The New York Times has an interesting article about collecting video art and displaying it at home. For example, Pam and Dick Kramlich's San Francisco house contains one of the largest private collections of video and time-based art in the world, from the likes of Matthew Barney, Bruce Nauman, Dara Birnbaum, and Bill Viola. Seen here, Birnbaum's "Tiananmen Square: Break-in Transmission." (photo: Ethan Kaplan for The New York Times.) From the article:
When all the art is activated, the house hums, thrums, squeaks and squawks, gibbers, moans and shouts. In fact, the effect is so overwhelming that the Kramlichs are more or less forced to leave most of their expensive, impeccably chosen collection turned off most of the time. But when the pieces are on, as they were during lunch, Mrs. Kramlich says she savors the cacophony. "I enjoy having these works on," she said. "This is fun. It's playtime…"
When the Kramlichs buy a video installation, say one of Bill Viola's – they own several – they are typically buying one of an edition of anywhere from 3 to 10. They'll receive a master copy of the piece, in digital Beta or the highest-fidelity format available; a DVD home-viewing copy; the equipment needed to show the piece; and an archival box that includes setup instructions, blueprints and a signed certificate of authenticity.
It's only the box and its contents that they will save. The rest of the piece is essentially disposable, because it will probably grow obsolete over time and have to be replaced. "The work of art is the information," said Mr. Viola, 54. "That is what you own."
