Joan Jonas
Vertical Roll

1972
Video on Beta SP PAL, b/w, sound
19:38 min.
Contemporary Art Collection
© Joan Joans/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.

The video, “Vertical Roll”, is a very early work from 1972, considered groundbreaking for Jonas and video art in general. Here, the human being and body are clearly key. The video goes on rotating vertically, constantly showing new sequences and other details of the artist in motion. Vertical Roll is based on a signal disruption on TV, whereby the image scrolls from top to bottom. The resultant black bar is the video’s constant and thus takes centre stage. Jonas plays with this manipulated malfunction and creates special media shadow conditions in the video. The face and other parts of the body can never be discerned with any clarity. Light and shadow abstract the person depicted in the work.