Mediation (2nd excerpt) (1979)

This solo video art exploration was created In an advanced tv studio environment for its era; color cameras; “A/B roll” time-code editing, a “film chain” to mix in movie film and slides, and a primitive character generator, providing text on screen, titles & credit rolls. 30 years later, in a solo gallery retrospective, this work was critically cited as an example of “Glitch Art”, celebrating the ragged edges when technology breaks down, and image abstracts into textures… The on-screen texts tease at readability, then fade away into electronic detritus. The messaging explores the tautologies inherent in Human Progress and Species Extinction. Visually, Zieman exploits a primitive time-delay effect, jury-rigging 2 videotape machines together with one tape, stretched across a 6’ gap between them. This allowed a sort of visual ‘echo’ effect, where subjects are iteratively layered over themselves 10 seconds earlier, etc. The sound score is a single 30 minute studio performance take. Zieman ‘plays’ a bank of unique, military-grade voltage-controlled sequencers, very wide-range and high speed… Stepping through the sequence at typical speed plays a melodic phrase, but as the sequence speed approaches 20,000 cycles a second, the sequencer suddenly becomes a sound waveform itself. Original length 30 mins (Excerpt 1:52)