The Institutionalization of Video Art at the Museum of Modern Art

Abstract

Analysing the history of video art poses challenges due to the complex environments from which video emerged. However, some of its conceptual origins can be traced through art institutions that pioneered the integration of video art into museums. By examining key projects and exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, I argue that the museum’s first study grant obtained from the Rockefeller Foundation not only expanded the exhibition and collection of video work, but also laid the foundation for its institutionalization, which in turn exerted decisive effects on the subsequent history of video art.