Of mentors, teachers and pioneers: herstories of video and media art in Europe.

Leuzzi, Laura

Abstract

In the 70s many women artists perceived video – that at the time was relatively new - as a tool free from the heavy patriarchal imprint of traditional artistic practices. Thanks to its technical specificities, it facilitated performance to camera and allowed working in intimate contexts. In several countries, the UK among them, many women artists who were experimenting with video were in Fine Art and Sculpture Departments. These environments were marked by a strong male culture and most of the teachers were still men. A few years later, women video pioneers would become teachers in the Art Schools and Universities in Europe, inspiring a new generation of artists – and, more importantly, women artists - to explore video and new media. Their relevance and influence as educators have, however, not been acknowledged in the histories of the medium and are yet to be properly investigated. An interesting and yet marginalised figure of artist and educator is for example that of the British artist Elsa Stansfield – who, as part of the duo Hooykaas/Stansfield, is nor recognised as one of the most significant pioneers of video art in Europe. In 1980 Stansfield was invited to establish a Time Based Media Department at the postgraduate institute Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, where she organised symposiums and exhibitions and invited some of the most important video artists and new media artists of the time including Bill Viola, Joan Jonas, Marina Abramović, Al Robins, and Toni Oursler. Stansfield's work as an educator and mentor influenced several artists who were students at the time at the Jan van Eyck Academy. For example, Swedish video and media artist Antonie Frank Grahamsdaughter recalled: "For me Elsa Stansfield was a great inspiration as a teacher. It was very important to meet female artists such as Joan Jonas and Marina Abramović, along with others who were invited to talk about their work at the Jan Van Eyck. It was also significant that they were female artists as we female students could identify with these female video artists in a film world dominated by men, which is still the case even today." This paper aims to question transmissions and teaching methods and approaches as well as discuss and reassess the legacy of a generation of women video and new media pioneers – including Stansfield, Nan Hoover, Tamara Krikorian, Catherine Elwes, and Elaine Shemilt - who became teachers and mentors in Art Schools and Academies in Europe and influenced deeply succeeding generations of media artists.

Citation

LEUZZI, L. 2023. Of mentors, teachers and pioneers: herstories of video and media art in Europe. In Franco, F. and Burbano, A. (eds.) Re:source 2023: proceedings of the 10th International conference on the histories of media art, science and technology 2023, 13-16 September 2023, Venice, Italy. Venice: Resource Press [online], pages 247-252. Available from: https://www.mediaarthistory.org/?page_id=4393

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: 10th International conference on the histories of media art, science and technology 2023
• Start Date: Sep 13, 2023
• End Date: Sep 16, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Mar 15, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 13, 2023
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2024
• Deposit Date: Dec 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 20, 2023
• Publisher: Resource Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Re:source 2023: proceedings of the 10th International conference on the histories of media art, science and technology 2023
• ISBN: 9791221065718
• Keywords: Women artists; Video art; Art students; Art teaching; Art education; Art and feminism; Media archeology; Pedagogy
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2127398
• Publisher URL: https://www.mediaarthistory.org/?page_id=4393
• Additional Information: This file includes the full text conference paper as well as the extended abstract which has been incorporated into a single file on this repository.