Let's Not Lose Our Video Heritage

Notes from an aging Vidiot : Jim Malec

During my over 40 years making video I never really thought about preserving any of my work. In fact recently I disposed of the pile of ½ inch, ¾ inch, Betacam and MiniDV cluttering up my closet and shelves. Looking back at that now I find it strange, especially given my love of documentary and my use of historical footage in my work.

After the sudden death of a well respected videomaker, many of us old time video freaks began to reflect on our work and to seek to reestablish our sense of community. We were struck with the need to preserve and archive decades of media arts production, much of it recorded on magnetic tape and in eminent danger of being lost forever. There is currently no formal way to gage the size or significance of the media at risk, but from the personal experience of a few of us it must be very large with a huge amount of important subject matter.

I offer a case in point, the recording of Bill Hinkley produced as a part of the Cedar Social musical variety series. Bill recently died and was a leading force in the Folk Music scene. Thanks to David Zierott for digitizing this and making it available. Here is one of his songs performed with his wife Judy Larson and the Cedar Social musical crew.

As an indication of the respect Bill has, here is a recent recording of Pop Wagner and Adam Granger's Tribute to Bill Hinkley.

The process of preserving magnetic videotape can be tricky and expensive. MN Media Arts is working to facilitate saving our media arts heritage. Future blogs will provide more information on preservation techniques, resources and MN Media Arts progress. In the meantime please provide us with your insights and experience with preservation efforts, or any other media arts related information and resources you would like to share with our community.

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Posted from the Minnesota Media Arts Preservation project -  http://mnmediaarts.org/