Roundabout

Begun in 2023, Roundabout is an ongoing screening series in which VDB invites fellow moving image archives and distributors to collaborate on a conversational program of short experimental works with a prompt to respond to a selection of works from VDB's collection with a selection from their own. 

This screening series facilitates discussion around moving image through the history and institutional practices of the involved distributors and archives. The series provides an opportunity for institutional collaboration and sustained conversation between moving image collections. The series' inception also marks the beginning of future programming collaborations between the Video Data Bank and the Gene Siskel Film Center. 

For the first iteration, VDB collaborated with Electronic Arts Intermix—a New York City–based nonprofit arts organization that is a leading international resource for video and media art, and whose core program is the distribution and preservation of a major collection of more than 4,000 new and historical video works by artists. Artists featured in the program included Shigeko Kubota, Kevin B. Lee, Ursula Hodel, Mary Patten, Maggie Lee, Luis Valdovino, Frank Heath, and Richard Landry.

Past Programs

Program 1: September 28, 2023 - Roundabout Featuring Electronic Arts Intermix

Program 2: March 14, 2024 - Roundabout Featuring Image Forum Japan