Video Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube

122 Video Vortex Reader II Moving Images Beyond Youtubecollection case studies123the NIMk collection inside a specially designed, inflatable tent. 36 We aim to repeat this typeof activity in 2011 and later years; at this moment, NIMk is seeking funding to develop andprogram the Media Art Mobile, a foldable container structure in which workshops and screeningscan be organized on location. 37 For the Media Art Mobile and for other uses, NIMk hopesto develop an accessible interface to its collection, through which it will be possible to discoverworks intuitively: works connected to a specific emotion or theme, for instance.An integral characteristic of online video culture is the re-use and embedding of content.The success of services such as YouTube and Vimeo is to a large extent due to the ease withwhich people can embed video from these services in sites that are relevant to them, suchas blogs or social networking sites. At this moment, no online collection of video art has thiscapacity, not even a pirate site like Ubuweb. It would be interesting for NIMk to seriouslyconsider developing this capacity, at least in those cases in which the artist agrees to it.Finally, many cultural institutions today are busy looking for new target groups. NIMk mightconsider the role of video art in newer or wider contexts: for example, on urban screens; orin situations in which people are simply ‘killing time’, such as healthcare or public transport,and can benefit from visual content with added value. But media art can also speak to veryspecific audiences: lately, a NIMk exhibition with sound art held at the 2010 Sonic Actsfestival in Amsterdam triggered the attention of a group of otorhinolaryngologists (ear, noseand throat specialists). An upcoming exhibition that concerns games and public space mightspeak to a diverse audience of geeks and gamers.Lessons for an Online Media Art CatalogueWhat, then, are the most important principles to guide the development of NIMk’s online collection?The following guidelines also reflect my opinion on what are the most valuable waysto deal with online cultural heritage in general.IntegrationIn order to thrive, a specific cultural heritage needs contextualizing within art criticism, andwithin the social developments it thematizes or responds to. It is a challenge to ensure thatour cultural heritage is appropriately contextualized: the success of online video platformsis partly due to the fact that the videos can be embedded elsewhere; the videos are alsodiscoverable because they are part of playlists or can be found through recommendations.For online collections of cultural heritage, the challenge is to make the works as reusable aspossible within current frameworks of copyright legislation. In this sense, NIMk can learnfrom online video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, and look at what is increasinglybecoming common practice even for television broadcasters’ online video archives. NIMk’scollection should receive much more attention when videos, hopefully in full-length versionswith artists’ permission, can be embedded elsewhere, especially in weblogs and on socialnetworking services.36. The Big M, http://nimk.nl/eng/big-m.37. Mediaartmobiel Presentation, http://nimk.nl/eng/mediaartmobiel-presentation.We also need to ask whether it still makes sense to see a collection as a separate entitywithin an art organization’s activities. For NIMk, the collection is part of almost all activities,and the history of the organization is intricately linked to it. Furthermore, research undertakenwithin the Culture Vortex project has demonstrated that many people don’t find thecollection’s separate website, primarily because it is called ‘catalogue’. And it is quite illogicalthat NIMk’s main search engine does not produce results from the collection at all – onlyfrom the general website. It is important that an organization’s website links to work in thecollection as much as possible, and to use a collection and/or archive in a lively way, as acontext for the present.Networking and InteroperabilityI have already described the importance of developing special, and sometimes exclusive,online programs in order to maintain artistic and cultural heritage. A collection can be keptfresh and lively when it is temporarily connected to developments elsewhere; for NIMk, thiscan take the form of specific artist presentations and curated programs about a variety oftopics and in a variety of formats, probably with a scope that goes beyond NIMk’s core collection.While broadening its scope, NIMk can emphasize its unique role as a quality filterand a network hub. A collection of works is a vehicle for social networking; making the life ofa collection visible demonstrates its relevance to a broader context.Furthermore, collections of cultural heritage are not islands. Between various collections,nationally and internationally, there are both commonalities and differences in interest andfocus. Stronger networking between different resources and collections is a logical next step.For instance, it would be very useful for artworks in different collections to be interlinked morestrongly, or to be able to discover and research the oeuvre of a single artist using informationfrom many different collections at the same time.Interoperability between online collections and archives has been on the agenda for quitesome time. The Semantic Web held the promise of decentralized, automatic, machinegeneratedconnections between websites in similar domains, yet this vision has proven to beunrealistic. 38 At this moment, several large-scale national and international projects provideinteroperability between collections in a centralized way. The Europeana project is a goodexample of such an initiative. 39 In 2008-2009, NIMk participated in the GAMA project, aEuropean gateway to archives of media art, 40 which provided valuable lessons in makingour collection available in an international context and in creating an international infrastructurefor media art. It would be very beneficial for a healthy public domain and networkculture in general if decentralized models of connecting online heritage were to take root.38. The World Wide Web Consortium’s overview site for Semantic Web developments is available atWorld Wide Web Consortium, Semantic Web, http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/.39. Europeana, http://www.europeana.eu.40. Gateway to Archives of Media Art, http://gama-gateway.eu. GAMA is a search engine and websitewhich provides access to media art from eight European organizations: NIMk, Argos (Belgium),Ars Electronica (Austria), C3 (Hungary), Filmform (Sweden), Heure Exquise! (France), InstantsVidéo (France) and SCCA (Slovenia).