Untitled

[saltamy]

How has this context changed/how is it similar?

There are similarities around political activism and protest that can still be seen today in many forms.

I think perhaps as a result of social media, there isn't the same sense of creating something rough and outrageous. I think, there is now much more of a need to create something polished and meaningful, maybe because we know its going to be seen by the public (when posted on social media). Not as much of a sense of free-will and lightheartedness around art.

[saltamy]

Why was the medium of video art suddenly more accessible?

The video camera and other equipment had become portable. Now people could shoot footage with their hands, in the real world, rather than being confined to a film studio.

They could now be out on the go, in protests, giving the ''underground scenes more of a voice", Steve Seid.

[saltamy]

Concerns of artists during this time.

Capturing what the big media companies would not, such as this image of an anti war protest. They wanted to go where mainstream media companies couldn't, they had no reputation riding on their more riské decisions.

There was a strong emphasis on creating art or media that would get people to rethink their actions, place in society.

"How meaning is constructed through images?" Doug Hall, Co-Founder of T.R.Uthco. T.R. Uthco and Ant Farm collaborated in creating a reenactment of JF Kennedy being assassinated to some sort of outrageous outcome.

There was also a concern to give women a voice, and that this could be done through art. Artists like Judy Chicago gaining attention through her art, openly expressing her experiences as a woman, which had never been done before.

[saltamy]

Political context of the 1970's USA.

America's involvement in the vietnam war.

Antiwar movement. Fight against america's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Student movement. Fight for working class kids to attend college.

Civil Rights movement. Fight for black right.

Fight against industrialisation and capitalisation.