Alex Bag (German/English)

Since the mid-1990s, Alex Bag (born 1969) has been among the leading protagonists of video performance, regarded as a vital precursor by a generation of younger artists such as Cory Arcangel or Shana Moulton. Bag became known for her video performances, in which she humorously critiqued TV culture and the clichés of the contemporary art world. An extraordinarily flexible actress, Bag often appeared herself, taking on a multitude of roles. In the video that gained her initial recognition, “Untitled Fall `95” (1995), she played an art student who, as though in a video diary, depicted her desires and hopes as an artist and in her everyday schooling. In other videos she has frequently investigated the advertising structures of network TV (as in “Coven Services,” 2004), or the most diverse TV genres and formats (“Fancy Pantz,” 1997, “Gladia Daters,” 2005). This first Alex Bag monograph includes a complete videography with transcriptions, scripts and stills.

Reading these screenplays shifts the focus from the brilliance of Bag's performances and her purposefully makeshift art direction to the strength of her writing. Bag's post-Pop, pre-YouTube tour de force has become a prescient cult classic for a new generation. —Johanna Fateman