Everyone knows that you buy pictures in galleries – and perhaps photos as well. But how, for heaven’s sake, do you get your hands on art videos? 

Astonishingly enough, access to the media art form that continues to suffer so much from its reproducibility, is the hardest to achieve. In some cases video tapes are treated like oil paintings, although – just like music – their purpose is none other than distribution. How can the financial needs for artists be reconciled with distribution in the art market? Does the market dictate faith in the original or is there a lack of media distribution channels, such as an online offer, to make the video marketable as a reproducible expression of art outside the collector community? There are only a few distribution outlets worldwide that have taken up the task of hiring out or selling art videos and making a success of the job. 

The exhibition features the most important distributors and a number of galleries with their artists. The questions that arise will be examined in the form of a survey.

Credits

• Barbara Könches (Curator)
• Carmen Beckenbach (Curator)
• Thomas Thiel (Curator)

Organization / Institution

ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie