Digital Picklock for Video Art Exgesis: Reflections, Conditions and Possible Employment of Distant Viewing to Moving Image Datasets in Visual Arts Scholarship

With the advent of digital humanities new expectations and challenges are emerging for institutions harbouring video artworks, specifically in offering access and analytical tools to their archival collections. The paper argues for the possible employment of distant viewing to allow visual arts scholars an unprecedented take on video art, holding together both quantitative comparison and aesthetic considerations. In doing so, the paper addresses the peculiar conditions of video art that need proper consideration for a fruitful employment of distant viewing. Set on the background of the existing platforms for video-art consumption– such as UBU Network, JSC Media Centre, and Daata Streaming Platform that constitute true forerunners in this domain – the paper explores productive connections, synergies and frictions that might emerge with methods in digital humanities. In doing so, this research aims at setting early theoretical assumptions necessary to draw a methodological approach in the employment of distant viewing to video art. Accordingly, the paper reflects on the effectiveness of using thematic sub-sets based on categories already defined by visual arts, as well as on the possible implications of widespread practices such as manipulation and appropriation of video material