Currently on display at San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) until August 16, 2026, Video Craft investigates the shared formal and technical aspects between video, film, early moving image technologies, and conventional craft media such as ceramics, textiles, and glass. Historically excluded from new media conversations, these practices are now being re-evaluated. The exhibit uses themes like encoding, looping, and sampling to broaden media art concepts, exploring practices by artists who employ a diverse array of materials and techniques with deep roots in craft tradition.
The artworks in Video Craft are categorized by the terms encoding, looping, and sampling. Encoding involves translating ideas from one medium to another, potentially altering the work’s structure in the process. The looping category highlights the tactile and material connections between video and craft, akin to the repetitive motion in knitting, fostering a shared physicality. Artists engaged in sampling draw from patterns throughout material histories, recontextualizing these elements within the sensorial realm of video and film.
Curated by Sarah Mills, PhD, and Ariel Zaccheo, MCD Curatorial Director, Video Craft showcases 19 artists at various career stages. It features pioneers of video like Beryl Korot alongside emerging digital artists such as Sabrina Gschwandtner and Kate Nartker. As artists increasingly adopt video to enhance materiality rather than escape it, the exhibition highlights an unexpected synergy between the tangible nature of craft and the transient quality of video.
Participating Artists: Danielle Andress, Sydney Cash, Gregory Climer, William Cobbing, Kelly Egan, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Kira Dominguez-Hultgren, Lauren Kalman, Beryl Korot, Ahree Lee, Jodie Mack, Aaron Marcus, Kate Nartker, Megumi Naitoh, Senga Nengudi, Sarah Rosalena, Richard Vijgen, Jennifer West, and Shaheer Zazai.
For more information, visit sfmcd.org.
