Description
Richard Serra, Anxious Automation, 1971. . Single-channel video, black and white, sound, 4:27 min. Video: Richard Serra. Sound: Philip Glass. Choreography and performance: Joan Jonas. Component in the performances Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy (1972) and Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll (1972) and the installation Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy / Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll (1972/1994).
In this video by Richard Serra, Jonas performs a series of four simple actions as a didactic exercise on spatial distance and rhythm. To create the video, Jonas choreographed her movements in relation to Serra’s concept of two alternating camera angles. The piece combines footage from two cameras zooming in and out of the performance at different speeds, while the composer Philip Glass taps off-beat on a microphone, creating a disjunction between time and space, and sound and sight. Jonas included Anxious Automation as part of her performances Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy (1972) and Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll (1972). The video is also included in the installation Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy / Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll (1972/1994).
—AK
Bibliographic References
Clausen, Barbara. “Joan Jonas: From Away.” Montreal: DHC/ART Fondation pour l’art contemporain, 2016. Exhibition brochure.
Iles, Chrissie. “Reflective Spaces: Film and Video in the Work of Joan Jonas.” In Joan Jonas: Performance Video Installation 1968–2000, ed. Johann-Karl Schmidt, 154–64. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001.