Body Matters. Physicality in the Video Art of the 1970s

Published July 1, 2026

Body Matters, Physicality in the Video Art of the 1970s brings together video works from the 1970s that treat the body as a medium – direct, physical, sometimes uncomfortable.

By the late 1960s, video and film had become paradigmatic forms in contemporary art. The Ludwig Forum’s video archive holds some 200 works from the 1960s and 70s, many of them seminal moments from the history of the moving image in art. The 1970s are regarded as the pioneering phase of video art and saw artists experimenting with video and film cameras, consciously distancing themselves both from established art forms and from television, focusing instead on the body, experiences of self and other, feminist critique, meta reflections on the medium itself, and on socio-cultural analyses.

A spatial and graphic framework that holds this tension without adding noise. Reduced, precise, and structured — giving the works room while guiding through the exhibition.

With works by Marina Abramović & Ulay, John Baldessari, Ron Hays, Joan Jonas, Hakudō Kobayashi, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Jacques-Louis Nyst, Ulrike Rosenbach. Curated by Holger Otten.

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