Video Art in the Southern Cone. Festivals, archives, and remediation of the analogue past

Abstract

This article examines the challenges faced by physical and digital archives dedicated to video art in the Southern Cone, focusing on accessibility, preservation, and dissemination. To map such a complex situation, firstly, it identifies four influential Latin American video art festivals, including the Festival Franco-Chileno de Video Arte, the Festival Franco-Latinoamericano de Video Arte, Videobrasil and Buenos Aires Video, which promoted the production, circulation, and dissemination of audiovisual arts in the last two decades of the 20th century. Secondly, the article explores three regional initiatives – UMATIC, Açervo online Associação Cultural Videobrasil, and ARCA – that, since the mid-2000s, have carried out tasks of valuation and making accessible video art collections related to the aforementioned festivals. Drawing on Bolter and Grusin’s concept of remediation, it is proposed that these three initiatives be interpreted as remediation projects, as they are concerned with reshaping old media formats and multiplying media through hypermediation. The understanding of these projects also relies on the concept of “anomic archive”, which refers to the idea of a documentary archive constructed through an intentional process of collecting and sharing knowledge beyond traditional institutions. Finally, the article approaches digital archives as a means of accessing primary sources, proposing a reflection on the opportunities and risks posed by these remediation projects.