Video Art, A Guided Tour

Video art dominates the international art world to such an extent that its heady days on the radical fringes are sometimes overlooked - often unknown. 'Video Art, a Guided Tour' is an essential and highly entertaining guide to video art and its history. Elwes, herself a practicing artist and pioneer of early video, traces the story from the weighty Portapak equipment of the 60's and 70's to today's digital technology, from early experiments in 'real time' to the 'new narrative' movement of the 80's. She also examines video's love-hate relationship with television. Artists discussed include, amongst others, Nam June Paik, Nan Hoover, The Duvet Brothers, Dara Birnbaum, Bill Viola, Pipilloti Rist, David Hall, Stuart Marshall, Stan Douglas, Smith & Stewart, Steve McQueen and Sam Taylor-Wood.While 'Video Art, a guided tour' is truly international in scope, discussing a range of well-known work, from Bill Viola to Shirin Neshat, its real value lies in the central position it gives to British video art practice - something that previous tomes on the subject have signally failed to do.