On The Expression Of Experimental Video Art

Summary:"Experimental Imaging Art" in this article means moving imaging art works, or art works with moving imaging as a chief element, which are created by contemporary artists to express their experimental thoughts via imaging equipments.From the 20s of the 20th century, artists began to use moving images recorded by film as a new expression of art, which opened the gate to Experimental Imaging Art. The period from 20s to 60s, I would like to call it "the Film Time". The principal category of Experimental Imaging Art in this period is "Experimental Film", which has two major expressions of images. One is to make the films as "moving paintings", and the other is "exploratory narration" compared to "patternized narration" in mainstream movies.In the 60s of the 20th century, as the result of the camcorders and small videocorders promotion, artists began to create Experimental Imaging Art with the new recording technology, cassette. So the period between the 60s and 90s, I define it as "the Cassette Time". The main category of Experimental Imaging Art in this period is "Video Art", which has three chief attributes of imaging expressions:"live", "actional" and "installing".After 90s of the 20th century, the computers and many high technologies became more and more universal, so artists could use digital technologies to make Experimental Imaging Art. Then it came to "the Digital Time". Till today, the so called "New Media Art" has become the mainstream of Experimental Imaging Art, which has three chief attributes of imaging expressions:"comprehensibility", "interactivity" and "extensibility".No matter what categories of the imaging arts, all are the newest and most essential expressions in this medium. This paper tries to discuss how artists express their ideas through moving images in different times.