Rosler Rosponse

I believe that one of the most important topics that Rosler touched on was the "museumization" of video art in a gallery setting. She states that "the camera and print technologies were perceived as neutral, tool-like machine to be subsumed under the superior understandings of an aesthetic elite." With this statement she hints that photography and video art were undeserving of gallery presentation because they were not in the traditional style of making art, but perceived simply as a tool that created work quickly. It would also seem that fear had a role in the museamization of video art too. The "aesthetic elite" understood the accessibility of the camera and feared the idea that anyone could now own one, shoot video, and potentially call themselves an artist. " The neutralization of the mass culture puts the pressure on to produce a history art video, or video art, that belongs in the art world and that was authored by people with definable styles and intentions, all recognizable in relations to the principle of construction of the other modern art histories." This became the line between video art and amateur film. It became more important to understand that video art wasn't something that could be presented anywhere, but specifically tailored to be viewed in a gallery setting or installation. "Museumization has heightened the importance of installations that make video into sculpture, painting, or still life, because installations can live only in museums...[and also] contains and minimizes the social negativity that was the matrix for early uses of video."