What follows is a doctored press release, much of which I either disagree with, question, have criticisms about, and opinions to add. My reactions follow the press release in red. Via e-Flux:
After seven years as a traveling project, e-flux video rental (EVR) has found a permanent home at Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana. Donated to the museum’s collection and housed in Moderna Galerija’s new building at Metelkova Street, EVR opened to the public Saturday, November 26, 2011. There is still no information about the project/collection on the museum’s website.
Conceived by Anton Vidokle and Julieta Aranda in 2004 as a video rental shop that operates for free, e-flux video rental is a project that proposes alternative means for distribution and circulation of video art. Despite the fact that many artists of the 1960s and 70s were drawn to working with video because it was relatively easy create, reproduce and distribute, the subsequent assimilation of video art into the precious-object economy of the art market has significantly limited access to video works.
EVR began as a functional reflection and inversion of this process. Comprising a public screening room, a film and video archive that grew with each installation of EVR, and a free video rental shop, VHS tapes can be watched in the space or checked out and taken home once a viewer has completed a membership form.
Since its original presentation at a storefront at 53 Ludlow Street in New York in 2004, EVR has traveled to venues in Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Seoul, Paris, Istanbul, Canary Islands, Austin, Cali, Budapest, Boston, Antwerp, Miami, Lisbon, Lyon, and Rome. Each time EVR was presented in a new city, local artists, curators, writers, and art historians were invited to select works to be added to the collection. Over the years, this resulted in a collection of nearly 1000 works of film and video art by more than 600 artists and artists’ collectives from all parts of the world.
EVR’s permanent home at Moderna Galerija in a reconstruction of the original storefront at 53 Ludlow reminds us that the project began at a time when video technology was beginning to undergo a change from VHS to DVD as the dominant format. Video rental stores, which were a staple of everyday life in most parts of the world only a few years ago, have nearly vanished by now. As a video rental store entering a museum collection, EVR will preserve and make available for future study not only the videos that comprise it, but also the social form of video rental stores, and the technology that originally made it possible.
Thoughts:
+Is E-Flux unaware that the acronym EVR is already taken? And that it’s already an international presence–East Village Radio?
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+I’m just wondering what the logic behind making this once ephemeral and meandering collection permanently sanctioned in Ljubljana, Slovenia? How does that help with the access factor? Will they continue to travel the collection? Will they continue to add videos to the collection? Will the museum now add videos that reflect their own mission? If the central idea behind this homeless comet of a travelling-video-rental entity is that of impermanence, transmission, distribution, and access; then why is it being arrested during any stage of development? It seems to me that like so many other projects, it is becoming that exact thing it was once against.
+I suppose it’s no surprise that a project of this nature should eventually retard itself– if only because of sheer necessity; the collection snowballed, got too large too fast, and required sizable funding, and staffing. Which goes to show that when organizations and individuals look at the video medium as easily “distributable” and “inexpensive” without considering the maintenance and management required by the medium, the medium gets relegated to a certain status within the context of fine-art. And this is also how it becomes vulnerable to being stifled, forgotten, and subject to entropy.
+One last point, is that I took issue with the following statement from the press release: “Despite the fact that many artists of the 1960s and 70s were drawn to working with video because it was relatively easy create, reproduce and distribute, the subsequent assimilation of video art into the precious-object economy of the art market has significantly limited access to video works.”–
In the 60s and 70s video was physically more portable, yes. Which made it easier for artists to create works both inside and outside of their studios, with less people on hand; but it certainly wasn’t “easier” in terms of distribution, editing, or expense. That only came much later– one could even argue that these facets weren’t sorted out until the 90s. But in the 60s and 70s, the video community relied on borrowing equipment (it was still much too expensive to purchase); learning to edit in collaborative settings at workshops, universities, and media centers (sadly, these are mostly extinct); and the channels for distribution was an entirely unchartered territory that a tiny network of artists and organizations only just began forge in that early period. Additionally, (and perhaps most importantly) early video artists were doing all of this for the specific and deliberate reason of reacting against that economy of categorization, stagnant art-objectdom, and historicization. It was especially conscious of evading and reacting against canonization in an Art Historical discourse in both medium and content. Of course, this has all changed now; which is a part of the medium’s history that too many people either forget, or ignore. So glazing over the medium’s founding concept with a statement that is questionable at best, just goes to show how a project like this can start off with noble intentions and end up completely missing the point.
