Video art in the context of "Art historians"

The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visual form. Visual art can be classified in diverse ways, such as separating fine arts from applied arts; inclusively focusing on human creativity; or focusing on different media such as architecture, sculpture, painting, film, photography, and graphic arts. In recent years, technological advances have led to video art, computer art, performance art, animation, television, and videogames.

The history of art is often told as a chronology of masterpieces created during each civilization. It can thus be framed as a story of high culture, epitomized by the Wonders of the World. On the other hand, vernacular art expressions can also be integrated into art historical narratives, referred to as folk arts or craft. The more closely that an art historian engages with these latter forms of low culture, the more likely it is that they will identify their work as examining visual culture or material culture, or as contributing to fields related to art history, such as anthropology or archaeology. In the latter cases, art objects may be referred to as archeological artifacts.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (German: Museum für Gegenwartskunst) in Basel (Switzerland) opened in 1980 as the first public museum in Europe exclusively dedicated to the production and practice of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present. It is a heritage site of national significance.

In addition to classic media such as painting and sculpture, it also collects video art. Focal points of the collection include the work of Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Rosemarie Trockel, Jeff Wall and some American art (Robert Gober, Elizabeth Peyton, Matthew Barney). The Museum of Contemporary Art displays works of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation and the Kunstmuseum Basel. Since 2003, all holdings of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation that are not shown in the museum are housed in the Schaulager in Muttenz.

An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is occasionally true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" (the French word) or "show". In UK English, they are always called "exhibitions" or "shows", and an individual item in the show is an "exhibit".

Such expositions may present pictures, drawings, video, sound, installation, performance, interactive art, new media art or sculptures by individual artists, groups of artists or collections of a specific form of art.

Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who, inspired by John Cage, engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic tradition of chance-based process over the finished product. Fluxus is known for experimental contributions to different artistic media and disciplines and for generating new art forms. These art forms include intermedia, a term coined by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins; conceptual art, first developed by Henry Flynt, an artist contentiously associated with Fluxus; and video art, first pioneered by Nam June Paik and Wolf Vostell. Dutch gallerist and art critic Harry Ruhé describes Fluxus as "the most radical and experimental art movement of the sixties".

They produced performance "events", which included enactments of scores, "Neo-Dada" noise music, and time-based works, as well as concrete poetry, visual art, urban planning, architecture, design, literature, and publishing. Many Fluxus artists share anti-commercial and anti-art sensibilities. Fluxus is sometimes described as "intermedia". The ideas and practices of composer John Cage heavily influenced Fluxus, especially his notions that one should embark on an artwork without a conception of its end, and his understanding of the work as a site of interaction between artist and audience. The process of creating was privileged over the finished product. Another notable influence were the readymades of Marcel Duchamp, a French artist who was active in Dada (1916 – c. 1922). George Maciunas, largely considered to be the founder of this fluid movement, coined the name Fluxus in 1961 to title a proposed magazine.

ZALET (stylised as ZA*73T) are a collection of events occurring in Zaječar, Serbia, as a need to initiate, organize and support cultural events, to affirm artists and to intermediate in transmission of diverse artistic expressions and tendencies. Besides organizing pseudo-classical manifestations such as exhibitions, concerts, poetic evenings etc., the accent is put on innovative and progressive artistic expressions: performances, comics, low-fi videos, video art, conceptual art, as well as a union of traditional fine art and conceptual art.

Electronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media. More broadly, it refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electronic music. It is considered an outgrowth of conceptual art and systems art.

Nam June Paik (Korean: 백남준; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" to describe the future of telecommunications.

Born in Seoul to a wealthy business family, Paik trained as a classical musician, spending time in Japan and West Germany, where he joined the Fluxus collective and developed a friendship with experimental composer John Cage. He moved to New York City in 1964 and began working with cellist Charlotte Moorman to create performance art. Soon after, he began to incorporate televisions and video tape recorders into his work, acquiring growing fame. A stroke in 1996 left him partially paralyzed for the last decade of his life.

Nan Hoover (May 12, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Dutch/American-expatriate artist who is known for her pioneering work in video art, photography and performance art. She spent almost four decades living and working in the Netherlands. She also used the mediums of drawing, painting, photography and film and created art objects and sculptures. One of the main themes of her art was light and motion. The rigorous, minimalist handling of her means as well as the intense concentration with which she performed within spaces of light and shadow are the most salient characteristics of her artistic work.

With her exploration of new media her artistic practice gained international recognition. Her performances and light installations were shown worldwide in museums, exhibition houses and in public spaces. In 1977 she participated in the documenta 6 and in 1987 the documenta 8 in Kassel. In 1984 Hoover participated in the Biennale di Venezia. She taught art at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1986, was professor for video and film at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1987 - 1997, taught mixed media at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam from 1998 – 1999, and held classes in video and performance at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg from 1994 - 1996 and in 2001.