Video art always seemed inane to me until some point in the late 1990s, when I saw Bill Viola at the Whitney Museum and Iranian artist Shirin Neshat at P.S. 1. Since then, P.S. 1 remained one of the best places to see engaging examples of the medium, particularly in the dungeon-like underground viewing space. This is another good time to see international video art in the former school.
A little role-playing before dinner
In video artist Cao Fei' s work, China's socio-economic upheaval takes the form of elaborately costumed adolescents who role-play in an indifferent urban landscape. But if you don't stay for the entire film, you'll miss the best part - when they return home to eat dinner with their distracted families.
Bureaucracy in the woods
German artist Clemens von Wedemeyer also stages his actors, who in one film play Russian immigrants seeking visas to Germany. We see them stepping through an imaginary metal detector to reach a park, and although the Russian dialogue is not translated, their air of resignation is palpable - and hilarious.
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