MISCHA KUBALL

Ivo Deković, who has been a constant productive participant since the beginning of Videonale is, in my eyes, one of the underestimated pioneers of video art. Since the 1980s, his work has clearly existed within the context of video sculpture and he reacts as an artist on the changing image of the ›Balkans‹. I saw his single channel work LEROJ in 1993 at VIDEONALE.5: the ticking of the alarm clock gave rhythm to the view of his parental home – a ticking that like a needle also etches a picture in your head which we ourselves make of this country – yet a reaction on the war that had been raging in Yugoslavia since 1991.

Videonale has – as a single channel programme – for 30 years asked the necessary questions about the moving image, and formulated possible answers together with the artists, inspiring discussions about the concept of the image and the role of the video. Today Videonale is ›unfashionable‹ in a comfortable way. It does not follow the trends but is open to artistic experiments and transdisciplinary formats. Anyone who makes the effort to browse through VIDEONALE.1-14 is provided with an encyclopaedic overview of 30 years of video art – and the role of art in the media society.