Vidicon Inscriptions

"Over-lighting exceeds capacity for assimilation in a 1970s video camera and images are burnt into the surface of its 'vidicon' tube. Here a unique property is explored where both the passage of time and trace of that continuum are registered as one... In this, the original tape, one of three sections records the image of the artist with a camera (via a mirror) panning, by stages, across the screen. Before movement the lens is covered and re-exposed after the change, and each time the image appears inscribed onto the screen. In the interactive installation a camera registers the live passage of time through a translucent polaroid shutter. Periodically the shutter lifts - triggered by participants' movements - and images are fixed and inscribed." David Hall, 1974 (Source, cité depuis le site web Rewind)

"A later tape, Vidicon Inscriptions (early 1975), explores a particular property (considered deficiency) of the camera's vidicon tube. The signal plate at the front of the tube is designed to register optical information and convert it to electronic signals. The range of its normal operation is usually limited to variations in reflected light. A source light, or overlit object will exceed its capacity for assimilation and the image can be temporarily, if not permanently, "burnt"" into the photoconductive surface. This introduces the unique facility ot record the "passage of time" and yet simultaneously fix the trace of that present and progressively receding past in the same camera at the same time. In one section of the tape the movement of a spot lamp about the screen marks the passage of time, and its trace is continuously retained. The last section records the progressively shifting position of the cameraman (seen through a mirror). Prior to each move the lens is covered and re-exposed after the change. At each stage the cameraman's past position is inscribed on the screen." (Source : David Hall, "British Video Art. Towards an Autonomous Practice", Studio International, May/June 1976, p. 248-254.) (Source, pdf, site web Monoskop)

Video still from Vidicon Inscriptions (The Videotape). (Source, site web Rewind)

Cette vidéo a fait l'objet d'un contrat de distribution par art/tapes/22, Florence, Italie signé par l'artiste le 9 décembre 1975. (Source, pdf, site web Rewind)

Programme de l'exposition Videotape by British Artists, à la Galleria Del Cavallino, San Marco, 28 janvier - 3 février 1977. (Source, pdf, site web Rewind)

Cette vidéo a été utilisé plus tard dans une installation éponyme.

Visionner l'œuvre (extraits) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhPpTLkMdQo