Overview

EAI’s distribution service was founded in 1973, emerging from a new paradigm for the dissemination of art across publishing, performance, moving image, and music. Many artists of that time were drawn to the utopian notion of video as an easily reproducible and therefore widely accessible medium. Originally formed around a core of seminal video artists, EAI’s distribution program has grown into one of the world's foremost resources for video art and remains the oldest existing distributor of artists' video. Distribution is EAI’s core program, circulating a major collection of over 5,000 new and historical experimental media works by emerging and established artists across the United States and globally.

Accessibility and direct support for artists are central to EAI’s distribution activities and overall mission. EAI facilitates the presentation of media art works in public screenings, exhibitions, and educational contexts in close consultation with artists, offering administrative support while foregrounding the artists’ vision for the public display of their art. Licensing fees return royalty income to artists for this display. By supporting the circulation, education, and public appreciation of artists’ video, EAI seeks to foster access to these works into the future.

EAI commits to representing the breadth of artists’ media art production, often spanning entire careers. EAI’s distribution model reflects a different economic and circulation model to that of the art market, emphasizing access over the scarcity sought for a gallery edition. Artists are typically paid a royalty whenever the video is exhibited or sold, and there is no limit to the number of copies that may exist of an un-editioned work. However, there are restrictions governing who may make copies, how they are made, and how they may be used. Most of the works in the EAI collection are un-editioned, though EAI has also collaborated with many galleries to provide access to editioned works for educational or exhibition use.