| Chapter Introduction: | Introduction |
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The opposition to mainstream culture (that would reflect the early video artists’ views) would also find an echo, or parallel, in Herman and Chomsky's writing (later in 1988):
The attitudes expressed here reflect much that had existed for the early video artists. The initiatives of video pioneers to record contemporary, political, and social events that would represent their personal and political faith had, in many ways, stemmed from a romantic vision of revolutionising art. This had included identifying themselves as a collective body, in parallel with the separate idea of an individual artistic success. This bifurcation and seemingly paradoxical attitude had stemmed from a necessity to improve society by reshaping its future. To achieve this, the artist's engagement with the new medium of video (seen as a social tool) reflected an endeavour to harness the tools of mass media in order “to awaken a new, alternative social and political consciousness”.61
Fluxism
Arguably, the most important group of artists to initiate attention to the possibilities of video art would be the Fluxus group, active in New York City from the early 1960s. During the 1960s, as part of the counterculture