Joan Jonas, Upsidedown and Backwards

Few artists can claim to have initiated a new form of art. Joan Jonas, however, was crucial to the formation of two—video and performance. Beginning in the late 1960s, Jonas melded diverse influences (ranging from silent film to magic shows) and new technologies (such as portable video cameras and TV monitors) to explore the entanglement of the human body and its recorded image. Working in New York City’s vibrant Soho arts scene, Jonas performed as the character Organic Honey, an exaggerated avatar of femininity. Reflective surfaces would be a key motif throughout the artist’s career. In her influential Mirror Piece works, which she began in 1969, performers carried mirrors that faced an audience who suddenly found themselves confronted with their own image. In recent decades, Jonas has continued to innovate with her complex, multimedia installations addressing themes related to the natural environment. She has continually revisited earlier work, transforming previous pieces and sometimes incorporating them into current projects (Reanimation, for example, includes excerpts from Jonas’s 1974 video Disturbances; Reanimation itself has undergone numerous iterations). Just as a natural ecosystem recycles the old into the new, Jonas’s art creates a dynamic, interconnected ecology that continues to evolve. Jonas has exhibited internationally at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Documenta, and the Venice Biennale, where she represented the United States in 2015.