I Have a Friend Who Knows Someone Who Bought a Video, Once – On Collecting Video Art

Edited by LOOP Barcelona.

Texts by Erika Balsom, Giselle Beiguelman, Erick Beltrán, Manuel Borja-Villel, Haro Cumbusyan, Keren Cytter, Egbert Dommering, Marc and Josée Gensollen, Carles Guerra, Jean-Conrad Lemaître, Barbara London, Han Nefkens, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Alain Servais, Julia Stoschek, Sandra Terdjman, Elena Vozmediano and Lori Zippay


This book is the result of LOOP Barcelona’s long-standing engagement with pressing debates surrounding moving-image artworks. Following up on last year’s edition of the LOOP Talks, “Beyond Objects? A Debate on Engaged Attitudes Towards Collecting,” it brings together contributions by international curators, art critics, collectors, artists, and a lawyer to further the mission for a complete recognition of the medium. In an art market that demands materiality, video and film evade the traditional definition of “unique objects.” Generally perceived as ephemeral and even regarded with suspicion by many collectors and galleries, they are dismissed as too difficult to monetize. Drawing a historical trajectory that encompasses the introduction of the moving image into public museums first, and private collections later, this publication addresses a wide range of issues related to the production, distribution, display, and conservation of time-based art.