Video/Art: The First Fifty Years

A personal and expert account of the artists and events that defined the medium's first 50 years, written a true expert in the field

'London's book excites because it brings new artists into a lineage worthy of greater stuff. Her passion for lesser-known figures ... is contagious.' - ARTnews, The Best Art Books of 2020

Since the introduction of portable consumer electronics nearly a half century ago, artists throughout the world have adapted their latest technologies to art-making. This first-hand account by the curator who has been following video art from its beginnings in the late 1960s, when artists first adapted portable consumer technology to art-making, spotlights video's ongoing importance in the art world, tracing the genre's development alongside the advances in technology that have continued to open up new possibilities for artists. London has worked closely and personally with the artists she writes about, who span generations, including Joan Jonas, Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Shirin Neshat, Pipilotti Rist, Miranda July, Ragnar Kjartansson, and Ian Cheng. The text is both art-historical and personal - weaving together background information and insightful interpretations with unique anecdotes and experiences to trace the history of video art as it transformed into the broader field of media art - from analog to digital, small TV monitors to wall-scale projections, and clunky hardware to user-friendly software. In doing this, she reveals how video evolved from fringe status to be seen as one of the foremost art forms of today.

Barbara London is a writer, curator, and longstanding interpreter of video, performance, media, installation, and sound art. She founded the video exhibition and collection programs at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where she worked between 1973 and 2013. London was also the first to integrate the internet into her curatorial practice. She is adjunct professor in the Yale Graduate Department of Fine Art and a consultant with the Kadist Foundation. She is also the host of 'Barbara London Calling', a podcast in which she interviews pioneering and up-and-coming artists, focusing particularly on technology and creativity.