Encounters in Video Art in Latin America

Edited by Elena Shtromberg and Glenn Phillips With insightful essays and interviews, this volume examines how artists have experimented with the medium of video across different regions of Latin America since the 1960s.  The emergence of video art in Latin America is marked by multiple points of development, across more than a dozen artistic centers, over a period of more than twenty-five years. When it was first introduced during the 1960s, video was seen as empowering: the portability of early equipment and the possibility of instant playback allowed artists to challenge and at times subvert the mainstream media. Video art in Latin America was—and still is—closely related to the desire for social change. Themes related to gender, ethnic, and racial identity as well as the consequences of social inequality and ecological disasters have been fundamental to many artists’ practices.  This compendium explores the history and current state of artistic experimentation with video throughout