Everyday rituals or activities can become symbols of a greater experience connecting us to our families, communities, or cultures. They can also communicate powerful messages about the things we hold as most significant in our individual lives. For these reasons, students will use an everyday ritual as the inspiration for a piece of experimental video art. Kimsooja is a Korean artist working in the medium of video and uses her everyday experiences as inspiration. Images and clips are often repeated to emphasize the repetitive nature of everyday life and the rituals that accompany it. Therefore, Kimsooja’s Sewing Into Walking is the focus artwork, Kimsooja is the focus artist, and repetition is the element of art that will be emphasized.

Students will be introduced to video artist Kimsooja’s life and work. First, students will be introduced to the medium of video art/experimental videos and to artist Kimsooja specifically by viewing a slideshow on this subject. Students will also be shown examples of her work. Students will then participate in a group discussion, in the following class period, regarding the information they reviewed and what they think about experimental videos. Then students will read two articles, one regarding video art and experimental videos and one regarding Kimsooja’s work and perspective, which the students may finish as homework.

Students will begin by viewing a piece of video art by the artist Kimsooja. The students will then use the first three steps of the Feldman model to talk about the piece of art, without applying judgement to the work. Students will be given a handout to prompt them in the first three steps of the Feldman model of critique and as a class, discuss the formal elements, symbols and images present in the work. Students will then be broken up into groups to participate in an activity putting together various video clips to convey meaning and reiterate the principle of repetition and symbolism and metaphor.

Students will work on a skill building assignment to help them get used to the editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro) they will use to execute their artmaking assignment. Students will edit found footage together to practice using the functions of the software. They will work in the computer lab to execute this assignment. The teacher will provide screencast of the functions of the software to help students remember what functions to use and provide examples of what the software can do.

Students will create a short, experimental video that illustrates a portion of their everyday life. The video will be 1-2 minutes in length. Students will record their own video and edit the clips together using the editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro) that we used in their skill building lesson. The videos will be silent, focusing on the visual aspect of video art and creating meaning through symbolism.

Students will participate in showing their videos to the class and give a short presentation about the choices they made to create their videos. Students will then participate in a critique of each other’s videos using the Feldman method that they went over in a previous lesson. Finally, students will be presented with various methods for exhibiting their video in a museum or gallery setting.