artists & participants
curators
press release
Fondazione Giuliani per l'arte contemporanea is pleased to present e-flux video rental in Rome. e-flux video rental (EVR) is a project by Anton Vidokle and Julieta Aranda, comprising a free video rental, a public screening room, and a film and video archive that is constantly growing. This collection of over 950 works of film and video art has been assembled in collaboration with nearly 200 international selectors: artists, curators and critics. In the 1960s and 70s, artists were drawn to working with video in part because it was cheap to use and easily reproduced and distributed. But video art has become increasingly assimilated to the precious-object economy of the art market. EVR is a poetic exploration of alternative processes of circulation and distribution of video art, and it is structured to function like a video rental store, except that it operates for free. VHS tapes can be watched in the space, or, once a viewer fills out a membership form and contract, they can be checked out and taken home. Orignally presented at a storefront in New York, in 2004, EVR has traveled to venues in Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Seoul, Paris, Istanbul, Canary Islands, Austin, Cali, Budapest, Boston, Antwerp, Miami, Lisbon and Lyon. The exhibition in Rome will be its final presentation, having outlived the technology that made it possible (VHS video tape players), the project will be permanently archived with Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana. Every time EVR is installed in a new city, local artists, curators and writers are invited to serve as selectors, choosing artists whose work is added to the collection. In addition, a special series of screenings of works from the EVR collection is part of the project. In Rome, the series will continue, organized by Frida Carazzato and Maria Garzia, including programs put together by Adrienne Drake, Ania Jagiello, Cristiana Perrella, Cesare Pietroiusti and Francesco Stocchi.