<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><DIV><DIV>On 20/03/2007, at 5:55 AM, <A href="mailto:jane@janedapain.net">jane@janedapain.net</A> wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">but why don't video artists and filmmakers occupy YouTube?</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>In response to this question there has been some discussion in the Guardian online... 'Moving images stay in the dark - Why are video artists so reluctant to show their work on the internet?'<DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">- <A href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/01/moving_images_stay_in_the_dark.html">http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/01/moving_images_stay_in_the_dark.html</A> </DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">It is interesting to see that reputable institution like the Museum of Modern Art in New York has created a video channel on YouTube to publish video art trailers. Yet as the article points out there is not a lot of video art collections showing up online, instead most of the video art on YouTube is captured and posted by people attending exhibitions (via mobiles etc.) Although it is interesting to see what is happening with tank.tv - <A href="http://www.tank.tv">http://www.tank.tv</A>/ in the UK via www.lux.org.uk and the luxonline project <A href="http://www.luxonline.org.uk">http://www.luxonline.org.uk</A>/. </DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Video artist and filmmakers do not occupy YouTube because it does not <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">represent their work in the professional and artistic perspective the <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">artist desires. YouTube is also the generic place for video, simple <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">and low quality. It does not point the user to your site and your <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">other art. And it is representative of low quality amateur work. <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Professional video artist and filmmakers are interested in marketing <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">and branding their entire image, they do not want to appear amateur or <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">sloppy. Plus the ugly watermark that ends up on their work is <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">horrible, and the security is not guaranteed. Artist have a lot of <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">options these days for displaying their own work and YouTube is not a <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">place for the professional artist.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Back to the earlier Guardian article which discusses many of the points you raise here. Things like size restriction (working in the miniature), quality and of course the ability for the viewer to scroll back and forth. In terms of YouTube having frame size, file type and therefore compression quality control of your video uploads this does not leave much room for individual aesthetic input from the artist. I see this as setting publishing standards, a referral to old media like TV broadcasting. A video sharing site like blip.tv - <A href="http://blip.tv">http://blip.tv</A>/ at least lets you chose some file types, determine frame size and choose a creative commons license. But this type of flexiability could be taken a lot further. I discuss the notion of standards in more detail here on my blog - <A href="http://www.sethkeen.net/blog/2007/03/02/podcasting-video-to-ipods/">http://www.sethkeen.net/blog/2007/03/02/podcasting-video-to-ipods/</A> ...how apple also like YouTube aims to gain some form of control over the way content is distributed often in a manner that Nicholas Carr points out - <A href="http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/01/steves_devices.php">http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/01/steves_devices.php</A> as being unsympathetic towards what the Internet offers as a networked environment. </DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">As a video artist, I would have to say that I like to have a minimum <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">amount of video art on the web. I am concerned with copyright and <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">quality issues. My work is much better delivered live and I have a </FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">much better reaction to my live work. YouTube would under-represent my <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">work and make me look even more amateur than I already am. I would <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">like to be considered some day as a professional video artist, and I <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">think that keeping my work off YouTube and other mass-marketed sites <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">will help establish my professional image. Especially if I continue to <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">work on my own internet image and presence.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The question here is whether artists like YouTube or even Apple in video podcasts) should be thinking of the Internet as a place to reproduce video in a single-channel form (or in the way that it was originally designed for off the web, i.e live etc.)? This approach is emblematic of most television, cinema or even a lot of video art. Perhaps it is more about how video may be repurposed within this environment. I notice on the MOMA YouTube channel that the closest they can come to this, is a lame form of trailer, again a direct referral to cinema. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>In this other Guardian article 'Bringing video art online' - <A href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/01/share_and_share_to_like.html">http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/01/share_and_share_to_like.html</A>, video art as a commodity, along with copyright issues is seen as restricting factors. Although, the writer points out that painting and sculpture has got past this barrier quite some time ago. </DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">JdaP</FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#010101" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;; color: rgb(1, 1, 1); font-family: Arial; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(1, 1, 1); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; "><A href="mailto:sethkeen@internode.on.net">sethkeen@internode.on.net</A></SPAN></SPAN></FONT><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;; font-family: Arial; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; "><A href="http://www.sethkeen.net/blog/">http://www.sethkeen.net/blog/</A></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "><A href="http://del.icio.us/videovortex">http://del.icio.us/videovortex</A></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>