Here’s something vis a vis all the blogging about video. The highlight of a five-museums-in-one-day extravaganza last weekend in D.C. was a video I had already seen, and it was competing with lots of art. William Kentridge’s “Stereoscope,” showing at the Hirshhorn, was riveting, even with us standing out in the hallway peering through a doorway blocked by other casual viewers who, like us, looked like they didn’t want to invest the time but just couldn’t tear themselves away.
It was open to interpretation, allusive, and visually exciting. It suggested a story arc, showed the artist’s hand (instead of the usual mediated-by-technology images everyone is playing with), suggested great emotion and suggested multiple important issues in the world in which we live. And it was great to look at.
That makes eight hallmarks for successful video.
