Emergency Video Equipment Repair
Donation protected
ForEVER: Emergency Video Equipment Repair
Earlier this year, VIVO’s two legacy video decks - a ½” open reel and ¾” Umatic - called it quits.
This situation came just months after we had learned of the unexpected passing of our specialty repair technician. Our digitization programs were suddenly in peril.
Thankfully, our friends at Western Front were also on a search for technical services, and an alternative technician was found in Seattle. We were thrilled with the results of the repairs, but they came at a heavy cost to the organization.
The total cost to repair and refurbish the two decks was $5200 CDN, far exceeding our already stretched maintenance budget.
We’re reaching out to you - our artists, members, and supporting community - to help us with this extraordinary expense.
The importance of digitization -
Digitization supports our distribution, exhibition, and archive projects. We also make it available as a service to artists and other cultural and community organizations.
Options for digitization of early video are rapidly diminishing. VIVO has made this service locally available and affordable for two decades and the need only increases as artists realize the fragility of their work.
The decks are used about 16 hours per week. So far this year, we have digitized almost 600 videos. Not getting the decks repaired was not an option.
Your donation will have an immediate impact on our community -
If we reach our goal, we won’t have to divert funds from our regular programs to cover these extraordinary costs.
- and a ForEVER one -
It has been half a century since analog video was put in the hands of Canadian video artists. The lifespan of videotape has exceeded expectations, but, as our recent experience demonstrated, the crisis now lies in the precarious lifespan of playback decks, vanishing parts, and the expertise to keep them running.
The Big Picture is that 2018 marks not only VIVO's 45th anniversary, but the rapidly diminishing timeline for saving the first decades of Video Art and activist video. UNESCO estimates that we will not be able to play these video format within 15 years due to technical obsolescence. By supporting the ForEVER campaign, you're making them available to future generations.
The video you save may be your own.
Or a video you worked on.
Or a video that impacted your practice or life.
Please make a donation today.
Earlier this year, VIVO’s two legacy video decks - a ½” open reel and ¾” Umatic - called it quits.
This situation came just months after we had learned of the unexpected passing of our specialty repair technician. Our digitization programs were suddenly in peril.
Thankfully, our friends at Western Front were also on a search for technical services, and an alternative technician was found in Seattle. We were thrilled with the results of the repairs, but they came at a heavy cost to the organization.
The total cost to repair and refurbish the two decks was $5200 CDN, far exceeding our already stretched maintenance budget.
We’re reaching out to you - our artists, members, and supporting community - to help us with this extraordinary expense.
The importance of digitization -
Digitization supports our distribution, exhibition, and archive projects. We also make it available as a service to artists and other cultural and community organizations.
Options for digitization of early video are rapidly diminishing. VIVO has made this service locally available and affordable for two decades and the need only increases as artists realize the fragility of their work.
The decks are used about 16 hours per week. So far this year, we have digitized almost 600 videos. Not getting the decks repaired was not an option.
Your donation will have an immediate impact on our community -
If we reach our goal, we won’t have to divert funds from our regular programs to cover these extraordinary costs.
- and a ForEVER one -
It has been half a century since analog video was put in the hands of Canadian video artists. The lifespan of videotape has exceeded expectations, but, as our recent experience demonstrated, the crisis now lies in the precarious lifespan of playback decks, vanishing parts, and the expertise to keep them running.
The Big Picture is that 2018 marks not only VIVO's 45th anniversary, but the rapidly diminishing timeline for saving the first decades of Video Art and activist video. UNESCO estimates that we will not be able to play these video format within 15 years due to technical obsolescence. By supporting the ForEVER campaign, you're making them available to future generations.
The video you save may be your own.
Or a video you worked on.
Or a video that impacted your practice or life.
Please make a donation today.
Organizer
Julia Aoki
Organizer
Vancouver, BC
