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Steina: Selected Works

Steina's works from the late 1970s and early 1980s are exercises in the phenomenology of vision and the redefinition of space and landscape as articulated through mechanized, optical and electronic devices. Bad is a technical exploration of several commands in the Vasulkas' Buffer Oriented Digital Device, which controls digital imaging functions such as up/down and right/left movement, as well as the stretching and squeezing of the image. Steina uses her own face as visual material, rhythmically dismantling and reconstructing her self-image. Urban Episodes is a striking phenomenological study in an urban landscape, an exhilarating restructuring of physical space that defies expected modes of seeing and the laws of gravity and reflection. In a public plaza in Minneapolis, Steina set up a motorized, rotating Machine Vision device, which includes mirrors and two cameras that pan, tilt and zoom. Summer Salt is a dramatic exploration of the phenomenology of space and vision, as Steina uses mechanical and electronic devices to physically investigate the Southwestern landscape. This artificial vision allows the viewer altered perceptions and spatial perspectives. The five segments include dynamic exercises with Steina's mirrored globe, the physicality of unexpected camera placement, and electronic manipulation of the textures and colors of the landscape.

Urban Episodes: Optical Instrumentation: Josef Krames. Produced by KTCA-TV, Minneapolis.