KJCKorea
Journal Central

The purpose of this study is to approach the problem of identity by examining the transformation of the function of the mirror in video art. This is based on analysis of contemporary video art works such as Vito Acconci’s <Centers>and <Air Time> and Bill Viola’s <Reflecting Pool>. Rosalind Krauss, in <The video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism>, makes reference to those video images that pose questions on the representative position of the image, when the video is characterized by a simultaneity that is related to the artist’s own image. Based on this attribute Krauss has defined the video as narcissistic media. The traditional function of the mirror in video art has so far been conceived on the basis of a reflectivity related to the video’s distinctive quality. However, this function of the mirror related to the narcissistic illusion has been recently denied by contemporary video artists. Excluded from Krauss’s discussion is the idea that it is consideration on the specific characteristic of image which obscures the off-space which itself refers to a that which is dissimilar from image itself. The function of the mirror has been extended from narcissistic reflectivity to the consideration of off-space. Viola’s work has especially revealed the approach to the problem of identity through the exploration of the inner world through the body and is far from narcissistic narrative. In modern art, the mirror becomes the place of passing, and this tendency is particularly becoming noticeable in the medium of video. The mirror is the motor of separation. Here,the principle of the alterity acknowledges through its operation the other as a metaphor of separation which constructs the identity of the subject. Thus, the mirror does not simply face the aesthetics of narcissism, but functions to construct a distance between the act of representation and that of being represented; and also between the sign and signified object. In this process, video asserts its main characteristic as a medium of reflexive representation rather than a medium of simple representation. Moreover, the matter of the transformation of the mirror function seeks to approach the issue of identity. Video work that reflects the photographer herself overlaps with the image of the other recorded by the camera. Whereas the other is constructed through the formative establishment of artistic action in accumulated time, video art and its prompt emergence does not remain as the mere reflection of narcissism. Rather it functions as a reflexive medium by utilizing the body as the medium of identity construction. Modern artists need to transform the image or fiction of the artist’s body through the fabrication of a scenario in order to reconstruct and reformulate the identity of artist herself. The central point of this is the question of how to distinguish self from other. In other words, the issue of identity formation is deeply related to the matter of alterity. The despair of Narcissus stems from the impossibility of merging himself with his image as the mirror becomes an obstacle. The mirror is the impetus of separation. The principle of alterity acknowledges the metaphor of separation in constructing subjectivity. The analysis of the transformation of the mirror function within video art indicates that the traditional reflective function of the mirror had been extended to become the interface of the imprinted expression of body. It draws in the audience’s desire of passing through the mirror by the medium of body. By doing so, this also confirms the connection to the desire for recognition needed to guarantee the integrity of identity.

mirror, video art, simultaneity, off-space, interface, alterity, body, identity