Spotlight on Videos: Surveying the First Decade DVDs

There are a number of video/DVD titles in the RISD Library which are the hidden gems of the collection, but few people know about them. We have decided to have a Spotlight on Videos feature every week, which will give brief summaries/reviews of some of these treasures. This week, the spotlight is on Surveying the First Decade: Video Art and Alternative Media in the U.S. [RISD Media in Reserves, call no. N6512.5.V53 S87 2008]. It is a nine-DVD anthology, first published by Video Data Bank on VHS in 1995, covering the history of video art and experimental media in America from 1968 to 1980. The nine volumes include work by some of the best known names in American art of the 20th century, including Dan Graham, John Baldessari, Vito Acconci, Joan Jonas, Lynda Benglis, Shigeko Kubota, Paul McCarthy, Nancy Holt, Richard Serra, and many more. The set covers over 16 hours of video, 68 titles created by 60+ artists and is a must-see for anybody interested in video art.

Since the set is quite rare, the copy at the RISD Library can only be viewed in the Library by students. Faculty can borrow it for classroom projection for one day only.

If you have been fortunate enough to watch any of the volumes in this set, let us know what you thought about them – your opinions are important to us.

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Launch of the World Digital Library

Today is the official launch of the World Digital Library, a joint project between the Library of Congress and UNESCO which creates an “easily-accessible collection of the world’s cultural riches that would tell the stories and highlight the achievements of all countries and cultures.” The library currently holds material in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese, with digital images of culturally significant material from all over the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. All images are available for download for educational purposes, and the quality of the downloads very high. The site is really easy to navigate, so….give it a try!

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The DVD/Video collection at the RISD Library

Many RISD faculty and students want to know about the new videos and DVDs that are arriving in the Library. For brief updates on new acquisitions, follow us on Twitter.

Also, this is a list of all the video/DVD titles at the RISD Library

Your comments and suggestions for new titles are very welcome!

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