The Start of Video Art – Cologne, Museum Ludwig

Flashback 30 years. Portable video units had just come out, making it possible for ordinary people to record onto tape. That was the start of a boom in the following decade: Video Art was born. These early and later works from well-known and lesser known video and also film artists is on show right now at Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Taken from their collection of the past 30 years, the museum is showing 55 installations with ca. 270 works of moving imagery art. Of course, one of the groundbreakers in this area of art was Nam June Paik, with his piece „Exposition of Music, Electronic Television" Wuppertal in 1963. Paik had a long relationship with the art world in Germany, including his tenure as professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1979 to 1996. Museum Ludwig states that the exhibition explains the history of video and film art, and the long tradition it has had in the Rhein area. The Cologne area did indeed produce a number of artists whose works are shown at the museum. These include  Bettina Gruber, Maria Vetter and Uwe Wiesemann, who has gone on to direct the design and production studio phaze two in Düsseldorf.
The show runs until the 31st of October. On the first Thursday of every month the museum is open from 10a.m. until 10 p.m. Don’t miss it – you won’t be sorry.

Text: Cheryl Watamura Martinez