John Zieman
NYC // Southampton NY // USA

John Zieman, 3 Variations On A Poem, 1979. SD video, 720x 486. Duration: 02:21. EDITION 5, + 2 AP.

John Zieman, 3 Variations On A Poem, 1979. SD video, 720x 486. Duration: 02:21. EDITION 5, + 2 AP.


John Zieman, I only, 1979-1984. SD video, 720x 486. Duration: 00:52.

John Zieman, I only, 1979-1984. SD video, 720 x 480. Duration: 00:52.


John Zieman, Mediation, 1979 (excerpt). SD video, 720x 486. Duration: 02:03.

John Zieman, Mediation (excerpt), 1979. SD video, 720x 480. Duration: 02:03.

“3 Variations On A Poem”, 1979: The same Poem was processed 3 ways:

1: Reading into a mic – the signal controlled the sounds a Moog Music synthesizer was creating.
2: Music Concrete, the audio tape of the poem was sped up, slowed, highly edited (with a razor blade & tape splices)
3. A sound score was created, with voice and synthesized music. The poem can be heard.

“I only”, 1979-84: Super 8 movie film shot off CRT TV, ca. 1979. Music composed and titles added, ca. 1981-84.

 “Mediation (excerpt)”, 1979: Decades after creating this work, I heard a name for this direction in electronic image-making: “Twitch Art”… At the time, the work felt a bit Proto-Punk. A curious philosophy emerges in the onscreen writing, presented in intentionally distressed type. The terse musings on human progress and evolution were quickly written then, and still feel true to me today!

John Zieman is a video artist living in New York since 1980. His single-channel and multi-channel installation video works have been shown in galleries and art fairs internationally.   He also shoots film, electronic cinema, photo stills, & composes music.  He directs, and edits; including documentaries and music videos.  In the late 70’s, Zieman commissioned a Video Synthesizer, built to his specs; later he worked with Nam June Paik, also with Dara Birnbaum, and other notable video artists.   Zieman’s mastery of technology always facilitates his self-expression; his search for pure visual play, and to communicate the poetry of interior mental spaces and moods.  Unlike conventional cinema, Video Art often confronts the viewer with incongruous sounds, non-linear narratives, and visual experimentation. — art viewers are often well-prepared to brave these “off-road” journeys. His sound score is a one-take, 30 minute performance.  Zieman ‘plays’ a bank of unique, military-grade voltage-controlled sequencers, very wide-range and high speed…

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