Steina: Playback

‘This place was selected by Media God to perform an experiment on you, to challenge your brain and its perception.’ So began the manifesto of The Kitchen, the multimedia art space founded in 1971 by a trio of artists, Steina and Woody Vasulka and Andy Mannik, that was one of the first venues in New York to foreground video and sound art. The work that Steina produced in the next three decades, both as a solo artist and in partnership with her partner, Woody, more than lived up to that billing. A selection of her artificially distorted video and sound installations are on display in this retrospective at the Buffalo AKG (14 March–30 June). The show aims to recreate the avant-garde spirit of the ’70s while also showing how Steina’s work is increasingly inspired by the natural world – particularly the landscapes of Iceland, the country of her birth.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
Find out more from the Buffalo AKG’s website

Still from The West (1983), Steina and Woody Vasulka. Courtesy the artists/BERG Contemporary, Reykjavík; © the artists

Still from Geomania (1986), Steina. Courtesy the artist/BERG Contemporary, Reykjavík; © the artist

Still from Violin Power (1970–78), Steina. Courtesy the artist/BERG Contemporary; © the artist

Still from Summer Salt (1982), Steina. Courtesy the artist/BERG Contemporary; © the artist