As Kathy Baker once said (in Edward Scissorhands), “I want answers!”
works selected by:
miguel amado, fernanda arruda, marilyn arsem, defne ayas, gabriel pérez barreiro, rene barilleaux, regine basha, thomas bayrle, katrin becker, ariane beyn, cis bierinckx, daniel birnbaum, ellen blumenstein, jürgen bock, monica bonvicini, osman bozkurt, adam budak, cac tv, annette dimeo carlozzi, luca cerizza, binna choi, maike cruise, mariana david, catherine david, marie denkens & wim peeters, wilson diaz, nikola dietrich, adrienne drake, severine dünser, power ekroth, mai abu eldahab, esra ersen, jose luis falconi, hedwig fijen, elena filipovic, lauri firstenberg, susanne gaensheimer, gabrielle giattino, massimiliano gionni, julieta gonzález, francesca grassi, andrea grover, paz a. guevara, cao guimaraes, alfred guzzetti, hadley & maxwell, nanna heidenreich, jörg heiser, arne hendriks, sofia hernandez, maria hlavajova, jens hoffmann, teresa hubbard & alexander birchler, anthony huberman, pierre huyghe, ania jagiello, eungie joo, yu hyun jung, christoph keller, sung won kim, adam klimczak, anders kreuger, carrie lambert-beatty, tanya leighton, pablo león de la barra, fernando llanos, omar lópez-chahoud, jaroslaw lubiak, bill lundberg, christine macel, ives maes, magdalena magiera, karen mahaffy, raimundas malasauskas, franco marinotti, vincent meessen, clara meister, viktor misiano, stéphanie moisdon, edit molnár, kassandra nakas, kito nedo, molly nesbit, hans ulrich obrist, lívia páldi, november paynter, wim peeters & marie denkens, cristiana perrella, zsolt petrányi, natasa petresin, cesare pietroiusti, adina popescu, stephen prina, risa puleo, jan ralske, alia rayyan, joão ribas, karyn riegel, michel ritter, maria inés rodríguez, dieter roelstrate, david rych, hyun jun ryu, esra sarigedik, nermin saybasili, itala schmelz, stefanie schulte strathaus, basak senova, solmaz shahbazi, henk slager, nicolas siepen, michael smith, hajnalka somogy, francesco stocchi, ali subotnik, monica szewczyk, ana teixeira pinto, christine tohme, nicolas trembley, ricardo valentim, regina vater, gilbert vicario, renate wagner, florian waldvogel, florian wüst, adnan yildiz, florian zeyfang, franciska zólyom, nathalie zonnenberg
artists:
24/7 tv, a-clip, gabriel acevedo velarde, vahram aghasyan, doug aitken, lucas ajemian, nevin aladag, kamal aljafari, jennifer allora & guillermo calzadilla, paulo almeida, can altay, carlos amorales, andré amparo, j tobias anderson, meris angioletti, ziad antar, alexander apóstol, vasco araújo, roy arden, john armleder, marc aschenbrenner, assume vivid astro focus, fikret atay, michel auder, sven augustijnen, alexandra bachzetsis, miriam bäckström, zanny bagg & oliver ressler, kuba bakowski, lucas bambozzi, alberto baraya, edson barrus, pedro barateiro, judith barry, yael bartana, ronni bass, taysir batniji, thomas bayrle, sarah beddington, patricia belli, roberto bellini, neïl beloufa, elisabetta benassi, kazimierz bendkowski, guy benfield, roberto berliner, david bestue & marc vives, janet biggs, colectivo bijari, marc bijl, johanna billing, julien jonas bismuth, alberto bitar e leonardo bitar, david blandy, john bock, monica bonvicini & jan ralske, manon de boer, maja borg, zoulikha bouabdellah, mike bouchet, pauline boudry & renate lorenz, frank boue, andrea bowers, osman bozkurt, ulla von brandenburg, pavel braila, candice breitz, wojciech bruszewski, marco bruzzone, christoph büchel, francois bucher, susanne burner, martin butler, chris caccamise, rui calçada bastos, giorgio andreotta calò, yane calovski & fos, mircea