Zatista was out and about on Thursday night in New York City. First stop was the highly anticipated all video art exhibition, Moving Image Video Art Fair, which takes place during the well known Armory Show. Moving Image was held at the Terminal Warehouse which used to house the infamous Tunnel nightclub in the early 90’s.

The venue was refreshing. Rather than confining individual galleries into boxed off spaces as is the traditional art fair layout, the Moving Image fair attempted to remedy the issue that many gallerists have found when video art is put in contrast to larger sculpture: it gets over looked. This fair sought to provide a better venue for video work by uniformly and democratically displaying videos from hanging monitors down a long corridor. It seemed successful and what I especially liked was the freedom to stroll around and get a varied and broad range of feeling from very different works. Onlookers were not confined to viewing artists from one gallery at a time. Instead, all galleries are represented in one space.

Near the beginning of the exhibition were three large installations:

The first installation was a clunky yet sharply constructed pile of rucksacks, complete with three looping single-channel videos. The videos gave a pseudo narrative of a trip across Siberia by train while surrounding the viewer by the same bags which many peasants use to transport goods along this historical trade route. It is by the husband and wife duo Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev from Bishkek, the capitol of Kyrgyzstan. (Winkleman Gallery, NYC)

The second installation was “Exploded View” by Jim Campbell. Its aura was impossible to catch on film but you may have seen similar installations in cities like San Francisco and New York. As people pass by the exhibit, reflections are mimicked by blinking LED lights and via this process create an uncanny mirror image of reality. (Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, NYC)

The third was a gigantic installation leading us into the main corridor of hanging video works. This piece is called “With Me…You”, a five-channel video installation by artist Glen Fogel at Callicoon Fine Arts. (Callicoon, NY)

Also at the show was this conceptual piece using a traditional pinup as a piece of sculpture. At first, it looks like a still image of the poster, but over time you see the poster slightly blow off the wall as gusts of air blow under it. It has a mesmerizing, whimsical allure to it. By the young French artist Adrien Missika for Zurich’s ROTWAND: Gallery.

The break from the traditional cubicle-style-space of the art gallery fair booth gave gallerists, buyers, and onlookers a more balanced and natural way of interacting with each other and the art. It felt more like a friendly cocktail party rather than a high stress shopping event for art collectors. Here is gallerist Jasmine Moorhead strolling by a video that her Oakland, CA gallery, Krowswork, had on view by the artist RKDB.

Below is an impromptu performance piece that took the infamous Skull and Bones club as its premise.

Interesting and inspiring art and experiences abound at art fairs. If you know of a fair in your neighborhood, I encourage you to go. You never know how it will expand your horizons and get your juices flowing for experiencing, appreciating, and collecting original artwork.