Time-based media art (TBMA) is a strength at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and a field in which artists working in the United States have distinguished themselves over the last hundred years. Technological innovations have always impacted how creators represent, portray, or express themselves, and visual artists have long experimented with how to incorporate unfolding, durational experiences into their practice. With the 2007 launch of a time-based media art initiative, SAAM ensured that its collections would be responsive to these changes as they manifest in visual culture and our visitors’ daily lives.
Since then, SAAM has rapidly expanded collections, programs and resources in this area. A dedicated curator, media conservator and media lab respond to the unique care and continual collaboration that these often complex, changeable works require. In 2009, the museum acquired the complete estate archive of visionary artist Nam June Paik, forming The Nam June Paik Archive. In 2023, SAAM opens a specially designed gallery for immersive installations that benefit from light and sound control.
The first half of the twentieth century is lightly represented, with a 1930s Tom Willifred's light sculpture, a 1940s abstract animation and three of Raphael Montañez Ortiz’s found-footage films from 1950s. The collection builds strength beginning in the 1960s and 70s, as portable film and video cameras became readily available for artists such as by John Baldessari, Dara Birnbaum, Ana Mendieta, Bruce Nauman, Dennis Oppenheim, Martha Rosler, and Carolee Schneemann, to bring performance, conceptual experiments, and more into the galleries.
From the 1980s to the 2000s, artists expended the previous generation’s media critique and explored digital tools, more complex installations and stories told from more diverse perspectives, as in works by Cory Arcangel, Rico Gatson, Takeshi Murata, Eve Sussman, and Bill Viola. The creative expressivity of video games is also represented, beginning with groundbreaking acquisitions of Flower by Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, and Halo 2600 by Ed Fries in 2013.
Recent major acquisitions show that video, sound, and digital projects are powerful ways that leading interdisciplinary contemporary artists choose to reach audiences, including Raven Chacon, Chitra Ganesh, Arthur Jafa, Christine Sun Kim, Simone Leigh, and Carrie Mae Weems.
In addition to the media art showcased across our galleries, each March, SAAM presents its Women Filmmakers Festival. In honor of Women’s History Month, this features a curated selection of moving-image works and artists in conversation.
Selected Works
Related Artists
John Baldessari was born in National City, on San Diego Bay in California in 1931. He enrolled at San Diego State College in 1949 and received his BA in painting in 1953. He also studied at Berkeley in 1953.
Arthur Jafa (b. 1960, Tupelo, Mississippi) is an artist, filmmaker and cinematographer.
Nam June Paik (1932–2006), internationally recognized as the "Father of Video Art," created a large body of work including video sculptures, installations, performances, videotapes and television productions.
Exhibitions
