Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos
01:07:00 | 2 DVDs
Collection: Single Artist Compilations, Box Sets
Tags: Art History, Humor, Landscape, Minimalism, Performance, Video History, Visual Art



Video Data Bank is proud to present the poetic work of West Coast conceptual artist Paul Kos. This two-disc box set features 25 video works that reveal how Kos mines humble materials for their physical properties and metaphorical possibilities. Included is a 50-page monograph containing specially commissioned essays that expand upon Kos’ five-decade long practice by art scholar Constance Lewallen and SFMOMA’s Curator of Media Arts Rudolf Frieling.
“I try to work under some of the following self-imposed precepts: reveal slowly; prove metaphor is more; heed site or be shortsighted; respect simple humble materials; prefer art that is, to art that is about; strive for equilibrium in message and messenger; and finally, opt for, but never expect, “partly cloudy, becoming mostly sunny.”
— Paul Kos in conversation with Jarrett Earnest, Brooklyn Rail, 2012
"[Paul Kos’] work is conceptual to a degree, but it takes a real, generally sculptural, form. Add to that a strong vein of Dada absurdity and an ultra-dry wit, and it adds up to one of the Bay Area’s most entertaining, influential and important living artists.”
— Charles Desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle, 2016
Included Titles
The artist swings a live-set small game trap near his extended other hand. The trap swings ominously: will it snap his fingers? The end comes quickly!
This title is also available on Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos.
Collection: Single Titles Tags: performance |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: performance |
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: conceptual art, environment |
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: animals, conceptual art, experimental film |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: humor, language, performance, war |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: conceptual art, environment, performance |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: performance |
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: environment, language, video history |
When I look for the lightning, it never strikes. When I look away, it does. Filmed inside a car, this tape focuses on observation of natural phenomena, presenting the obverse of the, "If a tree falls in the woods..." conundrum. Does observation...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: environment, video history |
Taking its title from the sea nymphs in Homer’s Odyssey—the treacherous spirits whose sweet voices lured sailors to their death upon the rocks—Sirens presents four hallucinatory scenes, visual puns authored by a mischievous agent. Mocking laughter...
Collection: Early Video Art, Single Titles Tags: literature, mental landscape, myth, photography, video history |
On a gradually inclined plane, attempts are made to scale the rise, and rubber shoe marks leave evidence of the point where all of humanity fails.
This title is also available on Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos.
Collection: Single Titles Tags: conceptual art, performance, sculpture |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: architecture, environment, performance |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: body, landscape, performance |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: city, conceptual art, performance, sculpture, sound |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: language, performance |
Collection: Single Titles |
Caught by video on a mountainside, Swiss cows compose and orchestrate a bell sonata.
This title is also available on Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos.
Collection: Single Titles Tags: environment, landscape, music |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: expedition/travel, music |
On the narrow stairway that exits Paul Kos’s Tunnel\Chapel, where his 27-channel Chartres Bleu installation is housed, Kos writes with both hands on opposite walls, recording the narrative of Noah’s Ark.
This title is also available on ...
Collection: Single Titles Tags: drawing, performance |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: |
Collection: Single Titles Tags: landscape |
The combination of a found site (an old power station in Norway), and a found object (a log) and a found instrument ( a wooden floor) produce a found sound in this acoustically alive action.
This title is also available on Sympathetic ...
Collection: Single Titles Tags: installation, sound |
Relying on the magic echo found in an old power Station in Norway, the artist whistles and marches to the Internationale, a May Day workers’ song.
This title is also available on Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos.
Collection: Single Titles Tags: installation, performance, sound |
Split screen. On the left is a walk up a twisting, rocky trail while on the right is Kanji caligraphy describing the action, completing a Haiku by Basho.
This title is also available on Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos.
Collection: Single Titles Tags: language, mental landscape |