Notes on finding, buying and living with art, from the gallery.
Buying video art: what you actually take home
A video work has no frame and no wall, and that worries people more than it should: what you own when you buy one, how it is shown at home and how it stays safe for decades.
ByErick González
People fall in love with a video work in a gallery and then hesitate at the door. What would I take home? A file? A screen? The hesitation is reasonable, and the answers are simpler than the medium's reputation.
What you own
You own a work that exists as a file, usually in a numbered edition, exactly as a print does. With it come the file itself in its master quality, the artist's instructions for showing it, and a certificate that names the work, the edition number and you as its owner. The file can be copied; the certificate cannot. That is what makes the work yours and not everyone's: the edition is a count, and your number is on it.
How it is shown
However the artist says. Some works are made for a screen on a wall, with the sound on or off; some for a projection on a sheet, a floor, a window; some loop forever and some have a beginning. The instructions are part of the work. A good television, a small projector and a quiet media player are enough for most; the artist's notes tell you the ratio, the loop and the light the room should have. The video works on this site describe their support on the work's page.
How it is kept
Two copies in two places: the master on a drive at home, another in a cloud or at a friend's. Files do not age, but drives do.
Never re-encode the master. Make copies for playing; keep the original as it came.
Keep the instructions with the certificate. In twenty years a new player will need them.
Two small questions
Can I show it to friends, or in public?
At home, as much as you like. A public screening, a venue, a broadcast are the artist's to allow; ask, and the answer is usually a pleased yes.
What happens if the format dies?
Formats are migrated, like a film is restored. Keep the master and the instructions, and the work survives the player.
If you would like company
This is what we do every day from Mexico City: help people find, buy and live with original contemporary art. Book a free 30-minute call, or simply look at the works available now.
This content is for information and education only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or tax advice.
Keep reading
- How to read an edition: 3/25, AP, HC and the rest
The small inscription in the corner of a print says more than it seems: what 3/25 means, what an artist’s proof is, and what a certificate should say about an edition.
- When a work is ready for its next home
How to resell a work of art kindly, for the work and for the artist: tell the gallery first, three ways it can go, the price and what moves with the work.