the GFK.

The first day of the symposium will be held in English, the second in German.