Pierrick Sorin. Comedy in Video Art

The article reveals the genre-stylistic specificity of artworks of the French video artist Pierrick Sorin, created between the 1980s and the 2020s. It studies the methods and techniques characteristic of P. Sorin’s work, particular attention being paid to his use of comic techniques. The novelty of the research lies in the consideration of P. Sorin’s creative work as an integral artistic system in its development. The relevance of the present study is determined by the need to expand ideas about the principles of shaping and the features of drama in the genres of contemporary art. The article shows that P. Sorin developed the techniques and methods of video art in an original and spectacular way. Out of the creative methods used by the artist, the author of the article focuses on the following ones: the attraction of expressive means of other arts (cinema, circus, music hall, variety theatre, etc.) and the combination of modern technical and technological solutions with the style of comedy films, buffoonery, and clowning, which is manifested in the plots, expressive means, the specifics of the characters. The classification of P. Sorin’s works proposed by the author includes video art, optical theatres (miniature installations), stage performances and scenographic works. The author comes to the following conclusions: the plot structure of P. Sorin’s works, depending on the genre, includes miniature scenes-sketches, parody films that repeat scenario designs of the originals, and series of sketches combined in a holistic performance by means of recapitulation. In his scenographic works, P. Sorin creates a comic discourse, a play with the viewer based on technical attractions. The comic techniques characteristic of P. Sorin’s work are: comic absurdity, illogical or impossible combination of elements, the method of inconsistency, the method of unexpected, repetition, and the use of taboo topics.