With the moving image dominating the international art world, this one day seminar looked at issues around the use of video in current practice and the distribution of electronic media within Scotland and beyond.

Is there a common denominator of what constitutes video art here or have questions about ‘defining an aesthetic’ been absorbed within a broader fine art arena? Are galleries still intimidated by technology driven art? What can we learn from models elsewhere? Speakers included John Beagles (artist and writer, Glasgow), Su Grierson (artist and curator, Perthshire), Francis McKee (curator of Glasgow International), Theus Zwakhals (Montevideo, Amsterdam) and Steve Bode (Film and Video Umbrella, London).



John Beagles is an artist, writer and lecturer. For the past eight years he has worked collaboratively with Graham Ramsay as an artist. They have exhibited their work at galleries including the ICA, London, the new Museum of Contemporary Art, New York and the Venice Biennale as part of Zenomap in 2003. Later this year they will be exhibiting at the the Migros Museum Zurich and CAPC Portugal. Concurrent with this work as an artist, he has worked as a freelance writer, publishing essays in Variant, Artmonthly and Everything, as well as authoring numerous catalogue essays. Since 2001 he has worked as a lecturer in the Critical and Visual Studies Department at Edinburgh College of Art


Steven Bode is Director of Film and Video Umbrella, a London-based agency who are Britain’s main commissioners of artists’ film and video work, encompassing single-channel pieces and large-scale gallery installations by, amongst others, Jane & Louise Wilson, Dryden Goodwin, Isaac Julien and Johan Grimonprez.



Su Grierson is an artist whose work represents non-urban landscape through installations of video and images . Graduating MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 1995, and exhibiting in many countries, she recently had a solo exhibition in Yokohama Art Museum. President of the Scottish Artists Union and Board member of SSW international residency centre, she also co-organises Look-Look , bringing International artists to Scotland, and is co-producing ‘Perthshire Visual Arts Forum’ a new rural arts event. Su is co-curator and promoter of Invisible Fields.



Theus Zwakhals
Study: history - Rijks Universiteit Utrecht
1990-1993 worked for Dutch Press Museum and International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam
1995-2001 Producer Impakt Festival for Audiovisual Arts, Utrecht
Since 2002: distribution / collection Netherlands Media Art Institute
Montevideo/Time Based Arts, Amsterdam


Some documentation from the day: