Call for Proposals – Artist’s on-demand DVDs

The Live Art Development Agency has published a series of on-demand DVDs, most recently Revelations by David Hoyle and Nathan Evans, CANCER CANCER CANCER CANCER CANCER by Brian Lobel and Knitting Iron by Poshya Kakil, Previous DVDs have been dedicated to the work of Oreet Ashery, Howard Matthew, Richard Dedomenici, Áine Phillips, George Chakravarthi, Ansuman Biswas, curious, Mat Fraser, Adrien Sina, Monica Ross and Aaron Williamson. Each DVD has been conceived and designed by the artist to represent areas of their practice, all in very different and exciting ways.

Sales of art DVDs are rarely particularly high, and it is therefore not always commercially viable to print/burn large print runs. This makes print on-demand a viable option and we are keen to hear from artists who have exciting ideas for producing a DVD of their work.

We are offering three honorariums of £300 each (including all taxes and expenses), to support three artists to create on-demand DVDs. This honorarium is intended to ‘kick start’ the DVD production and can be used as an artist’s fee or for the artist to pay for assistance with editing of content or the design of artwork for the DVD disk and case.

The Agency will work with each selected artist to define the content of their DVD and on the delivery of their DVD content and artwork.

Many artists are able to provide individual video files, but don’t have the skills or software to compile those materials into an indexed/authored DVD ready for duplication. Therefore, in addition to the £300 honorarium, the Agency has a £200 production budget for each DVD for these and other technical requirements; if the artist is able to supply a fully-indexed/authored master DVD, that production budget may be made available to them.

The physical production of the DVDs is covered by the Agency and done in-house; this includes professional duplication, disk printing and sleeve printing. The Agency splits sales income with the artist and will market and distribute the DVD through the Agency’s online shop, Unbound and, where possible, through distribution to a small range of bookshops.

Due to the modest honorarium offered this call is not intended for the production of new works for DVD, but is an opportunity to bring together existing material(s) for DVD distribution. We anticipate the material featured will probably be works made for camera or documentation of performances. In most cases, DVDs on-demand feature a compilation of a number of pieces.

The DIY approach to on-demand DVDs will not suit the needs of all artists and artists should consider if the scheme is appropriate to their needs. The Live Art Development Agency welcomes proposals separate to this call, at any time, for items to be sold on Unbound including books, DVDs (either self-published or commercially produced) and multiples.

Schedule

About Unbound

Unbound is an online shop for Live Art books, DVDs and multiples. Unbound is a one-stop shop for everything live from experimental theatre to body art, from the history of performance art to performance theory, from digital performance to art activism. Unbound sells books published by major publishers and galleries relating to the Live Art and performance fields; hard-to-find artists’ publications, including limited editions and artworks; and artists’ DVDs. Unbound also distributes titles to a selection of key art bookshops and galleries across the UK.

Unbound is a Live Art Development Agency initiative, and is run on a not-for-profit basis. Proceeds from Unbound sales are reinvested into the Agency’s publication and research projects.

www.thisisunbound.co.uk