Bruce Nauman. Live-Taped Video Corridor

Last century, Multi-media installations were changing the nature of the viewing subject in relation to the object-the work of art. Among a lot of artists, Bruce Nauman was recognised as potenctial of radical artworks.This trait can be seen in many his work, such as Green Corridor, Hayward Gallery a decade ago. An artist call Lorna Collins (2011) even mentioned Bruce's Hayward Gallery altered her to some changes. 

Seems like Bruce Nauman and I have some things in common---we both like to "decorate" corridors. One piece of his artworks named Live-Taped Video Corridor attracted me. It is a classic example of designing an environment which gives the occupant a strong feeling within their current surroundings. His creation brings a lot of psychological and physical emotion from those who are interacting with this man made environment. 

Bruce Nauman., Live-Taped Video Corridor
picture from Media Art Net (http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/live-taped-video-corridor/)

Bruce Nauman., Live-Taped Video Corridor
http://lornacollinsart.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/creating-views-interaction-experience/

Bruce Nauman., Live-Taped Video Corridor
picture from Media Art Net (http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/live-taped-video-corridor/)

In the closed-cicuit installation Live-Taped Video Corridor, a study from the Performance Corridor work group, Nauman set two monitors above one another at the end of a corridor almost ten meters long and only 50 cm wide. The lower monitor features a videotape of the corridor. The uppermost monitor shows a closed-circuit tape recording of a camera at the entrance to the corridor, positioned at a height of about three meters. On entering the corridor and approaching the monitors, you quickly come under the area surveyed by the camera. But the closer you get to the monitor, the further you are from the camera, with the result that your image on the monitor becomes increasingly smaller. Another cause of irritation: you see yourself from behind. Moreover, the feeling of alienation induced by walking away from yourself is heightened by your being enclosed in a narrow corridor. Here, rational orientation and emotional insecurity clash with each other. A person thus monitored suddenly slips into the role of someone monitoring their own activities. Thomas Y. Levin (2001).

Reference:

COLLINS, LORNA. CATHERINE., 2011.Creating Views, Interaction and Experience [online]. Available at: http://lornacollinsart.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/creating-views-interaction-experience/

THOMAS, Y. LEVIN., and PETER, WEIBEL., ed., 2002. CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother. ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, and Massachussets Institute of Technology, MIT Press.