ART

Home video 'art' on show at Guggenheim museum

Issued on: 28/09/2010 - 12:07Modified: 06/10/2010 - 10:16

2 min

The New York Guggenheim museum has joined forces with video hosting platform YouTube to select the most creative and artistic home videos on the Web and display them the famous snail-shaped gallery.

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The New York Guggenheim museum has joined forces with video hosting platform YouTube to select the most creative and artistic home videos on the Web and display them the famous snail-shaped gallery.

The Gugghenheim museum launched the YouTube Play competition last June, calling on amateur film makers and Web users to post their best clips on the online video platform. The operation was a hit, with over 23,000 videos sent fom over 91 countries. The museum pre-selected a shortlist of 125 videos, all visible on a dedicated YouTube page.

A jury of reputed artists such as the film maker Darren Aronofsky, the performance artist Laurie Anderson and the famous Japanese sculptor Takashi Murakami must now select the final 20 videos, which will be exposed in all four Guggenheim museums (in New York, Berlin, Bilbao and Venice) from October 21 to October 24.

The museum says that the new biennial "aims to discover and showcase the most exceptional talent working in the ever-expanding realm of online video", no matter what the technique, the style or the budget. The resulting selection of poetic, spectacular or humorous videos is well worth a visit.

"People with no money but plenty of ideas can achieve great results"

Jarbas Agnelli is a Brazilian artist living in Sao Paulo. He founded a media production company, specialised in short videos and advertising clips.

A year ago, I saw a photo of birds perched on several rows of phone cables in a newspaper. I wondered what melody would come out if the birds were “played” like a music score. I tried it on the piano, and a very sweet tune came out, so I composed an arrangement based on the notes and I sent it to the photographer, Paulo Pinto (I’d found his name on the Internet). He sent me the original photo, where there were actually even more birds… so more muscial notes! I adapted that photo musically, and posted the resulting video online. It was an immediate hit.

Given that the video had buzzed online, I decided to submit it to the YouTube play competition. I never actually thought I’d be shortlisted. I think people see my video as a sort of artistic interpretation of nature. I’m happy and proud that it was picked by the Guggenheim.

I think this show is a great initiative. It was about time that the art world begin paying attention to home videos. There is some great content on YouTube, both artistic and funny. It’s a reference to many industries, including advertising or the movie business. People with no money, but great ideas, can achieve great results. YouTube is doing everyone a favour by showcasing this content for the world to see. And they definitely have their place in a museum."