The VSW Video Archive houses more than 6,000 videos from the early 1970s to the early 2000s. Video formats in this collection include VHS, Betamax, U-matic ¾ inch, 1/2 inch, 1″ and 2″ open reel formats. The majority of the content originates from artists, activists, and public access programming from the greater Central and Western New York regions as well as significant early experimental artists’ video productions.

This historical video collection includes tapes from the New York State Council on the Arts, Axlegrease, Raindance, VideoFreex, Synapse, Portable Channel, Experimental TV Center, Ithaca Video Festival, Woodstock Community Video, and Rochester’s TV Dinner. It contains work by noted artists Bill Viola, Nam June Paik, William Wegman, Joan Jonas, Sanja Ivekovic, Dalibor Martinis, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Tony Conrad, Brigid Polk, Vibeke Sorenson, Wendy Clarke and many more. The VSW video collection is currently being cataloged and digitized in our in-house Media Transfer Lab.

To view a PDF of the entire magnetic media (video) collection, click here.

For more information

To request material or begin a search of the collections, please fill out the Collections Inquiry Form

For further collection-related inquiries, contact Mary Lewandowski, Collections Associate or Tara Merenda Nelson, Curator