cantor, doro carl, domenico cappello, ana cardoso, carolina caycedo, alex cecchetti & christian frosi, nuno cera, filipa césar, alejandro cesarco, juan céspedes, paul chan, terry chatkupt, marcos chaves, mina cheon, loulou cherinet, olga chernysheva, daniele ciprì & franco maresco, ali cherri, sunah choi, heman chong & isabel cornaro, kerstin cmelka, joaquin cocina/ cristobal leon/ niles attalah, cecilia condit, joost conijn, marie cool & fabio balducci, alexander costello, alfredo b. crevenna, carlo crovato, roberto cuoghi, federico curiel, keren cytter, hubert czerepok, marilá dardot, brice dellsperger, simona denicolai & ivo provoost, elmas deniz, marta deskur, angela detanico & rafael lain, devo, stefaan dheedene, wilson díaz, anita dibianco,instituto divorciado, christoph draeger, christoph draeger & gary breslin, melissa dubbin & aaron s. davidson, ivan edeza, effi & amir, oswald egger & matl findel, james elaine/william basinski, fouad elkoury, hala elkoussy, brock enright, shahram entekhabi & mieke bal, haris epaminonda, annika eriksson, espacio la culpable, patricia esquivias, marcell esterházy, extrastruggle, héctor falcón, matias faldbakken, fantastic nobodies, harun farocki, jeanne faust/jorn zehe, rochelle feinstein, azin feizabadi, jakup ferri, dirk fleischmann, luke fowler (with kosten koper), oriana fox, alicia framis, jonah freeman, gabrielle fridriksdottir, anna friedel, peter friedl, yang fudong, bodil furu (in collaboration with beate peterson), rene gabri, francesco gagliardi, rubén galindo, nikolas gambaroff, andrea geyer, gilbert & george, jérémie gindre, christoph girardet, piero golia, emilio gómez muriel, francis gomila, dominique gonzales-foerster, rogelio a. gonzáles, rogelio a. gonzáles jr., jacqueline goss, laurent grasso, loris gréaud, renée green, johan grimonprez, sagi groner, christian grou & tapio snellman, eva grubinger, miki guadamur, sigurdur gudjonsson, cao guimaraes, /barbaragurrieri/group, dmitry gutov & radek group, hadley & maxwell, joanna hadjithomas & khalil joreige, driton hajredini, yang-ah ham, jan hammer, adad hannah, sharon hayes, daniel herskowitz, shere hite, karl holmqvist, christian holstad, judith hopf & stephan geene, vlatka horvat, laszlo hudak & imre lenart, jane hudson, oliver husain, kristina inciurait, las indestables, matthew day jackson, christian jankowski, evaldas jansas, tom johnson, ilya kabakov, gülsün karamustafa, franka kaßner, andrea keiz, christoph keller, leopold kessler, hassan khan, nesrine khodr, laleh khorramian, heidi kilpelainen, changkyum kim, se-jin kim, shin il kim, tae-eun kim, szabolcs kisspál, leszek knaflewski, siegfried koepf, seung wook koh, jeroen kooijmans, korpys/löffler, katarzyna kozyra, elke krystufek, pawel kwiek, kwiekulik, lars laumann, annika larsson, julia lazarus, tim lee, cristobal lehyt, dominik lejman, joão leonardo, jesse lerner, xavier le roy, erik van lieshout, deborah ligorio, khoór lilla & will potter, minouk lim & frederic michon, lana lin, lin + lam, sebastián díaz morales, daniel lima, petra lindholm, fernando llanos, dora longo bahia, polonca lovšin, cecilia lundqvist, mary lucier, maria lusitano, sean lynch, jorge macchi, cynthia madansky, benoît maire & arthur c. danto, gintaras makarevicius, joanna malinowska, jacek malinowski, marcellvs l., marepe, teresa margolles, gilberto martínez solares, lynne marsh, rä di martino, marssares, trish maud, ursula mayer, eileen maxson, elizabeth mc alpine, bjørn melhus, mc messiah, mc liezuvis, vincent meessen, jonas mekas, bjørn melhus & yves netzjammer, john menick, ohad