Opening tomorrow at Nichols & Clarke (Blossom Street, London, E1 6PL) the Open Gallery presents the Open Prize for Video Painting. At Aesthetica, we are particularly interested in this new art form, and there are some fascinating works being created in film and video at the moment (check out the AND Festival in Manchester this autumn).
This prize celebrates experimental new works of art, and the Open Gallery is exclusively dedicated to video painting. Video painting – so what is it? Well, it’s a new form of video art developed by the Artscape Project. Video paintings are filmed in a single take with a stationary camera. Unlike other forms of film art, they contain no edits or subsequent manipulation. They show the world in real time and are non-narrative. There is no dialogue, no sound. In contrast to the film and video tradition which has been dominated by the provision of meaning and understanding, the video painting aims to escape our cultural and perceptual closures, freeing the viewer to play in the openness of the image. The gallery has developed technology that enables video paintings to be combined into collections so that they play in intelligent sequences, according to criteria determined by the artists. Unlike traditional video art, the collections don't operate on a loop system so there is no repetition.
The Open Prize was conceived to celebrate young artists working within the video painting medium, and attracted 500 entries for this year’s Award. The winner will be selected from the short listed group of ten and will receive funding towards their future video projects and exhibitions with Open Gallery.
This year’s judging panel includes Ziba de Weck (Parasol Unit), Marc Valli (Elephant and Magma Books), Ben Lewis (BBC) and Hilary Lawson (Artscape Project).
For further details, visit www.openprize.co.uk and www.opengallery.co.uk
The exhibitions runs from 22nd – 24th July, Nichols & Clarke, Blossom Street, E1 6PL
