LECTURE BY RESIDENT ARTIST JOAN JONAS

Joan Jonas is a pioneer of video/performance art. Her experiments and productions in the late 1960s and early 1970s were essential to the formulation of the genre. Her influence was crucial to the development of contemporary art in many genres, from performance and video to conceptual art and theater. She continues to be internationally known for her performances and video art, mixing objects and mediated images together in natural and industrial environments. Using video as a mirroring device, Jonas herself appears as a figure in her work, often performing densely collaged narrative texts. During the past decade, Jonas has collaborated with composers such as Alvin Lucier and Jason Moran to develop collaborative video-performance works. Her most recent work continues to explore the relationship of new digital media to performance. Her awards include recognition from the American Film Institute, The Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art.