In Britain the notion ofvideo art carne from the aesthetic sand polltics of a fine art traditlon and often mirrored the various contemporary artistic concerns of painting, sculpture albeit within the specific Parameters of its own medium. Video art was initially concerned with the medium it´s semiological properties.and ideological implications-ananti-television movement, a deconstructive project drawn from a formal fine art modernism.At that time artists kept a suspicious and paranoid vision of television equatable to the orwellian nightmare of 1984like in the works of David Hall (7TV Pieces, Camera Plane), Steve Partridge s Monitor lorin Clive Robertson'sVideoSketches.Through it´s self reflective rigour this oppositional practise provided valid insights into what video was or could be out side of television.These works were explored and revealed the potential of the medium itself (lines, cycles, monitor,screen, camera...) In the 80's a distinct shift was to appear-the camera was turned to the world and the monitor towards the audience. The right wing British political situation combined with the fatigue of modernism forced artists to take a different, more populist approach and marked the eighties as the decade of pluralism. The change in emphasi shappened gradually, hand in hand with the technological developments in editing, mixing, camera sensitivity and videographics. Video artists started to engage in a number of relationships with mainstream culture through the deconstruction of television. The mid Scratch Video broke both the laws of television and those of serious art. Gorilla tapes, Duvet Brothers, George Barber plundered the world of mainstream media to successful but short lived ends. Itrepresented a kind ofsituationistmove destroying all legal or artistic notions ofcopyright and authorship - but it a Iso became an exploitation of often phallic imagery (rockets, explosions, disasters)by boys with toys who were eventually absorbed by the pop promo industry. Amoresubstantial area ofthe80’streated sexual politics, subjectivityand language drawing it’s mate rial from feminism, psychoanalysis and personal politics. Kate Elwe's work deals with self image, childhood, gender, sexuality as a reflection upon her own experiences. Mona Hatoum focused on her Palestinian origins to express the suffering, silence and pain of the disposessed. Mark Wilcox's Calling the Shots as well as Ian Bourne'sThe End of the World are more humourous ventures into narrative and drama. Judith Goddard developped a lyrical sensitivity using painterly images treated via new technology. This possible history of British Video Artisbyno meansa definite and historical fact- rather a subjective overview. Overthe last few years the situation of video in the UK has changed dramatically. On one hand the technology has advanced tremendously while on the other the paradigms of culture have shifted away from any static definitions of Video Art.There is danger that with the funding of artists by television the critical distance to dominantculture will be lost. What the future will bring is hopefully to be found in these historical traces of experimentation, resistance and celebration of the Electronic Image. Michael Maziere, London Jan. 1991