meromi, wieslaw michalak, simone michelin, ana maria millan/monica restrepo, christopher miner, lim minouk & frederic michon, sarah minter, aleksandra mir, mixrice, viatcheslav (slava) mizin/alexander (sasha) shaburov, avi mograbi, naeem mohaiemen, mom’s, lutz mommartz, alejandro moreno, frédéric moser & philippe schwinger, olivier mosset, melvin moti, shana moulton, tova mozard, rabih mroue, felipe mujica, matthias müller, takeshi murata, juan nascimento & daniela lovera, deimantas narkevicius, trine lise nedreaas, argentino neto, sergio & rivane neuenschwader, hieronim neuman, tuan andrew nguyen, jacek niegoda, andy nogger, jesper nordahl, love nordberg, filip noterdaeme (homu), sophie nys, alek o., yoshua okon, antónio olaio, bjargey ólafsdóttir, anneè olofsson, yoko ono, els opsomer, anna orlikowska, tanja ostojic & david rych, the otolith group, miguel palma, christodoulos panayiotou, chan- kyong park, pier paolo pasolini, philippe parreno, sean paul & david dempewolf, jenny perlin, diego perrone, alessandro pessoli, walter pfeiffer, michael pfrommer, cesare pietroiusti, pablo pijnappel, john pilson, manuel piña, pierre pinoncelli, steven pippin, michelangelo pistoletto, shannon plumb, elodie pong, rafael portillo & manuel san fernando, linda post, liza may post, dean proctor & michael laub, oda projesi, the atlas group/walid raad, judy radul, orit raff, anne-britt rage, arturas raila, jan ralske, khaled d. ramadan, tere recarens, reynold reynolds & patrick jolley, mandla reuter, jae oon rho, mario rizzi, robin rhode, józef robakowski, camila rocha, d. n. rodowick, tracey rose, julian rosefeldt, douglas ross, karl ingar røys, julika rudelius, daniel rumiancew, david rych, natascha sadr haghigian, anri sala, manuel saiz, samir, fernando sánchez castillo, beatriz santiago muñoz, julião sarmento, deborah schamoni, julia scher, markus schinwald, andrea schneemeier, philip scheffner, karin schneider & nicolás guagnini & jeff preiss, meggie schneider & bin-chuen choi, corinna schnitt, lotte schreiber, maya schweizer, daniel seiple, noé sendas, solmaz shahbazi, jeremy shaw, wael shawky, matt sheridan smith, taro shinoda, nicolas siepen/claudia basrawi/alessio bonnacconsi, santiago sierra, silverio, guy richards smit, cindy smith, gregg smith, jason smith, michael smith & joshua white, sean snyder, rita sobral campos, standard and poor, roth stauffenberg, aaron steffes, a.l. steiner, tal sterngast, samuel stevens, hito steyerl, deborah stratman, jános sugar, özlem sulak, superflex, corin sworn pál szacsva y, joão tabarra, teampingpong, josé carlos teixeira, mathilde ter heijne, tetine, althea thauberger, stefan and franciszka themerson, kika thorne, rirkrit tiravanija, maciej toporowicz, ana torfs, cecilia torquato & andré amparo, mario garcia torres, kerry tribe, caecilia tripp, stefanos tsivopoulos, nasan tur, alexander ugay, stephan uggowitzer, johanna unzueta, utopia station, alexander vaindorf, michael van den abeele, mona vatamanu & florin tudor, harald thys & jos de gruyter, vee & yam, mark verabioff, katleen vermeir & ronny heiremans, dmitry vilensky, joe villablanca, gitte villesen, barbara visser, jenny vogel, sharif waked, emily wardill, marek wasilewski, ryszard wasko, douglas weathersby,clemens von wedemeyer, lawrence weiner, suara welitoff, aleksandra went & alicja karska, klaus weber, adrian williams, marten winters jordan wolfson, julita wojcik, anna witt, tin tin wulia, erwin wurm, cerith wyn evans, sislej xhafa, haegue yang, adnan yildiz, carey young, akram zaatari, olivier zabat, florian zeyfang, igor zupe and others.