REWIND

ABOUT REWIND

"Of the 47 minutes of film exposed in 1895, the world's archives presently hold about 42. But of the work from 1896 to about 1915, a tiny fraction remains. In those years the feature film was born, and we have reports of extraordinary experiments with colour, sound and widescreen as well as revered performers and artists captured on film but now lost.

The arrival of the video-portapak in 1968 was as essential a moment of cultural history. The early days of a new medium are always immensely fertile, since no-one knows what they are supposed to do with it, so that pioneers feel free to try everything. Those experiments can be immensely fruitful for new makers" - Sean Cubitt

REWIND is a research project that will provide a research resource that addresses the gap in historical knowledge of the evolution of electronic media arts in the UK, by investigating specifically the first two decades of artists’ works in video. There was a danger that many of these works might disappear because of their ephemeral nature and poor technical condition. The project will conserve and preserve them, and enable further scholarly activity.

We are re-mastering and archiving both single screen and installation work on Digital Betacam. These new masters are deposited at the University of Dundee and the Scottish Screen Archive. From the masters DVD viewing copies form the basis of the REWIND | Artists’ Video Collection, for curatorial, scholarly and public access at the Visual Research Centre, Dundee Contemporary Arts and CARTE in central London.